Patent ID: 7827192

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, by a client system executing a storage management application, a storage management command from a network storage management server to change a storage structure of a storage server, wherein the command is to be executed by the storage server and the command indicates a storage object of the storage server; storing locally in the client system metadata describing the storage structure of the storage server, the metadata comprising data that describes the storage object of the storage server; determining, by the client system, whether execution of the command by the storage server would violate at least one of data integrity of the storage server and structural integrity of the storage server, wherein the determination is made using the locally cached metadata; responsive to a determination that executing the command by the storage server would violate an integrity of the storage server, sending, by the client system, an error message to the network storage management server; and responsive to a first determination that executing the command by the storage server would not violate an integrity of the storage server, sending, by the client system to the network storage management server, an identification of the storage server and the storage object indicated in the command, receiving, by the client system, a determination from the network storage management server of whether the storage object of the storage server is accessible, and submitting, by the client system, the command to the storage server, responsive to a determination that the storage object is accessible.