Patent ID: 8375396

Claim:
A method for a backup procedure with transparent load balancing, the method comprising: performing a preamble phase to determine if a first file is to be backed up from an agent machine to a portal; and in response to the preamble phase indicating that the first file is to be backed up, selecting, based on at least one criterion, which of a plurality of chunking policies to apply to the first file, the plurality of chunking policies including performing chunking of the first file on the agent machine, performing chunking of the first file on the portal, and transmitting the first file to the portal without chunking; applying the selected chunking policy on the first file; and in response to selecting the chunking policy specifying that chunking of the first file is to be performed on the agent machine, calculating hash values for chunks of the first file and determining, based on a comparison of the hash values to hash values at the portal, chunks that are to be transmitted to the portal.