Cloud scale directory services

Abstract

Embodiments described herein are directed to providing scalability to software applications. A computer system partitions a portion of data stored in a directory services system into multiple different data partitions. Each data partition includes a primary writable copy and at least one secondary read-only copy of the data. The computer system receives a client request for a portion of the data that is stored in the directory services system and accesses various stored partition mappings to determine which of the different data partitions includes the requested data. The computer system also accesses a dynamic copy locator to determine which of the read-only copies of the indicated partition to access and provide the accessed primary writeable copy of the indicated partition and the determined read-only copy to the client in a virtualized manner so that the client is not aware of the data partitions.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A for providing cloud scale data access to a plurality of clients, the system comprising one or more processors, system memory, and computer-executable instructions that cause the system to perform a method comprising:
 partitioning a portion of data stored in a directory services system into a plurality of different data partitions, wherein each data partition includes a primary writable copy and at least one secondary read-only copy of the data, and wherein the directory services system is configured to provide data to a limited number of clients;   receiving a client request for a portion of the data that is stored in the directory services system;   accessing one or more stored partition mappings to determine which of the plurality of different data partitions includes the requested data;   accessing a dynamic copy locator to determine which of the read-only copies of the indicated partition to access; and   providing the accessed primary writeable copy of the indicated partition and the determined read-only copy to the client in a virtualized manner which obscures the data partitions from the client.