An apparatus comprises a storage system comprising a plurality of storage nodes each comprising one or more storage devices. Each of the storage nodes further comprises a network protocol target configured to receive delivery of input-output (IO) operations from a network protocol initiator of a host device, a data server configured to execute the IO operations on a given storage node, and a data client configured to communicate the IO operations to at least one of the data server on the given storage node and one or more data servers corresponding to one or more additional ones of the plurality of storage nodes. The data client has knowledge of a distribution of data across the plurality of storage nodes.