Patent ID: 6985914

Claim:
In a data network, a method of accessing an object in a meta file system stored in a network file server, the meta file system including a plurality of file system cells, the method comprising: a network client sending a directory lookup request for the object to the network file server; the network file server receiving the directory lookup request, and in response, performing a directory lookup for the object, and returning to the network client a file handle for the object, the file handle including an identifier of a file system cell including the object, and a pointer to the object in the file system cell; the network client receiving the file handle for the object, sending to the network file server a request for access to the object, the request for access to the object including the file handle for the object; and the network file server receiving the request for access to the object, and in response, the network file server extracting the file system cell identifier and the object pointer from the file handle included in the request for access, using the file system cell identifier to find the file system cell that includes the object, and using the object pointer to find the object in the file system cell, wherein the network file server includes a plurality of processors, and each of the file system cells has a respective one of the processors that is assigned exclusive management of metadata of said each of the file system cells, and wherein the network file server responds to the file access request by accessing a routing table with the extracted identifier of the file system cell in order to obtain a pointer to the respective one of the processors that is assigned exclusive management of metadata of the file system cell including the object, and using the pointer to the respective one of the processors to send a request to the respective one of the processors for management of metadata of the file system cell for accessing the object.