1. In a redundant array of independent nodes networked together, wherein each node executes an instance of an application that provides object-based storage, a protection management method, comprising: for each of a set of one or more protection levels, grouping the nodes within one or more protection sets, wherein a number of nodes within a protection set is a function of a given protection level and, at the time of grouping, a given node is a member of one, and only one, protection set; and as a given object is stored in a node within a given protection set, storing one or more copies of the given object within nodes of the given protection set, and no other protection set.