Flow based reply cache

A system configured to provide a reply cache of a storage system, comprising:

• a protocol server configured to execute on the storage system,
• the protocol server configured to maintain one or more microcaches of the reply cache, each microcache comprising one or more reply cache entries,
• the protocol server further configured to allocate each microcache to a client of the storage system, wherein each client has its own pool of reply cache entries,
• the protocol server further configured to respond to a non-idempotent request from a client using an entry in the pool of reply cache entries, wherein the protocol server prevents the non-idempotent request from executing on the storage system, wherein the pool of reply cache entries includes an in-progress list and a least recently used (LRU) list, wherein a completed entry on the in-progress list is transferred to the LRU list, wherein the entry is complete when it is processed by the storage system, and
• the protocol server further configured to increase a size of the microcache allocated to the client when a number of entries on the in-progress list exceeds a threshold.

A computer readable medium containing executable program instructions for providing a flow based reply cache of a storage system, the executable instructions comprising one or more program instructions for:

• organizing the flow based reply cache into one or more microcaches, each microcache comprising a plurality of reply cache entries;
• allocating each microcache to a client of the storage system, wherein the client has its own pool of reply cache entries;
• in response to a non-idempotent request from the client, replying to the non-idempotent request using an entry in the pool of reply cache entries, wherein the non-idempotent request is prevented from executing on the storage system, wherein the pool of reply cache entries includes an in-progress list and a least recently used (LRU) list, wherein a completed entry on the in-progress list is transferred to the LRU list, wherein the entry is complete when it is processed by the storage system;
• and
• increasing a size of the microcache allocated to the client when a number of entries on the in-progress list exceeds a threshold.