Patent ID: 8271727

Claim:
A system for implementing distributed Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), comprising: a set of hosts, each host comprising: a processor; a first computer readable medium, comprising instructions executable for: obtaining a first command corresponding to a first segment of a first volume; determining a first storage appliance of a plurality of storage appliances, wherein the first storage appliance corresponds to the first segment of the first volume; and routing the first command to the first storage appliance, wherein each of the set of hosts is coupled to a distributed RAID system comprising the plurality of storage appliances, each storage appliance coupled to each of the other storage appliance of the plurality of storage appliances, each storage appliance including: a processor; and a data store; a second computer readable medium comprising instructions executable for: implementing commands in conjunction with the first volume, wherein the first volume comprises a set of segments including the first segment and the set of segments of the first volume are stored on the plurality of storage appliances according to a first storage appliance order where the first storage appliance order is a first ordering of the plurality of storage appliances including each of the plurality of storage appliances exactly once, and wherein redundancy data corresponding to a first RAID level implemented in conjunction with the first volume is stored on each of the plurality of storage appliances, such that for each segment of the first volume a corresponding redundancy segment comprising the redundancy data associated with that segment of the first volume does not reside on the same storage appliance as the corresponding segment of the volume.