Patent ID: 7281168

Claim:
A system comprising: a remote storage center for storing a plurality of files in a local file system; a local computer for utilizing at least one file stored at said remote storage center; a first local device, coupled to said local computer and to said remote storage center, for operating as an active storage port, said active storage port for receiving file system operation requests on said file from said local computer, and for translating the file system operation requests to local file system requests including a file identifier associated with contents of the file to uniquely identify the file stored at the remote storage center, said local computer and said first local device being coupled through a communications mechanism said active storage port further comprises a network interface, to couple said active storage port to said passive storage port, and processes to monitor the health of said active storage port and to enter a failover condition if said health falls below a pre-determined threshold; a second local device, coupled to said local computer and to said remote storage center, for operating as a passive storage port, said passive storage port for switching to said active storage port during said failover condition, said local computer and said second local device being coupled through said communications mechanism utilized by said first local device, said passive storage port further comprises a network interface, to couple said passive storage port to said active storage port, and processes to query said active storage port to obtain a status of said health of said active storage port; and additional local devices to support a 2N failover configuration of storage ports, wherein “N” represents any integer value.