Techniques for distributing access to filesystems through multipe filesystem management nodes

A method performed by a slave virtualized filesystem manager (VFM) running on processing circuitry of a data storage system, the method comprising:

• remotely mounting a configuration filesystem stored on persistent storage of the data storage system from a master VFM running on the processing circuitry of the data storage system, the master VFM managing the remotely-mounted configuration filesystem, the remotely-mounted configuration filesystem storing configuration information for a set of VFMs running on the processing circuitry having a shared namespace, the slave VFM obtaining details of its configuration from the remotely-mounted configuration filesystem;
• remotely mounting a remote filesystem stored on persistent storage of the data storage system from a manager VFM of the set of VFMs running on the processing circuitry, the manager VFM managing the remote filesystem, the remote filesystem being within the shared namespace;
• and
• processing a first filesystem storage command directed at the remote filesystem received from a remote host over a network interface of the data storage system by sending a second filesystem storage command directed at the remote filesystem of the shared namespace from the slave VFM to the manager VFM and receiving a storage fulfillment reply at the slave VFM from the manager VFM in response.