Patent ID: 8302192

Claim:
A method for scanning data for viruses, the method comprising: receiving a request for the data at a network N-module included in a clustered storage system, the clustered storage system including nodes that are interconnected as a cluster to communicate over a communication fabric to facilitate storage of the data on the clustered storage system; identifying at the network N-module the data requires scanning for viruses based on a predetermined criterion; communicating the data requires the scanning for viruses based on the predetermined criterion as first result information to a disk D-module included in the clustered storage system; identifying at the disk D-module the data requires scanning for viruses based on a first plurality of anti-virus attributes stored with the data; communicating the data requires scanning for viruses based on the first plurality of anti-virus attributes stored with the data as second result information to a management M-module included in the clustered storage system; and scanning at the management M-module the data for viruses, the scanning performed with third party software components that are provided by a third party vendor.