Patent ID: 8386838

Claim:
A method for providing high-availability of client data comprising: configuring a plurality of storage access servers as a redundant array of storage access servers (RASAS), each storage access server comprising: a set of one or more storage devices for storing client data; one or more storage access virtual machines (VMs), each storage access VM executing a separate storage operating system providing an overall set of storage functions, each storage access VM configured for performing only an assigned sub-set of storage functions of the overall set of storage functions and is not configured for performing all storage functions of the overall set of storage functions provided by the storage operating system, the assigned sub-set of storage functions of each storage access VM comprising storage access functions for receiving storage access sub-requests from a storage transaction server and executing the storage access sub-requests on the set of storage devices; and configuring at least one storage transaction server for: receiving an access request from a client system; producing at least two storage access sub-requests from the received access request, the at least two storage access sub-requests being based on the RASAS configuration of the plurality of storage access servers; communicating each storage access sub-request to a storage access server for execution.