Patent ID: 8850126

Claim:
A machine implemented method, comprising: determining which modules for an operation from among a provisioning operation, a backup operation, a restore operation, a clone operation, and a delete operation on a storage volume of a storage system need to be individually executed by a first instance executed at a host device coupled to the storage system and a second instance executed simultaneously at other host devices sharing the storage system and being executed simultaneously by a number of users operating on different storage volumes of the storage system; wherein the operation includes a critical sub-operation and a non-critical sub-operation, where the critical sub-operation and the non-critical sub-operations vary based on whether the operation is a provisioning operation, a backup operation, a restore operation, a clone operation or a delete operation; determining which modules for the operation associated with the storage system are executable concurrently; responsive to an incoming sub-operation for the first instance at the host device, individually executing modules for the incoming sub-operation that need to be individually executed and enabling the first instance to write a metadata file to the storage volume to be utilized during a subsequent operation; responsive to another sub-operation for the second instance, denying the second instance access to the modules individually being executed by the first instance at the host device by placing a lock file and a process identifier of the the first instance at a predetermined location of the storage volume, and preventing, in accordance with the lock file and the process identifier placed, the second instance from inadvertently overwriting the metadata file written by the first instance; and permitting concurrent access by the first instance and the second instance to the modules that are executable concurrently.