Abstract: Various techniques are disclosed for facilitating manipulation of virtualized storage volumes and/or file systems of one or more different types of operating systems (OSs) implemented on distributed computer systems. According to different embodiments, various aspects may be directed to different embodiments of virtualized filer appliances and/or filer applications which may be used for facilitating manipulation of virtualized storage volumes and/or file systems of one or more different types of operating systems (OSs) implemented on distributed computer systems. In at least one embodiment, a filer appliance may be implemented as a virtual appliance that includes functionality for performing automated file-level and/or volume-level operations for a selected set of file systems. In one embodiment, a filer appliance may be implemented as a virtual machine which is configured or designed to handle managing of one or more volumes.

Abstract: Method and firewall architecture system for providing security to web services. A firewall architecture can determine whether data in a web service message is valid and then can determine whether the source of the web service message is authorized to pass through the firewall architecture. If it is determined that the web service message is authorized to pass through the firewall architecture, the web service message is forwarded to its destination.