Patent ID: 8589798

Claim:
A method for administering a storage network comprising heterogeneous client devices, the method comprising: displaying with a management console information regarding backup data stored in a plurality of heterogeneous client devices, wherein the backup data of each client device is stored in a different backup format and generated by a different native application, and wherein the management console integrates a plurality of utilities for performing a plurality of data management operations on the backup data of the plurality of heterogeneous client devices, wherein the management console further provides a single interface for the plurality of utilities, the utilities including a data migration utility for migrating data stored in different backup formats to secondary storage; accessing with the management console a data structure storing metadata obtained from the heterogeneous client devices, the data structure including last access time information associated with the backup data of the plurality of heterogeneous client devices; reviewing the accessed last access time information; based at least partly on said reviewing, selecting backup data from at least two client devices of the plurality of heterogeneous client devices, the selected backup data including first backup data stored in a first client device of the at least two client devices and stored in a first backup format, the selected backup data further including second backup data stored in a second client device of the at least two client devices and stored in a second backup format that is different than the first backup format, where the review indicates that the selected backup data has not been accessed for a threshold period of time; with a data connector associated with the first client device, obtaining the first backup data from backup media associated with the first client device; with a data connector associated with the second client device, obtaining the second backup data from backup media associated with the second client device; and with the management console, performing a data migration operation on the selected backup data of the at least two client devices, said performing comprising migrating the obtained selected backup data to secondary storage.