Systems and methods are disclosed for clients and servers operating in a scaled cluster environment. Efficiencies are introduced to the process of connecting a client to a clustered environment by providing the client with the ability to attempt a connection with multiple servers in parallel. Servers operating the in the clustered environment are also capable of providing persistent storage of file handles and other state information. Ownership of the state information and persistent handles may be transferred between servers, thereby providing clients with the opportunity to move from one server to another while maintaining access to resources in the clustered environment.