Patent ID: 8489811

Claim:
A method for processing a plurality of data access requests addressing a data container in a clustered storage system, the clustered storage system including a plurality of nodes configured to receive the plurality of data access requests, the method comprising: associating a first data set identifier with the data container, the data container generated and stored on a first node of the clustered storage system; creating a master data set identifier at the first node of the clustered storage system; associating a second data set identifier with an instantiation of the data container that represents a single point in time image of the data container, wherein the first data set identifier is different than the second data set identifier, wherein the instantiation of the data container is stored on a second node of the clustered storage system, and wherein the first data container and second data container have distinct inode address spaces; associating the master data set identifier with the first data set identifier and the second data set identifier; receiving, at a third node of the clustered storage system, a first data access request of the plurality of data access requests directed to the master data set identifier using a network protocol; forwarding the first data access request to the first node to service the first data access request from the data container, wherein the forwarded first data access request includes an inode number; replying to the first data access request upon service completion of the first data access request, wherein the reply to the first data access request includes the master data set identifier; receiving, at the third node of the clustered storage system, a second data access request of the plurality of data access requests directed to the master data set identifier using the network protocol; forwarding the second data access request to the second node to service the second data access request from the instantiation of the data container, wherein the forwarded second data access request includes the inode number and the master data set identifier; and replying to the second data access request upon service completion of the second data access request, wherein the reply to the second data access request includes the master data set identifier.