Patent ID: 8244998

Claim:
A computer-accessible storage medium storing program instructions executable to: automatically determine configuration information specifying a configuration of a clustered storage system, including: automatically detecting each storage node of a plurality of storage nodes in the clustered storage system, wherein each storage node hosts one or more storage volumes of a plurality of storage volumes, wherein each storage node is connected to one or more backup storage devices of a plurality of backup storage devices, wherein the backup storage devices are different than the storage nodes; for each respective storage node of the plurality of storage nodes, automatically detecting the one or more storage volumes hosted by the respective storage node; for each respective storage node of the plurality of storage nodes, automatically detecting the one or more backup storage devices to which the respective storage node is connected; wherein the program instructions are further executable to store the configuration information in response to said automatically determining the configuration information; and wherein the program instructions are further executable to backup the plurality of storage volumes by performing a plurality of backup tasks, wherein performing each respective backup task comprises: selecting a particular storage volume, a particular storage node, and a particular backup storage device depending upon the configuration information and information indicating currently active backup tasks in the clustered storage system; in response to said selecting, initiating the respective backup task by communicating with the selected storage node to instruct the selected storage node to backup the selected storage volume to the selected backup storage device, wherein the selected storage volume includes a plurality of files, wherein the respective backup task operates to backup each file in the selected storage volume to the selected backup storage device; and updating the information indicating the currently active backup tasks to reflect the initiation of the respective backup task.