Patent attributes
A deduplicated file system includes a set of microservices including front-ends and back-ends. Assignments of files are balanced across front-ends. The files are represented by segment trees including multiple segment levels. Assignments of similarity groups are balanced across back-ends. Similarity groups are associated with segments at a lower-level of the segment trees that form the files. Front-ends are responsible for operations involving an upper-level of the trees. Back-ends are responsible for operations involving the lower-level of the trees. A mapping of file assignments to front-ends and of similarity group assignments to back-ends is stored. A request to perform a file system operation is received. The mapping is consulted to identify particular front and back-ends that should be responsible for handling and processing the request.