Patent ID: 7689803

Claim:
A system comprising: a first host; an off-host virtualizer comprising at least one processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable by the at least one processor to: generate and load into the memory a plurality of sets of operating system metadata corresponding to a plurality of different operating systems for a virtual storage device; receive a request from the first host to access the virtual storage device, wherein the request is received after the generating and loading of the plurality of sets of operating system metadata; determine an identity of an operating system used by the first host; select a set of operating system metadata corresponding to one of the plurality of different operating systems based on the determined identity of the operating system used by the first host; make the selected set of operating system metadata accessible to the first host; and provide configuration information at a designated range of blocks within the virtual storage device, wherein the configuration information comprises at least a portion of the selected set of operating system metadata, wherein the designated range of blocks is dependent upon the determined identity of the operating system used by the first host; wherein the first host comprises a storage software stack including a first layer and a second layer; wherein the first layer is configured to use the selected set of operating system metadata to detect an existence of the virtual storage device as addressable storage; and wherein the second layer is configured to read the configuration information from the designated range of blocks.