Parallel Network File System (pNFS) is an emerging industry standard for parallel storage input/output (I/O), which is an optional feature of Network File System (NFS) v.4.1. The new technology requires a pNFS client and a pNFS server. The pNFS server manages file metadata and communicates a file layout map to the client, and the client performs direct storage I/O based on the layout. The storage access protocol can be based on files, blocks or objects.