A file access method, a system, and a host are provided. According to the method, after obtaining information about first virtual space of a target file, a host allocates, in local virtual address space of the host, second virtual space to the target file, where the first virtual space is space allocated in global virtual address space by a management node in a distributed storage system to the target file. The host converts, according to a correspondence between the first virtual space and the second virtual space, a second access request of accessing the second virtual space into a first access request, where an address of the first virtual space in the first access request includes device information of a first storage node. Then, the host sends the first access request to a network device to route the first access request to the first storage node.