A method for providing data protection services in a distributed system hosting a plurality of virtual machines based on lifecycle policies, comprising: updating an asset catalog using respective asset maps associated with each of the virtual machines, wherein the assets are application data hosted by the virtual machines; generating a lifecycle policy of the lifecycle policies using the asset catalog, wherein generating the lifecycle policy of the lifecycle policies using the asset catalog comprises: identifying commonalities between assets specified in the asset catalog; ranking the assets specified in the asset catalog based on the identified commonalities to obtain asset rankings; and generating the lifecycle policy based on the asset rankings, wherein the lifecycle policy is generated based on the asset rankings by: generating a first composite ranking for the virtual machine using the asset rankings of the assets hosted by the virtual machine; generating a second composite ranking for a second virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines using the asset rankings of the assets hosted by the second virtual machine; and adding a priority, based on the first composite ranking, to the lifecycle policy that is higher than a second priority of a second lifecycle policy associated with the second virtual machine; and generating a backup for the virtual machine using the lifecycle policy, wherein the lifecycle policy prioritizes generating the backup for the virtual machine over generating a second backup for the second virtual machine. updating an asset catalog using respective asset maps associated with each of the virtual machines, wherein the assets are application data hosted by the virtual machines; generating a lifecycle policy of the lifecycle policies using the asset catalog, wherein generating the lifecycle policy of the lifecycle policies using the asset catalog comprises: identifying commonalities between assets specified in the asset catalog; ranking the assets specified in the asset catalog based on the identified commonalities to obtain asset rankings; and generating the lifecycle policy based on the asset rankings, wherein the lifecycle policy is generated based on the asset rankings by: generating a first composite ranking for the virtual machine using the asset rankings of the assets hosted by the virtual machine; generating a second composite ranking for a second virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines using the asset rankings of the assets hosted by the second virtual machine; and adding a priority, based on the first composite ranking, to the lifecycle policy that is higher than a second priority of a second lifecycle policy associated with the second virtual machine; and generating a backup for the virtual machine using the lifecycle policy, identifying commonalities between assets specified in the asset catalog; ranking the assets specified in the asset catalog based on the identified commonalities to obtain asset rankings; and generating the lifecycle policy based on the asset rankings, wherein the lifecycle policy is generated based on the asset rankings by: generating a first composite ranking for the virtual machine using the asset rankings of the assets hosted by the virtual machine; generating a second composite ranking for a second virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines using the asset rankings of the assets hosted by the second virtual machine; and adding a priority, based on the first composite ranking, to the lifecycle policy that is higher than a second priority of a second lifecycle policy associated with the second virtual machine; and generating a backup for the virtual machine using the lifecycle policy, generating a first composite ranking for the virtual machine using the asset rankings of the assets hosted by the virtual machine; generating a second composite ranking for a second virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines using the asset rankings of the assets hosted by the second virtual machine; and adding a priority, based on the first composite ranking, to the lifecycle policy that is higher than a second priority of a second lifecycle policy associated with the second virtual machine; and generating a backup for the virtual machine using the lifecycle policy, wherein the lifecycle policy prioritizes generating the backup for the virtual machine over generating a second backup for the second virtual machine.