System Center Data Protection Manager 2019 Download
Amancio Mccrae
The method System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) uses to protect data varies according to the type of data being protected, and the method of protection you select. This article serves as a primer for how DPM functions. It's intended to educate those new to DPM, or those who may have basic questions about how DPM works. This article covers disk-based protection processes, tape-Based protection processes, recovery process, and the protection policy.
To provide disk-based data protection, the DPM server creates and maintains a replica, or copy, of the data that is on protected servers. The replicas are stored in the storage pool, which consists of a set of disks on the DPM server or on a custom volume. The following illustration shows the basic relationship between a protected volume and its replica.
A simple example of a protection configuration consists of a DPM server and a protected computer. The computer is protected when you install a DPM protection agent on the computer and add its data to a protection group.
Protection agents track changes to protected data and transfer the changes to the DPM server. The protection agent also identifies data on a computer that can be protected and is involved in the recovery process. You must install a protection agent on each computer that you want to protect by using DPM. Protection agents can be installed by DPM, or you can install protection agents manually using applications such as Systems Management Server (SMS).
Protection groups are used to manage the protection of data sources on computers. A protection group is a collection of data sources that share the same protection configuration. Protection configuration is the collection of settings that are common to a protection group, such as the protection group name, protection policy, disk allocations, and replica creation method.
In DPM, for a file volume or share on a server, the protection agent uses a volume filter and the change journal to determine which files have changed and then performs a checksum procedure for these files to synchronize only the changed blocks. During synchronization, these changes are transferred to the DPM server and then applied to the replica to synchronize the replica with the data source. The following figure illustrates the file synchronization process.
As with the protection of file data, if a replica becomes inconsistent with its data source, DPM generates an alert that specifies which server and which data sources are affected. To resolve the problem, the administrator repairs the replica by initiating a synchronization with consistency check on the replica. During a consistency check, DPM performs a block-by-block verification and repairs the replica to make it consistent with the data source.
Each data source is presented in the DPM Administrator Console according to the type of protection you can select for that data source. For example, in the Create New Protection Group Wizard, when you expand a server that contains files and is also running a Virtual Server and an instance of a SQL Server, the data sources are treated as follows:
When you use short-term disk-based protection and long-term tape-based protection, DPM can back up data from the replica volume to tape so that there's no effect on the protected computer. When you use tape-based protection only, DPM backs up the data directly from the protected computer to tape.
DPM protects data on tape through a combination of full and incremental backups from either the protected data source (for short-term protection on tape or for long-term protection on tape when DPM doesn't protect the data on disk) or from the DPM replica (for long-term protection on tape when short-term protection is on disk).
The method of data protection, disk-based or tape-based, makes no difference to the recovery task. You select the recovery point of data that you want to recover, and DPM recovers the data to the protected computer.
DPM can store a maximum of 64 recovery points for each file member of a protection group. For application data sources, DPM can store up to 448 express full backups and up to 96 incremental backups for each express full backup. When storage area limits have been reached and the retention range for the existing recovery points isn't met yet, protection jobs will fail.
Recovery point schedule establishes how many recovery points of this protection group should be created. For file protection, you select the days and times for which you want recovery points created. For data protection of applications that support incremental backups, the synchronization frequency determines the recovery point schedule. For data protection of applications that don't support incremental backups, the express full backup schedule determines the recovery point schedule.
System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) is a software product from Microsoft that provides near-continuous data protection and data recovery in a Microsoft Windows environment. It is part of the Microsoft System Center family of products and is Microsoft's first entry into the near-continuous backup and data recovery. It uses Shadow Copy technology for continuous backups.
Data Protection Manager delivers centralized backup of branch offices and within the data center, by near-continuously protecting changed files at the byte-level to a secondary disk, which can then be backed up to tape. This also enables rapid and reliable recovery from an easily accessible disk instead of waiting to locate and mount tapes.
Hyper-V scheduled backups take a long time to complete because each backup job triggers a consistency check.
