Patent ID: 8332362

Claim:
A source storage system having write-once-read-many (WORM) capability, comprising: a processor configured to execute a storage operating system of the source storage system, the storage operating system configured to manage storage of data in a WORM volume, wherein the WORM volume comprises a fault-tolerant array of storage devices; and the WORM volume configured to store a writeable data container, wherein the storage operating system is further configured to commit the writeable data container to a WORM state at the source storage system by transitioning a read-only attribute of the writeable data container from a not-read-only state to a read-only state to thereby create a first WORM data container and marking a label associated with the first WORM data container, and wherein the storage operating system is further configured to mirror the WORM volume, including the first WORM data container of the source storage system to a destination WORM volume including a destination WORM data container at a destination storage system, wherein the destination WORM data container of the destination WORM volume is restricted from being restored from one or more snapshots, and wherein an open protocol is configured to provide the read-only attribute to a second WORM data container of the source storage system upon closure of the second WORM data container.