Methods and systems for improved access to storage resources include installing a virtual storage appliance as a virtual machine on a hypervisor. The virtual storage appliance installs itself as a virtual PCI-E device and communicates with guest operating systems of the hypervisor using direct memory access via a PCI-E non-transparent bridge. The storage virtual appliance provides access to local and external storage resources with very high performance to applications running under the guest operating system, thereby overcoming performance barriers associated with native hypervisor driver models.