INTEGRATING ANTI-VIRUS IN A CLUSTERED STORAGE SYSTEM

A method and system for integrating anti-virus in a clustered storage system. A clustered storage system provides anti-virus scanning with third-party software components. Specifically, the clustered storage system receives a request to access data from a client, retrieves the data from storage, and scans the data for viruses with third party software components that have been previously provided any one of a number of third party software vendors. If the data is free of viruses, the clustered storage system communicates the data to the client. Otherwise, the clustered storage system attempts to apply remedial actions to the infected file. For example, the clustered storage system may attempt to repair the file by removing the virus. If remedial action successfully removes the virus, the clustered storage system communicates the requested data to the client. Otherwise, the clustered storage system communicates an access denied message to the client.