Virtualized data storage in a network computing environment

A method of balancing read/write requests within a virtualized storage system, wherein the virtualized storage system includes a network based virtual storage module that is operable to present a plurality of remotely located physical storage devices as a plurality of virtual storage volumes across a computing network, the method comprising:

• processing the read/write requests through a plurality of virtual target ports to access the virtual storage volumes;
• extracting storage access information from each read/write request;
• linking the storage access information to the virtual storage module;
• accessing mapping information within the virtual storage module;
• for each extracted storage access information, accessing a virtual storage volume according to the mapping information, wherein the mapping information is operable to ensure that access to the virtual storage volumes is evenly distributed through a plurality of physical storage containers;
• and
• accessing the physical storage devices through the computing network using a preassigned path selected from a plurality of paths between the virtual storage module and the physical storage devices.

A storage system, comprising:

• a plurality of physical storage devices;
• and
• a storage module operable within a communication network to present the plurality of physical storage devices as a virtual storage device to a plurality of network computing elements that are coupled to the communication network,
• wherein the virtual storage device comprises a plurality of virtual storage volumes,
• wherein each virtual storage volume is communicatively coupled to the physical storage devices via the storage module,
• wherein the storage module comprises maps that are used to route read/write requests from the network computing elements to the virtual storage volumes,
• wherein each map links read/write requests from at least one network computing element to a respective virtual storage volume within the virtual storage device, wherein each map is operable to balance distribution of the read/write requests by handling a predetermined number of read/write requests,
• wherein the storage module is further operable to determine communication types of the read/write requests and process the read/write requests according to their respective communication types, and
• wherein the communication types are selected from a group consisting of:
• Fibre Channel;
• SAS;
• TCP/IP;
• SCSI;
• ISCSI;
• and SCSI over Infiniband.