METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MAINTAINING MULTIPLE INODE CONTAINERS IN A STORAGE SERVER

A system and method for maintaining multiple inode containers is used to manage file system objects in a single logical volume of a network storage server. The system provides multiple inode containers to store metadata for file system objects in the logical volume. The system may use a first inode container to store private inodes used by the storage server and a second inode container to store public inodes that are useable by clients of the storage server. During a replication process, a source storage server generates a set of replication operations based on inodes in the public inode container and excluding inodes in the private inode container. In a destination server implementing multiple inode containers, the server generates inodes based on the replication operations and stores the inodes in the public inode container. These new inodes are stored in the public inode container with the same inode number or identifier as the corresponding inode on the source storage server.