Patent ID: 7702850

Claim:
A method comprising: providing, to a storage node, a first storage sub-map to map a plurality of data block identifiers to a corresponding plurality of physical locations on a storage device, the first storage sub-map being specific to the storage node; providing, to a client device, a second storage sub-map to map a data block identifier, of the plurality of data block identifiers, to the storage node and the second storage sub-map to further map another data block identifier to another storage node; and providing, to the another storage node, a third storage sub-map to map the another data block identifier to a physical location on the storage device or on another storage device, the first storage sub-map, the second storage sub-map, and the third storage sub-map configured to implement a topology of a storage array according to an array policy, the storage array having a plurality of storage nodes, including the storage node and the another storage node, and a plurality of storage devices, including the storage device and the another storage device.