US Patent 7890529 Delegations and caching in a distributed segmented file system

A system for implementing a distributed, segmented file system includes file servers that each are configured to control separate segments of the distributed-file system, the file servers including: a memory interface configured to communicate with a memory storing at least one of the segments of the distributed file system; a communication interface coupled to at least another of the file servers; and a processor coupled to the memory interface and the communication interface and configured to control, read, and write to file system objects stored in the memory. The system further includes means for transferring permission for access to a requested file system object from an owner server currently controlling a segment where a requested object resides to an access-requesting server.