Patent ID: 7873700

Claim:
A storage operating system executed by a processor of a storage system configured to provide storage service relating to information stored on storage devices coupled to the storage system, comprising: a network protocol stack of the storage system that provides data paths to access the information using block and file access protocols; a file system of the storage operating system configured to cooperate with virtualization modules to virtualize a storage space provided by the storage devices, wherein the virtualization modules comprise a virtual disk module and a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) target module, and wherein the block and file access protocols access files, directories, and virtual disks on the storage devices are both processed by the file system of the storage operating system; the SCSI target module configured to provide a mapping procedure that translates storage area network (SAN) requests received at the network protocol stack into access requests for a virtual disk stored within the virtual storage space, wherein the virtual disk is a file type that emulates a disk; the virtual disk module to provide a data path from the SCSI target module to blocks managed by the file system; a uniform naming scheme for file-based and block-based storage configured to provide name-based management of the files and virtual disks stored on the storage system; and the file system further configured to provide a hierarchical structure of the files and virtual disks on the storage devices.