Abstract: A system and method for efficiently accessing replicas of a storage object. A first node may perform a find operation to determine a plurality of nodes that each store a replica of a first storage object. For each node in the plurality of nodes, the first node may establish a direct connection to the node. The first node may then access the replicas of the first storage object using the respective direct connections to the plurality of nodes. In one embodiment, the nodes may be nodes in a peer-to-peer network. Establishing a direct connection to each storage object replica may enable the first node to communicate with each node in a single hop without having to pass messages via intermediate nodes in the peer-to-peer network.

Abstract: A system and method related for performing lookup operations for objects distributed among different nodes in a peer-to-peer network are disclosed. Various nodes in the peer-to-peer network may store objects. Objects stored on a given node may be accessed by other nodes in the peer-to-peer network. To access an object, a node may first perform a lookup operation to determine where the object is stored, i.e., to determine which node in the peer-to-peer network stores the object. The peer-to-peer network may utilize a method to improve the performance of object lookup operations. In one embodiment, the method may allow object lookup operations to be performed with a latency on the order of one hop.

Abstract: A system and method for efficiently accessing replicas of a storage object. A first node may perform a find operation to determine a plurality of nodes that each store a replica of a first storage object. For each node in the plurality of nodes, the first node may establish a direct connection to the node. The first node may then access the replicas of the first storage object using the respective direct connections to the plurality of nodes. In one embodiment, the nodes may be nodes in a peer-to-peer network. Establishing a direct connection to each storage object replica may enable the first node to communicate with each node in a single hop without having to pass messages via intermediate nodes in the peer-to-peer network.

Abstract: A system and method related to efficiently searching for an object in a network including a plurality of realms, e.g., a plurality of local area networks (LANs). The method may ensure that nodes within a LAN are able to locate objects within that LAN using only computing resources on the local LAN. Thus, expensive WAN transfers may be avoided where possible. The system may also scale to many nodes. Nodes may not be required to know about every other node in the system. Mechanisms for re-distributing object location information among nodes as nodes are added to and removed from the system are also described.