US Patent 11562034 Transparent referrals for distributed file servers

Examples of systems described herein include a virtualized file server including a first file server virtual machine and a second file server virtual machine configured to manage a distributed file share of storage items. The second file server virtual machine is configured to manage a particular storage item of the distributed file share of storage items. The first file server virtual machine is configured to, in response to receipt of a referral request for a file share path for the particular storage item from a client, look up a file share path for the particular storage item in a map of at least a portion of the distributed file share of storage items, and provide a referral with the file share path that identifies the second file server virtual machine.