Patent ID: 8296340

Claim:
A method of managing a plurality of files in a storage system, comprising: providing at least one metadata location server of the storage system, wherein the storage system has a plurality of interconnected independent servers and wherein the at least one metadata location server has a table with plurality of file identifiers, each of the file identifiers including a pointer to a metadata file object stored on a metadata server and containing a layout storage object that indicates storage parameters for corresponding files; and accessing a particular one of the files by obtaining information from the at least one metadata location server to access the metadata server containing the layout storage object corresponding to the particular file to determine synchronous and asynchronous mirrors for the file, wherein the mirrors are provided on at least one data server that is independent of the at least one metadata location server and wherein the at least one metadata server is independent of the at least one metadata location server and is independent of the at least one data server.