System and method for communication using emulated LUN blocks in storage virtualization environments

A method comprising:

• generating and loading into a memory a plurality of sets of operating system metadata corresponding to a plurality of different operating systems for a virtual storage device at an off-host virtualizer comprising the memory;
• receiving a request from a first host to access the virtual storage device, wherein the request is received after the generating and loading of the plurality of sets of operating system metadata;
• determining an identity of an operating system used by the first host;
• selecting a set of operating system metadata corresponding to one of the plurality of different operating systems based on the determined identity of the operating system used by the first host;
• making the selected set of operating system metadata accessible to a first layer of a storage software stack at a first host;
• the off-host virtualizer providing configuration information at a designated range of blocks within the virtual storage device, wherein the configuration information comprises at least a portion of the selected set of operating system metadata, wherein the designated range of blocks is dependent upon the determined identity of the operating system used by the first host;
• the first layer using the selected set of operating system metadata to detect an existence of the virtual storage device as a logical unit (LUN);
• and
• a second layer of the storage software stack reading the configuration information from the designated range of blocks.

A computer accessible storage medium comprising program instructions, wherein the instructions are executable to:

• generate and load into a memory a plurality of sets of operating system metadata corresponding to a plurality of different operating systems for a virtual storage device at an off-host virtualizer comprising the memory;
• receive a request from a first host to access the virtual storage device, wherein the request is received after the generation of the plurality of sets of operating system metadata;
• determine an identity of an operating system used by the first host;
• select a set of operating system metadata corresponding to one of the plurality of different operating systems based on the determined identity of the operating system used by the first host;
• make the selected set of operating system metadata accessible to a first layer of a storage software stack at the first host;
• provide configuration information from the off-host virtualizer at a designated range of blocks within the virtual storage device, wherein the configuration information comprises at least a portion of the selected set of operating system metadata, wherein the designated range of blocks is dependent upon the determined identity of the operating system used by the first host;
• use the selected set of operating system metadata at the first layer to detect an existence of the virtual storage device as a logical unit (LUN);
• and
• read the configuration information from the designated range of blocks at a second layer of the storage software stack.