METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR ACCESSING SHARED DATA

The system of the invention is a data server that can provide access to data, such as mainframe data, by open systems platforms. The system includes a shared storage interface coupling a first computing system to a shared storage device in which the shared data is maintained by a second computing system in a manner that is not natively compatible to the first computing system. The computing system further includes a data access server which executes on the processor in the first computing system. When executing, the data access server receives, via the network interface, a client message to access data on the shared storage device and in response to receiving the client message, retrieves, via the network interface, data storage information provided from the second computing system coupled to the first computing system. The data storage information is stored in the memory system and allows the data access server on the first computing system to access the data in the shared storage device in a manner that is compatible with the first computing system. The data access server can also provide a virtual file system to allow networked clients that implement file or other data sharing protocols such as NFS and CIFS.