A method for processing a data request in a software defined storage system, wherein the software defined storage system comprises one or more nodes configured as a set of client modules operatively coupled to a set of server modules, comprises the following steps. A data request with a data set is received at one of the set of client modules. One or more data services (e.g., deduplication and/or data compression) are performed on the data set, wherein the performance of the one or more data services on the data set is dynamically shared between one or more of the set of client modules and one or more of the set of server modules.