Deploying System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager

Data Protection Manager 2012 is part of Microsoft System Center 2012 Stack and is designed to help business’s to manage their IT infrastructure. Data Protection Manager is a hybrid data replication and archival product that uses features found in common backup products to provide centralised management for Microsoft-based Servers/End-user workstations.

Data Protection Manager Provides disk-to-disk, disk-to-tape, and disk-to-disk-to-cloud data backup and recovery allowing users to reduce the number of vendors and make infrastructure generic and reducing costs. As we advance into more technological advanced environments we depend on It systems more and more, so if there is an outage for long periods of time, businesses potentially could suffer financial losses. It is essential for IT professionals to recover from outages in the shortest possible times.

Server DPM01 Server

Virtual Machine Recommended Hardware Requirements:

Server Name	Processor	Memory	Disk Space
DPM01	4 Cores	4 GB RAM	120GB

• Windows Server 2008R2 Data Center SP1
• Microsoft PowerShell 2.0
• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
• Windows installer (MSI) 4.5
• Windows Single Instance Store (SIS)
• Virtual C++ 2008 Redistributable

*Cluster Installations of SQL Server are not supported.

DPM Planning: Points to be considered

Data loss Tolerance: acceptable amount of data loss that can be tollerated

Retention Range:  How long should data be stored

Data Recovery speed: difine relistic and acceptable data recovery speed.

End User recovery: what is the requirment.

Protected Data: what needs to be protected

Disaster Recovery: where data should be stored , and the capabilitys of DPM

Protection Groups (PG)

Design and create groups for the systems you would like to protect.

Examples:

Exchange Server 2010 DAG (PG)

File Servers (PG)

Domain Controllers (PG)

Storage Requirements

You cannot use the DPM disk.

DPM stores Replicas and recovery points of protected data using a storage pool.

You can only use space on volumes that are created for storage pools.

Once you have added the required storage it is advised you leave the disks Un partitioned. When you create the protection groups, DPM will create the correct volumes required.

Deployment

SQL Install

Installing SQL using a Local Instance: Installing DPM Using a Local Instance of SQL Server 2008 R2

Ensure that Database services and reporting services are selected.

Ensure that all startup types are set to automatic and set the use the same account for all SQL Server services to NT AuthoritySYSTEM

Ensure That Latin1_General_CI_AD is selected

Pre Requisites before Installing DPM

browse to SCDPM > SQLPrepInstaller. Here execute SQLPrepinstaller_x64.exe.

Install the Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable package by following the wizard.

If you come across the SISFilter error , you will need to run the following command from an elevated Cmd Prompt.

start /wait ocsetup.exe SIS-Limited /quiet /norestart 

DPM Install

As shown in the pre Requisites , you need to run the following cmd

start /wait ocsetup.exe SIS-Limited /quiet /norestart 

You can ether use a dedicated instance of SQL Server or use an existing instance SQL Server from another DPM server.

Enter a secure password for the local user accounts.

Ensure you select windows updates , unless you want to update DPM manualy.

Firewall Rules

Create the following Firewall Rules inbound and outbound:

DPM SQL Server Rule: %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft System Center 2012\DPM\SQL\MSSQL10_50.\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe
DPM SQL Browser Rule: %ProgramFiles% (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Shared\sqlbrowser.exe

Backup Agent Deployment

For Bare metal recovery’s you will need to install the windows backup server feature located in server manager > features.

Extend the Active Directory Schema

To allow the active directory to sync with DPM you need to extend the schema. The easiest way is to run the DPMADSchemaExtension on the Active Directory Domian Controller.

Copy the file DPMADSchemaExtension from the DPM server (copy the file to your Domain Controller c$ path). It is located in the

 C:\Program Files\Microsoft DPM\DPM\End User Recovery folder

Enter the DPM server’s name

Enter the Domain Name

Leave blank and select OK.

Active Directory’s Schema has been extended.

Configuring Storage Pools

When allocating storage you need to ensure that the disks remain un partitioned.

DPM requires storage volumes to be un partitioned and as shown in the Screen shot above.

Select Management and Disks. Select ADD to add storage pools.

Select the Disks you would like to add to the Storage pool.

Create Protection Groups

Protection Groups are groups of servers that are configured to backup at certain times. This allows you to segregate server types and backup systems in various groups.

DPM Error Codes

If you come across any issues with the installation I have included a link to Microsoft’s DPM error codes.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/hh859398.aspx

DPM Troubleshooting

I have also including the link below to assist with troubleshooting any issues you may come across.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/hh872921.aspx

Management Pack

DPM’s Management pack is located on the root of the DPM CD, after importing the management pack to Operations manager, you will be able to monitor backups from the Operations Manager console.

References

Microsoft. (2012). System Center Technical Documentation Library. Available: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc507089.aspx. Last accessed 15 July 2012

Chris Amaris, Rand Moriomoto, Pete Handley, David E. Ross (2012). Microsoft System Center 2012 Unleashed. USA: SAMS. 664-760.

Microsoft. (2012). Microsoft System Center 2012. Available: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/system-center/default.aspx. Last accessed 24 July 2012.