DPM June QFE KB970867

The in June released hotfix rollup package for System Center Data Protection KB970867 fixes 9 issues.

Issue 1
If you enable library sharing, you cannot delete a protection group, and you receive the following error message.
Issue 2
The SharePoint backup process fails if DPM 2007 cannot back up a content database. If you install this update, the SharePoint backup process will finish. However, an alert will be raised if DPM 2007 cannot back up a content database.
Issue 3
DPM 2007 jobs randomly fail. In the administrator console, you see error code 0x800706BA if you check the detailed information about the failed job.
Issue 4
DPM 2007 does not delete directories that are no longer being protected from the replica volume.
Issue 5
After you install this update rollup, you can configure DPM 2007 to perform VSS copy backup.
Issue 6
Reconciling a VSS shadow copy causes the DPM 2007 service to crash.
Issue 7
The DPM 2007 service crashes if a tape backup job is canceled during the CheckConcurrencyBlock operation.
Issue 8
The Pruneshadowcopies.ps1 script cannot delete expired recovery points.
Issue 9
If a parent backup job of a SharePoint farm fails, but the child backup succeeds, the DPM 2007 service crashes.

After the installation of this rollup you do need to update your agents. You do not need to rebooted the protected servers.

More info and download link at Microsoft

Fast inventory fails

Found that the fast inventory of the Tape library in DPM can fail or show the wrong results in some cases. According to a newsgroup post this can be caused (in certain types of libraries) by the press of a cleaning tape.

The post reports this for IBM 35XX series and HP 1/8 tape libraries. We have seen the same issue on the Dell TL2000 tape library which is actually an IBM Totalstorage 3573 Tape library.

The workaround is to remove the cleaning tape from the library.

The newsgroup threat also describes a fix setting a registry key. (I have not tried this yet)

The rekey fix is to handle some  unexpected behavior of tape library. The issue is when there is cleaner media present in some library element (slot/drive/transport ) the IOCTL_CHANGER_GET_ELEMENT_STATUS for that particular elment returns with ELEMENT_STATUS_EXCEPT set in CHANGER_ELEMENT_STATUS.Flags and CHANGER_ELEMENT_STATUS.ExceptionCode is set to ERROR_UNHANDLED_ERROR.  This is unexpected behavior as per WHQL and as a result of this you will see Fast  Inventory failing with "Hardware Issue". The workaround is added in DPM 2007 SP1 and we have seen this issue with only IBM 35XX series and HP 1/8 tape library

Thanks to Sachin

Link to full newsgroup threat

Poll: What should DPM v3 include?

Microsoft is working on the next version of DPM. The First public beta will properly available at the end of the summer or in the fall?

Some of the new features that DPM v3 will include were shown during a recent webcast. But what should DPM v3 include according to you?

You can select multiple items from the list

• Improved Tape backup support: Allow to configure in more detail when backups run, exclude certain dates from the schedule, specify which tapes should be used when.
• Support for None Microsoft OS/applications: In the 2007 release only applications that have a VSS writer available are supported. Other applications are supported using a flat file dump/backup.
• Protect none (trusted) domain servers: A machine in a none trusted domain or in a workgroup cannot be directly protected by DMP2007
• Management console on another computer: The graphical interface can only be installed on the DPM2007 server itself. The PowerShell management shell can be installed on a remote management station as well.
• More standard repots: Are the reports of the current DPM version sufficient or should v3 include more reports
• Improved documentation: Is the documentation sufficient or should v3 include more/better documentation
• Better SAN integration: Does the SAN integration need improvement
• Exchange single mail restore: DPM2007 restores the full mailbox store, with Powershell you select the mailbox to recover.
• USB/Firewire storage support: There is no native support for backups to USB/Firewire disk. A workaround that works is installing a virtual tape drive

Other suggestions, drop me a mail!

May I have your Votes please!!!

This is just a informational poll, I do not have any influence on what will be in the next version of DPM. But you never know :-)

Newly Published Content for Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007

The title says it all; All newly post Technet articles on DPM:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc511259.aspx

The DPMRA service terminated with service-specific error 10048

After maintenance on one of the Exchange CAS/HUB servers the DPM server could not contact the DPM agent anymore.

The Error Code:

Log Name:      System
Source:        Service Control Manager
Date:          17-7-2009 14:36:34
Event ID:      7024
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      servername.domain.local
Description:
The DPMRA service terminated with service-specific error 10048 (0x2740).

This article on Microsoft site tells that this could be caused by another service running on the ports used by DPMRA service. (port 5718 and 5719)

To find which service this is you can use the command netstat –oan, this returns the ports and the corresponding PID. With the command tasklist /svc  you find the service involved.

In this case the service MSExchangeFDS (Microsoft Exchange File Distribution) was running on both ports.

