Patent ID: 8615482

Claim:
A method comprising: identifying a plurality of volumes, in response to receiving a request to backup a plurality of applications, wherein the identifying the plurality of volumes comprises identifying which volumes are used by the plurality of applications to be backed up; identifying a minimal set of snapshot providers from a plurality of snapshot providers, wherein the identifying the minimal set comprises identifying which of the plurality of snapshot providers support the identified plurality of volumes identifying whether a particular snapshot provider of the minimal set of snapshot providers can create a transportable snapshot; when the particular provider of the minimal set of snapshot providers cannot create a transportable snapshot, aborting the method; when the particular provider of the minimal set of snapshot providers can create a transportable snapshot, causing the minimal set of snapshot providers to create a plurality of snapshots, wherein each of the snapshots is a snapshot of a respective one of the plurality of volumes; causing the plurality of snapshots to be transported to a media server, wherein the media server is configured to perform the backup of the plurality of the applications using the plurality of snapshots, and wherein the identifying the plurality of volumes, the identifying the minimal set of snapshot providers, the causing the minimal set, and the causing the plurality of snapshots are performed by a computing device configured as a backup server; and data mining the plurality of snapshots for specific information.