1. A method for operating a filing system for a storage area network, the method comprising: receiving an operation to perform on an object in the filing system, wherein the object is represented by a b+ tree in the filing system, wherein information relating to the operation to perform on the object in the filing system is stored in a non-volatile shared memory in the storage area network; retrieving a policy identifier from a localized, nonparallel inode for the object, the policy identifier including a policy identifier attribute; determining a policy from the policy identifier; determining whether execution of the operation is in compliance with the policy; and determining an action to perform based on the determination of compliance with the policy, wherein the policy identifier attribute includes at least one number, reference, identifier, or symbol identifying an attribute or a property of the policy, wherein a network attached storage gateway determines whether to look up the policy in a policy database based on the policy identifier attribute.