7. The system of claim 4 , wherein the at least one client application is configured to perform at least one of a backup operation, a restore operation, and a data migration operation.
7. The system of claim 4 , wherein the at least one client application is configured to perform at least one of a backup operation, a restore operation, and a data migration operation. 8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the backup operation backs up and the restore operation restores the metadata object, neither operation requiring the at least one client application to read the metadata object or the populated information of the metadata object independently of the metadata handler.