We used the following work around:

• Stop the Microsoft Exchange File Distribution service
• Set the DPMRA service from manual to automatically
• Start the DPMRA service
• Start the Microsoft Exchange File Distribution service

This work around fixed the issue for us.

…
Thanks to Karl

Exchange 2007 Restore with DPM and PowerShell

 

Set-up Overview

This post shows how to recover a mailbox using DPM and Powershell commands

For the examples in this post we use the following set-up

• Exchange 2007 CCR cluster: EXc01
• Storage group to recover from: SG01
• Mailbox to recover from: MBXStore01
• User to recover: Matthijs
• User to recover mail to: Manager
• Disk for recovery storage group: E:\
• Name recovery storage group: Recovery Storage Group

High-level steps for a recovery

• Create recovery storage group;
• Restore data to Recovery Storage Group;
• Copy/merge mail to target mailbox;
• Remove Recovery Storage Group.

Restore to recovery Storage Group

Task description	Example
If you do not have an existing Recovery Storage Group, create one by using the new-storagegroup cmdlet in Exchange Management Shell. Logon to the Active node of the Exchange cluster Start the exchange management shell Create a Recovery Storage Group (RSG) by running the following Exchange Management Shell cmdlet: [PS] new-storagegroup -Server [servername] -LogFolderPath [log file path] -Name “Recovery Storage Group” -SystemFolderPath [database directory] Recovery	new-storagegroup -Server exc01 -LogFolderPath E:\RSG -Name “Recovery Storage Group” -SystemFolderPath E:\RSG -Recovery
Add a recovery database to the RSG by running the following Exchange Management Shell cmdlet: [PS] new-mailboxdatabase -mailboxdatabasetorecover [database_name] -storagegroup [Server_name\RSG_name] -edbfilepath [database_path] This creates a mailbox on exchangeserver1\RSG\DB11. The .edb file name must be the same as the .edb file name for the mailbox you are recovering.	new-mailboxdatabase -mailboxdatabasetorecover exc01\SG01\MBXStore01 -storagegroup "exc01\Recovery Storage Group" -edbfilepath E:\RSG\MBXStore01.edb
Logon to the DPM server start DPM administrative console Select the recovery TAB
On the left side of the window select the Exchange cluster for which you want to perform a system state restore Expand the domain name, expand the cluster name Expand All protected data Exchange data Select the storagegroup that contains the mailbox to restore
In the middle of the window (lower screen) First select the mailbox store and select the users mailbox (Uper screen)select the data and additionally the time of the mailbox to restore. In the right side of the click recover
The recovery wizard start Check the selected settings and click next In the Select recover type window, select Recover the mailbox to an Exchange Server and click Next
In the specify destination type: Exchange server: [Exchange mailbox cluster] EXC01 Storage group name: Recovery Storage Group Database name: [RSG_databasename] mbxstore01 In the specify recovery options window, leave all settings default and click Next In the summary window, check all settings and click recover In the Recover status window, check the status and click close

     

Restore mailbox content to other mailbox

Task description	Example
Logon to the exchange cluster again Open the Exchange management Shell
Restore the content of a mailbox to another mailbox in a special folder Start by running the following Exchange Management Shell cmdlet: restore-mailbox -RSGMailbox [mailbox in RSG*] -rsgdatabase [RSG_Name\Mailbox_database_name] –baditemlimit 10-id [target_mailbox*] -Targetfolder [target_folder] *Use the display name	restore-mailbox -RSGMailbox "Matthijs" -rsgdatabase "Recovery storage group\MBXstore01" –baditemlimit 10 -id "manager” -Targetfolder "restore van Matthijs 20090704"
The confirmation question will be displayed. Check the action described and Click Y	Confirm Are you sure you want to perform this action? Recovering mailbox content from the mailbox 'Vreeken, Matthijs' in the recovery database 'EXC01\Recovery Storage
The mailbox restore is in progress
The results are displayed
In outlook there is a new folder created with the content of the restored mailbox

Restore lost mail to original mail box merge

Task description	Example
Logon to the exchange cluster again Open the Exchange management Shell
Restore the content of a mailbox to another mailbox in a special folder Start by running the following Exchange Management Shell cmdlet: restore-mailbox -id [mailbox in RSG*] -rsgdatabase [RSG_Name\Mailbox_database_name] –baditemlimit 10 *Use the display name	restore-mailbox -id "’matthijs" -rsgdatabase "Recovery storage group\MBXstore01" -baditemlimit 10
The confirmation question will be displayed. Check the action described and Click Y
The mail restore is in progress
The results are displayed
In outlook there is a new folder created with the content of the restored mailbox

Other useful restore command:

Restore only emails received/send between specify data:
Restore-mailbox _RSGMailbox <Mailbox_name_In_RSG> –RSGDatabase <RSG_Name>\<Mailbox_DatabaseName> –ID <Mailbox_Name_To_restore> –TargetFolder <Folder_Name> –StartDate <Start_date> –EndDate <EndDate>

