A method begins by sending, by a user computing device of a storage network, a read request regarding data to a host computing device of the storage network in accordance with a transport layer protocol, where the read request includes data retrieval information associated the data. The method continues with determining, by the host computing device, a storage entity of the storage network that is storing the data based on the data retrieval information. The method continues with sending, by the host computing device, socket information and data retrieval information to the storage entity. The method continues with sending, by the storage entity, the data directly to the user computing device in accordance with the socket information and using the session identifier.