1. A method for backing up virtual machines in a computing environment where the virtual machines are instantiated on one or more nodes in a cluster including proxy nodes, the method comprising: identifying virtual machines to be backed up by proxy nodes that are configured to backup the virtual machines, wherein the virtual machines are associated with a backup load; identifying cluster shared volumes associated with the virtual machines to be backed up; taking a snapshot of the identified cluster shared volumes; assigning ownership of the identified cluster shared volumes to the proxy nodes such that physical disks associated with the identified cluster shared volumes are accessible to the proxy nodes and such that ownership of the identified cluster shared volumes is distributed to the proxy nodes, wherein the identified cluster shared volumes include a first shared volume and a second shared volume; balancing the backup load across the proxy nodes, wherein balancing the backup load across the proxy nodes includes determining a size of data to be backed up from each of the identified cluster shared volumes, and wherein the identified cluster shared volumes are assigned to the proxy nodes beginning with the first shared volume associated with a smallest data size such that a first proxy node is assigned to the first shared volume and a second proxy node is assigned to the second shared volume whose data size is the next smallest; and performing a backup operation through the proxy nodes, wherein the backup operation includes backing up components of the virtual machines, and wherein the component backups of the virtual machines are generated during the backup operation.