Patent ID: 8060619

Claim:
A non-transitory computer-readable memory medium storing program instructions executable to implement a method comprising: a first peer node in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network that includes a plurality of peer nodes sending a find message in the P2P network to find other peer nodes that store replicas of a first storage object; the first peer node receiving one or more reply messages in response to the find message, wherein the one or more reply messages specify addresses of two or more peer nodes that each store a respective replica of the first storage object; for each respective peer node of the two or more peer nodes: the first peer node establishing a direct virtual link to the respective peer node using the address of the respective peer node specified by the one or more reply messages; and the first peer node accessing the respective replica stored on the respective peer node by sending one or more messages directly to the respective peer node through the direct virtual link to the respective peer node without the one or more messages passing through any intermediate peer nodes in the P2P network.