Distributed shared memory paging

A system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• a memory comprising code stored thereon that, when executed, performs a method of obtaining metadata comprising:
• receiving, by a director, an I/O operation directed to a target offset of a logical device, wherein the director is located on a board including a local page table used by components on the board, wherein the board is one of a plurality of boards, wherein the local page table is one of a plurality of local page tables, and wherein each of the plurality of boards includes a different one of the plurality of local page tables used by components of said each board;
• querying the local page table for a global memory address of first metadata for the target offset of the logical device;
• and
• responsive to the local page table not having the global memory address of the first metadata for the target offset of the logical device, using at least a first indirection layer to obtain the global memory address of the first metadata, wherein the first indirection layer is used to obtain a first page including the first metadata for the logical device, wherein the first page is stored at a first global memory address and wherein the first page has a corresponding page descriptor that includes a node mask identifying which of the plurality of boards includes one of the plurality of local page tables with a reference to the first global memory address stored in the one local page table.

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising code stored thereon that, when executed, performs a method of obtaining metadata comprising:

• receiving, by a director, an I/O operation directed to a target offset of a logical device, wherein the director is located on a board including a local page table used by components on the board, wherein the board is one of a plurality of boards, wherein the local page table is one of a plurality of local page tables, and wherein each of the plurality of boards includes a different one of the plurality of local page tables used by components of said each board;
• querying the local page table for a global memory address of first metadata for the target offset of the logical device;
• and
• responsive to the local page table not having the global memory address of the first metadata for the target offset of the logical device, using at least a first indirection layer to obtain the global memory address of the first metadata, wherein the first indirection layer is used to obtain a first page including the first metadata for the logical device, wherein the first page is stored at a first global memory address and wherein the first page has a corresponding page descriptor that includes a node mask identifying which of the plurality of boards includes one of the plurality of local page tables with a reference to the first global memory address stored in the one local page table.