Patent ID: 8015235

Claim:
A method of distributing information about one or more groups of objects in a plurality of nodes comprising: storing a same first portion of group information on each of said plurality of nodes, said plurality of nodes including at least one data storage system, said same first portion being replicated on each of said plurality of nodes and including information identifying defined groups of objects and associated group hierarchy information, said associated group hierarchy information including information indicating which of said one or more groups included in said defined groups of objects are included as members of others of said one or more groups, wherein when a first of said one or more groups is included as a member of a second of said one or more groups, all objects in said first group are members of said second group and wherein said same first portion includes names of defined groups; and storing a second portion of group information on each of said plurality of nodes, said second portion stored on each of said plurality of nodes identifying which objects included in said one or more groups are defined at said each node.