Patent ID: 8171066

Claim:
A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method, the method comprising: receiving, from a first client via a network, a first request for a file, wherein the first request comprises a file identifier corresponding to a globally unique identifier (GUID); querying a volume lookup database (VLDB) using the file identifier to obtain a first junction file mapped to the GUID; providing, in response to the first request, the file to the first client by obtaining the file from a first remote file system (RFS) located using the first junction file; detecting, after providing the file to the first client in response to the first request, that a network location for the file has changed from the first RFS to a second RFS; wherein detecting that the network location for the file has changed from the first RFS to the second RFS comprises: detecting that the file has been moved from a first server to a second server, wherein the first RFS is executing on the first server, and wherein the second RFS is executing on the second server; mapping, based on the detection, the GUID to a second junction file corresponding to the second RFS; receiving, from the first client, a second request for the file, wherein the second request comprises the file identifier; querying the VLDB using the file identifier to obtain the second junction file mapped to the GUID; and providing, in response to the second request, the file to the first client by obtaining the file from the second RFS located using the second junction file.