Remove recovery storage group

Task description	Example
Logon to the exchange cluster again Open the Exchange management Shell
Dismount the database with the command: dismount-database -identity "[server_name\RSG_Name\Mailbox_database_name]”	dismount-database -identity "exc01\Recovery Storage Group\MBXstore01"
The confirmation question will be displayed. Check the action described and Click Y
Remove the mailbox from the Recovery Storage Group with the command: Remove-mailboxdatabase –identity <server_name\RSG_name\Database_name>	Remove-mailboxdatabase -identity "exc01\recovery storage group\MBXstore01"
The confirmation question will be displayed. Check the action described and Click Y
The move the Recovery Storage group with the following command: remove-storagegroup –identity <server_name\RSG_name>	remove-storagegroup –identity “exc01\recovery storage group”
The confirmation question will be displayed. Check the action described and Click Y
The recovery storage group has been removed from exchange.
Now remove the files from the Recovery Storage Group directory	E:\RSG\*.*

Downloaded PowerShell Scripts won’t run

When you download PowerShell scripts from the internet you might find that they do not work on your local (DPM) Server.
The reason is PowerShell is configured to run in the most secure mode by default. This mode is the "Restricted" execution policy, in which PowerShell operates as an interactive shell only.

Error message:

The file C:\downloaded_script.ps1 cannot be loaded. The execution of scripts is disabled on this system. Please see "Get-Help about_signing" for more details

You can change this behavior with Set-ExecutionPolicy command in PowerShell

Example:

• Set-ExecutionPolicy Allsigned (Runs only signed scripts)
• Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted (Runs all scripts signed and unsigned)

More options and information at: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/SigningPowerShellScripts.aspx

Regional Settings

I Found some unexpected behavior on a DPM server that is configured with an English OS, but with the Dutch regional settings.

When using the command: set-dpmGlobalproperty –DPMserverName <servername> -TapewritePeriodRatio 0.2 (this command configures the DPM settings for marking tapes ready for offsite storage)

This command works and the settings seem to be update.

When you after that request the active settings with the command: get-dpmGlobalproperty –DPMserverName <servername> TapewritePeriodRatio. You get the value back in the Dutch regional format, which is 0,2. (see above)

The workaround is to configure the server with US regional settings at least for the decimal symbol and digit grouping symbol

Thanks to Peer for his help on this.

Reporting does not work with DPM 2007 on Server 2008 x64

When Running Windows Server 2008 x64 with DPM 2007 x64 you can ‘run’ into the following issue. When clicking on the Reporting Tab the following message appears:

DPM could not connect to SQL Server Reporting Services server because of IIS connectivity issues.

On the computer on which the DPM database was created, restart the World Wide Web Publishing Service. On the Administrative Tools menu, select Services. Right-click World Wide Web Publishing Service, and then click Start.

ID: 3013

The solution is within IIS:

1. In IIS Manager, open the Sites folder, and then open the folder of the
Web site that contains the report server virtual directory.
2. Select the report server virtual directory .
3. In the IIS area, open Handler mappings.

4. In the Actions pane, click Edit Feature Permissions.
5. Click Script.
6. Click OK

DPM v3

Microsoft has released a First look on Webcast on DPM v3.
The most important features and changes are:

Exchange

Support for Exchange 14

Improve restore granularity

SQL
Protect entire instances and auto discover new databases
End User Recovery for SQL administrators

SharePoint
No recovery farm required with Office 14 (because Office 14 does not require one)
Auto protect of new content databases

Hyper-V
Item restore from VHD disks (when protection the host )
Support for live migrationRestore to alternative host

Active Directory
AD will be a selectable data source (in DPM2007 you need to select the system state)

Bare metal restore
Windows 2003 will still use the DPM System recovery tool
Windows 2008 will use image recovery

New data sources
Microsoft Dynamics (will be made available for DPM2007 as well)
Microsoft SAP (will be made available for DPM2007 as well)

Laptop
Microsoft will put a lot of effort in the Laptop protection opions with DPM v3
Backup over VPN
Support for up to 1000 clients per DPM server
Unique user data only, OS is not included multiple times
End user recovery from local and DPM data

DPM v3 Scalability
100 servers, or 1000 laptops or 2000 databases
80 TB of live data

Other facts
DPM chain support (3 levels instant of 2 levels)
64 bits only server side (still 32 bits clients)
Windows 2008 or better server OS for DPM server
More granularity in creating recovery points (time and how often)
Public beta for DPM v3 late summer or fall

Overall: The main focus will be on Microsoft based products, using the product build-in backup and recovery technology. V3 has special attention for Client support. Link to the webcast http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032412466