1. A distributed data storage system comprising: a plurality of physical storage volumes for storing a plurality of files of data accessible by a single file system; network; a plurality of storage nodes, coupled to said network, each one of said storage nodes having access to each of said files stored on said physical storage volumes, and wherein each of said storage nodes for receiving a request from a client for a storage operation on a file identified in said file system, for processing said storage operation by accessing at least one of said physical volumes, and for transmitting a response for said storage operation to said client.