1. A system for managing storage operations between multiple servers containing instances of a data object, comprising: a storage operation receiving component that receives a storage request related to the data object; a metabase component containing metadata that at least identifies one or more locations where instances of the data object can be found, wherein the metadata contains classifications of the data object that identify characteristics of the data object related to performing a storage operation; a storage manager component that accesses the metadata and determines which of multiple servers should handle the request; and a storage operation execution component that forwards the storage request to the determined server to handle the request.