Patent ID: 7552197

Claim:
A system handling read and write file requests from an application, the read and write requests relating to real-data, the system comprising: a) a client computer; b) a server computer; c) a local area network; d) a SAN-attached storage device for storing the real-data, the SAN-attached storage device being connected to the client computer and the server computer via a storage area network; e) client programming on the client computer that receives read and write file requests from the application, wherein the client programming i) categorizes each file request into either a SAN file request or a LAN file request in part by comparing a file attribute received from the SAN-attached storage device via the storage area network with a second file attribute received from the server via the local area network, ii) submits LAN write file requests and the related real-data to the server via the local area network, and iii) handles SAN read requests and receives real-data relating to SAN read requests directly from the SAN-attached storage device; and f) server programming on the server computer, wherein the server programming i) receives the LAN write requests and the related real-data from the client computer, and ii) submits real-data related to the LAN write requests to the SAN-attached storage device for storage.