SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR UTILIZING SPARSE DATA CONTAINERS IN A STRIPED VOLUME SET

A storage system architecture comprises one or more volumes distributed across the plurality of nodes interconnected as a cluster. The volumes are organized as a striped volume set (SVS) and configured to store content of data containers served by the cluster in response to data access requests issued by clients. The content of each data container is apportioned among the volumes of the SVS to thereby improve efficiency and storage service provided by the cluster. Each data container is implemented on each of the volumes of the SVS as a sparse data container which stores data amongst sections of sparseness within the data container.