Patent ID: 7127479

Claim:
A method for creating a catalog for describing backup data, wherein the method comprises: receiving a plurality of messages at a first computer system from a second computer system, wherein each message comprises information describing a node in a filesystem, wherein the information in each message comprises hierarchy information describing a node in the filesystem or attribute information describing a node in the filesystem; for each message comprising hierarchy information describing a node in the filesystem, creating an entry for the respective node in the catalog and storing the hierarchy information for the respective node in the catalog, wherein creating the entry for the respective node in the catalog and storing said hierarchy information for the respective node in the catalog for each of at least some of the plurality of messages are performed prior to receipt by the first computer system of others of said plurality of messages; and for each message comprising attribute information describing a node in the filesystem, storing the attribute information for the respective node in the catalog, wherein the storing of said attribute information for the respective node in the catalog for each of at least some of the plurality of messages is performed prior to receipt by the first computer system of others of said plurality of messages.