Software implementing a volume location service on a computer is responsible for instructing clients where they can find volumes on a distributed file system storing instances of desired resources. A user queries the volume location service software for the location of instances of a desired resource. The user can also specify attributes (e.g., read-only access) to reduce the number of returned hosts. The volume location service software accesses a back-end database for the hosts with the optional attribute storing resource instances. The back-end database stores information about what hosts store instances of what resources. The back-end database is pluggable, and can be changed as desired by the administrator of the volume location service. The volume location service software then returns to the user the found hosts.