Patent ID: 8041673

Claim:
A hierarchical storage management system for storing data in a network environment, the storage management system comprising: a plurality of backup cells comprising a first plurality of physical backup cells and a second plurality of virtual backup cells; a first manager component comprising one or more computer processors associated with at least one network computing device of a plurality of network computing devices, the first manager component configured to manage backup operations for at least one of the first plurality of physical backup cells; a second manager component associated with at least one of the second plurality of virtual backup cells, wherein the second manager component is configured to execute on at least one of the plurality of network computing devices and further configured to manage backup operations for at least one of the second plurality of virtual backup cells; a media component configured to execute on at least one network computing device of a plurality of network computing devices and being communicatively coupled to at least one storage device to store data to the at least one storage device; a client component configured to execute on at least one of the plurality of network computing devices and to obtain the data from at least one of the plurality of network computing devices according to first parameters maintained by the client component, the client component being further configured to transmit the data to the media component; wherein the second manager component is configured to direct the client component to obtain the data according to second parameters maintained by the second manager component and to perform backup operations on the plurality of virtual backup cells; and wherein the second manager is further controlled by the first manager component and performs backup operations on the plurality of virtual backup cells in response to the first manager component.