Patent ID: 8694640

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, at a network interface associated with a first storage device, a request from a requestor over a network, the requestor being different from the first storage device and the request requesting an allocation of storage that exceeds an amount of allocatable storage of the first storage device; allocating a first storage area on the first storage device and a second storage area on a second storage device, which is different from the first storage device, to the requestor based at least in part on the request; assigning, based on said allocating, a network address to the first storage area and the second storage area, wherein the network address comprises an Internet protocol address to facilitate routing of a packet over the network and within the first storage device; transmitting, to the requestor, a response that includes the network address; receiving a packet having a first address that is the network address and a second address; and identifying the first and second storage areas based on the first address and identifying a portion within the first and second storage areas based on the second address.