Patent ID: 7958152

Claim:
A system, wherein a server node is coupled to a plurality of client nodes, the system comprising: memory; and processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is operable to: (i) generate a data structure corresponding to a set of client nodes selected from the plurality of client nodes; (ii) store, in the data structure, objects from the selected set of client nodes; (iii) determine that an object corresponding to a client node of the selected set of client nodes has to be stored; (iv) determine whether the object has already been stored in the data structure by any client node of the selected set of client nodes; and (v) store the object in the data structure, in response to determining that the object has not already been stored in the data structure by any client node of the selected set of client nodes, wherein the selected set of client nodes share common objects that are stored in the data structure on the server node, and wherein redundant files are eliminated by storing the common objects of the selected set of client nodes in the data structure generated on the server node.