Patent ID: 7805416

Claim:
A method of generating a query result identifying a set of files in a file system stored on a non transitory computer readable medium having a shared file attribute characteristic in response to a file system query includes the step of: decoding the file system query to identify the plurality of query components associated with the shared file attribute characteristic related to one or more file system access protocols wherein the file attribute related to one or more file system access protocol can be queried in a single call; filtering file system data using the plurality of query components to provide the query result wherein the filtered file system data includes one or more files that matches all the query components of the file system query; and sending the query result to a policy engine wherein the policy engine evaluates a metadata of the file system including the shared file attributes characteristic and based on the evaluation with regard to the criteria associated with a policy migrates the files in a file system from one storage device to another to enforce the policy.