US Patent 7925829 I/O operations for a storage array

Handling I/O operations for a storage array includes distributing metadata among separate memories of a plurality of directors of the storage array, where the metadata correlates logical device data with physical device data. A first one of the directors receives an I/O operation for a particular logical device. Handling I/O operations may also include determining which of the plurality of directors contains metadata corresponding to the particular logical device, and, in response to the metadata being on a different one of the directors, the first director providing a request to the different one of the directors. The directors may be interconnected by an interconnect fabric. The first one of the directors may provide a request to the second one of the directors via the interconnect fabric. Determining which of the plurality of directors contains metadata correspond to the particular logical device may include using a lookup table.