Unified file access across multiple protocols

A processor-implemented method to execute on one or more processors that perform the method, comprising:

• constructing a file system tree including files to be accessed according to a plurality of custom access control list (ACL) access mechanisms registered in response to at least one request by a corresponding one of a plurality of applications, or according to a default ACL access mechanism;
• and
• reading metadata from or writing metadata to a cache to access the files using a multiple protocol file system cache engine and at least one of the plurality of custom ACL access mechanisms when the at least one of the plurality of custom ACL access mechanisms has been registered, or the default ACL mechanism when the at least one of the plurality of custom ACL access mechanisms has not been registered.

A processor-implemented method to execute on one or more processors that perform the method, comprising:

• registering, in response to a request by a corresponding one of a plurality of applications, at least a selected one of a plurality of custom access control list (ACL) access mechanisms with a library coupled to a multiple protocol file system cache engine having access to cached metadata;
• and
• accessing a file system through the multiple protocol file system cache engine and the cached metadata using the selected one of the plurality of custom ACL access mechanisms when the selected one of the plurality of custom ACL access mechanisms has been registered, or a default ACL access mechanism when the selected one of the plurality of custom ACL access mechanisms has not been registered.