In various embodiments, methods and systems for providing access to file systems are provided. An SFA-based operation having an operation modifier for a file in a file system is received. The SFA-based operation is defined based on a file-representational state transfer (REST) interface. The SFA-REST interface comprises integrated functionality of an SFA protocol and REST protocol. The SFA-based operation is executed using the operation modifier. A REST-based operation for the file in the distributed file storage is received. The REST-based operation is defined based on the SFA-REST interface. The operation modifier is referenced in order to execute the REST-based operation. The REST-based operation based on the SFA-REST interface. A schema can be implemented for accessing the file system. The schema includes tables to store files, the table comprises fields corresponding to elements of a SFA-REST interface. A snapshot component can be implemented to backup file shares in the file system.