Patent ID: 8782232

Claim:
A method for operating a data storage system having a processor and a memory, comprising: executing an operating system by a computer of the data storage system; creating a plurality of vfilers to execute under the operating system, wherein each vfiler of the plurality of vfilers is a logical partition of network resources and storage resources of the data storage system; assigning a first resource available to the operating system to a selected vfiler of the plurality of vfilers by providing a first pointer to a first soft object representative of the first resource; removing the first resource assigned to the selected vfiler and providing a second pointer to a second soft object representative of a second resource to assign the second resource to the selected vfiler; receiving a request, having a handle, for a data container associated with the selected vfiler; performing a boundary check utilizing the handle to determine whether the operating system services the request, the boundary request configured to determine whether the selected vfiler owns the data container or whether the selected vfiler owns a portion of the data container; in response to determining the selected vfiler owns the data container or owns the portion of the data container, servicing the request on the data container; and in response to determining that the selected vfiler does not own the data container or does not own the portion of the data container, denying the request.