Abstract: A technique retrieves information from an electronic object source. The technique involves receiving a user command from a user. The user command requires data from the electronic object source. The technique further involves generating object requests in response to the user command. The object requests have (i) respective task identifiers and (ii) respective priority identifiers. The task identifiers identify tasks to be performed by the electronic object source. The priority identifiers identify priorities of the object requests. The technique further involves processing the object requests based on the priority identifiers of the object requests to obtain objects from the electronic object source, the objects including the data required by the user command, and the data resulting from the electronic object source performing the tasks identified by the task identifiers of the object requests. Such a technique is well-suited for data storage system applications, among other things.