Patent ID: 7979389

Claim:
A system for performing data storage operations on at least one information store, the system comprising: a processor; means for performing a first type of storage operation according to a first set of storage preferences, wherein performing the first type of storage operation includes copying at least a first portion of the information store to one or more storage devices and generating first metadata that describes at least the copied first portion stored on the one or more storage devices, wherein the first metadata has a first format associated with the first type of storage operation; means for performing a second type of storage operation, different from the first storage operation, according to a second set of storage preferences, wherein performing the second type of storage operation includes copying at least a second portion of the information store to one or more storage devices and generating second metadata that describes at least the copied second portion stored on the one or more storage devices, wherein the second metadata has a second format associated with the second type of storage operation, and wherein the second format of metadata is different from the first format of metadata; means for converting metadata, associated with storage operations from multiple information stores employing incompatible formats, into a normalized format; wherein the means for converting converts the first metadata having the first format associated with the first type of storage operation, and the second metadata having the second format associated with the second type of storage operation, into the normalized metadata format, and wherein records or data structures for the first and second sets of storage preferences store an indication of a type of data processing operation to be performed; and, wherein the means for performing the first and second types of storage operations include means for coordinating actions to perform at least one of: fully copying data in the at least one information store, performing snapshots of data in the at least one information store, performing serverless copy of data in the at least one information store, archiving data in the at least one information store, migrating data in the at least one information store, and recovering data in the at least one information store.