Provided are a system and article of manufacture for performing scheduled backups of a backup node associated with a plurality of agent nodes. Backup data sets on at least one machine in a network are associated with a backup node and a plurality of agent nodes in the network are associated with the backup node. The agent nodes are associated with machines in the network capable of backing up the backup data sets associated with the backup node. A schedule indicating a scheduled backup to backup scheduled data sets associated with the backup node is processed. At least one of the agent nodes is contacted to request the at least one agent node to perform the scheduled backup and backup the scheduled data sets, wherein the at least one contacted agent node performs the scheduled backup to backup the scheduled backup sets.