Data of a global file system spread over multiple local NAS systems may be
consolidated as a copy into a single remote NAS system. When remote copy
is set up, the local NAS systems replace referrals within the global file
system with directories and send these in place of the referrals to the
remote NAS system. Then, other local NAS systems referred to by the
referrals send files and directories under the directories replacing the
referrals on the remote NAS system. Alternatively, to split copy data of
a locally-stored global file system amongst multiple remote NAS systems,
the local NAS system replaces specified directories with referrals, and
sends the referrals with the data to one of the remote NAS systems. Then,
the local NAS system sends files and directories under the directories
replaced with referrals to one or more other remote NAS systems as
referred to by the referrals.