Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software for data storage systems are provided herein. In one example, a data storage system is provided that includes a processor and a network interface having a tunneled network connection established with another network interface associated with another processor. The processor is configured to receive one or more packets indicating the network interface as a network destination and comprising a storage operation, and inspect at least a storage address included in a header of the one or more packets to determine that the storage operation corresponds to a storage drive managed by the other processor. The processor is configured to establish one or more further packets comprising the storage operation and having a header modified from the one or more packets to indicate a network address of the other network interface, and transfer the one or more further packets for delivery to the other network interface.