Patent ID: 7529898

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: creating, at a backup client, a description of a backup, wherein the description of the backup is a common information protocol object, and wherein the common information protocol is CIM; transmitting the description of the backup from the backup client; transmitting, from the backup client, a request for a database to prepare for the backup; requesting a block of data from the database; receiving the block of data, at the backup client; generating, at the backup client, a packet that includes the block of data and metadata, wherein the block of data and the metadata are included in a common information protocol object that is a CIM object, and wherein the packet includes: the common information protocol object that is the CIM object that is a description of the data; a type indicator that is configurable to be indicative of one of a backup operation and a restore operation; a backup type identifier that indicates one of an incremental backup and a differential backup; and a TCP/IP header, a HTTP header, a data size information, a date and time information, a source machine identifying information, a destination machine identifying information, a sequence number, and a source location information; transmitting the packet from the backup client to a server; interpreting, by the server, the packet transmitted by the client; and sending the block of data to a storage device.