Tiered storage in a distributed file system

A method comprising:

• receiving at a file server, a request for data stored at a cold storage location remote from the file server;
• accessing a cold tier translation table that stores a mapping between an identifier of each of a plurality of virtual cluster descriptors and a storage location of data associated with the respective virtual cluster descriptor;
• querying the cold tier translation table using an identifier of a virtual cluster descriptor associated with the requested data to identify a storage location of the requested data;
• and
• loading the requested data to the file server from the identified storage location.

A system comprising:

• a cold tier translator storing translation tables that map identifiers of each of a plurality of virtual cluster descriptors to a physical storage location of data corresponding to each virtual cluster descriptor;
• and
• a file server communicatively coupled to the cold tier translator, the file server configured to:
• query the cold tier translator using an identifier of a virtual cluster descriptor associated with requested data to identify a storage location of the requested data;
• and
• load the requested data to the file server from the identified storage location.