Patent ID: 6980994

Claim:
A method for mapping file handles in a computer system accessing an object stored on a server, the method comprising: a) creating protocol data elements, wherein the computer system stores the protocol data elements, the protocol data elements being for respective file system protocols of at least one server accessible by the computer system, wherein such server file system protocols have respective predefined server handle structures, and wherein such a protocol data element identifies the server handle structure for the protocol data element's corresponding file system protocol; b) creating file system data elements, wherein the computer system stores the file system data elements, the file system data elements being for respective file systems of the server, and wherein such a file system data element has a file system identification (FSID) attribute; and c) providing a client handle of a certain length to a client by the computer system in response to a request from the client for an object stored in one of the server file systems, wherein providing the client handle includes: getting a server handle for the object from server by the computer system; parsing an FSID value from the server handle by the computer system responsive to a file system structure attribute of the protocol data element for the file system protocol of the server file system in which the object is stored; and generating, from the parsed FSID value, a virtual file system identification (VFSID) attribute value for including in the client handle by the computer system, wherein the generating varies a length of the VFSID to set the client handle length.