The present disclosure is directed to a method for communication between an initiator system and a block storage cluster. The method may comprise initiating an input/output (I/O) request from the initiator system to a first storage system included in a plurality of storage systems of the block storage cluster, each of the plurality of storage systems comprising a plurality of data segments; receiving a referral response from the first storage system, the referral response providing information describing a layout of data requested in the I/O request; obtaining a virtual disk count, a segment size, and at least one indexed port identifier based on the referral response; and directing the I/O request from the initiator system to the block storage cluster based on the virtual disk count, the segment size, and the at least one indexed port identifier.