Caching of SCSI I/O referrals

A storage system, comprising:

• means for receiving a first referral response from a first storage system included in a plurality of storage systems of a block storage cluster, the first referral response providing information for directing an initiator system to a second storage system included in the plurality of storage systems of the block storage cluster;
• means for obtaining a starting logical block address (LBA) and a corresponding port identifier based on the first referral response;
• means for storing the starting LBA and the corresponding port identifier in a referral cache accessible to the initiator system;
• and
• means for directing an input/output (I/O) request from the initiator system to the block storage cluster based on the starting LBA and the corresponding port identifier stored in the referral cache.

A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method for communication between an initiator system and a block storage cluster, said method comprising:

• receiving a first referral response from a first storage system included in a plurality of storage systems of the block storage cluster, the first referral response providing information for directing the initiator system to a second storage system included in the plurality of storage systems of the block storage cluster;
• obtaining a starting logical block address (LBA) and a corresponding port identifier based on the first referral response;
• storing the starting LBA and the corresponding port identifier in a referral cache accessible to the initiator system;
• and
• directing an input/output (I/O) request from the initiator system to the block storage cluster based on the starting LBA and the corresponding port identifier stored in the referral cache.