Error Message: The replica of Microsoft Hyper-V RCT on is not consistent with the protected data source. DPM has detected changes in file locations or volume configurations of protected objects since the data source was configured for protection. (ID 30135)
Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (SCDPM) offers near-continuous backup and rapid recovery for environments centered on Microsoft technology. SCDPM provides small and mid-size organizations application-aware protection for key workloads such as Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange and SharePoint. SCDPM can be used to back up Windows and Linux virtual machines and supports VMs hosted on Hyper-V and VMware. SCDPM can back up and restore files, folders and volumes and can replicate and restore data between separate localities. For streamlined offsite backup, SCDPM can take advantage of Microsoft Azure Backup for temporary backup and the Azure Recovery Services vault for low-cost, long-term archival backup. (Learn about Progent's Microsoft Azure planning and cloud integration consulting services.)
Data Protection Manager Architecture
Microsoft designed Data Protection Manager with special attention to protecting Microsoft servers and workloads. By supporting Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) and other key protection features built into Microsoft servers and applications, SCDPM can transparently back up and rapidly restore Microsoft-specific entities such as Exchange DAG groups, the distributed components of SharePoint farms, and Windows Hyper-V Clustered Shared Volumes (CSVs). This allows administrators who are not experts in any or all of these technologies to recover data easily and accurately. SCDPM continuously protects the core Microsoft server workloads to a SCDPM server, which then allows disk-based recovery and tape-based, long-term archival storage for a complete backup and recovery solution. A single SCDPM server can support up to 800 virtual machines of 100 GB each and 3,000 Windows client computers.
Using System Center Data Protection Manager with Microsoft Exchange Server
Current versions of SCDPM support Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 and 2016, and can protect Exchange database availability groups (DAGs). SCDPM includes the ability to provide tailored, application-aware protection for Exchange Server and addresses a granularity problem that has historically been a major headache for Exchange administrators. Exchange backup APIs are designed to back up entire databases. However, if you want to restore an individual mailbox or public folder, you have in the past had two choices: either restore the entire database or switch to third-party mailbox-level backup tools. SCDPM allows you to protect one or more storage groups as a whole, while still giving you the ability to restore individual mailboxes.
How Progent Can Help You Benefit from Microsoft Data Protection Manager
Progent's Microsoft-certified Data Protection Manager consultants can help you create practical recovery plans, design an affordable fault-tolerant network infrastructure, deploy a SCDPM-based backup and restore solution, thoroughly test your system, show your IT staff how to manage Microsoft SCDPM, or handle complete IT outsourcing services including off-site hosting of virtual or physical SCDPM servers in Progent's datacenter.
High-Availability Data Centers
Progent's Data Center professionals can show you how to select high availability data centers that meet the specific needs of your company. High availability colocation sites are especially appealing to small and mid-size businesses due to of their affordability and simplified logistics compared to pursuing a do-it-yourself approach. Trying to build an in-house data center that offers even a basic degree of fault tolerance is too expensive for the majority of small businesses. Progent is ready to show you how to get all the advantages of high-availability colocation centers by providing a full range of engineering and maintenance services. For more information, visit High-Availability Data Centers Expertise.
Barracuda Backup Cloud and Offsite Data Backup and Disaster Recovery
Barracuda Backup is a low-cost, subscription-based backup and disaster recovery platform for small and mid-size organizations. A Barracuda Backup solution can include a custom-designed hardware storage device built by Barracuda or a virtual appliance with comparable functionality but which utilizes your existing storage hardware. Barracuda Backup safeguards vital business data produced on-premises, at one or more remote sites, or in the cloud. For disaster protection, you can replicate data to the Barracuda Cloud, to Amazon AWS, or to any location with a Barracuda Backup appliance. Progent is a certified Barracuda partner and Progent's Barracuda Backup consultants offer a wide array of consulting services to help you to plan, configure, manage and troubleshoot a backup and disaster recovery system based on Barracuda technology. For details, see Barracuda Backup and disaster recovery consulting.