Patent ID: 7797359

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving a data name of a desired data item, wherein the data name comprises a hierarchical arrangement of name components defining a level of the desired data item in a hierarchical name space; retrieving a metadata item that is associated with the desired data item based on the data name, wherein the retrieving comprises recursively searching from the level of the desired data item in the name space and upward through the namespace for a metadata name of the metadata item, and the metadata item comprises one or more bindings that specify respective storage locations of data items, wherein the retrieving comprises determining the metadata name of the metadata item from the data name; and determining a storage location of the desired data item from the metadata item, wherein the determining comprises matching the data name to a respective one of the bindings in the metadata item that specifies the storage location of the desired data item; wherein the receiving, the searching, and the determining are performed by computer hardware.