Patent ID: 8429242

Claim:
A method for use in a computer system comprising a first server having at least one client application executing thereon, at least one block I/O storage system that stores a plurality of logical volumes, a second server different from the first server, and a storage area network, the method comprising acts of: (A) receiving, at a block I/O storage system of the at least one block I/O storage system, from the second server via the storage area network, at least one request to: read at least one content unit stored on the block I/O storage system, wherein the at least one request specifies a block address that identifies at least one block in at least one of the plurality of logical volumes at which the at least one content unit is stored, wherein the at least one request includes a network address of a host bus adapter of the first server on the storage area network, and wherein the second server is a content addressable storage (CAS) system that identifies the at least one content unit using a content address that is generated, at least in part, by hashing the content of the at least one content unit and using a resulting hash value as at least a portion of the content address; initiate a communication session with the first server through the storage area network; and return the at least one content unit to the network address of the host bus adapter of the first server, rather than the second server, through the storage area network; (B) in response to receipt of the at least one request, the block I/O storage system performing acts of: (B1) recognizing the at least one request as a request to provide content to a target address specified separately from an address of the second server generating the at least one request; (B2) based on the network address of the host bus adapter of the first server being specified as the target address in the at least one request, initiating, from the block I/O storage system, the communication session with the first server through the storage area network; and (B3) returning the at least one content unit to the host bus adapter of the first server, rather than the second server, through the storage area network without receiving an additional request for the at least one content unit from the first server.