Elearning

I told you in my post yesterday that there is no Elearning for DPM available yet. Again thing can change quickly. Microsoft just has released the Elearning track for DPM.

This is a collection of 6 two-hour eLearning modules that include hands-on labs, much of the same courseware as our newly announced classroom-based DPM course, and is built for to prepare you for the DPM Certification exam.

There are six modules –each approximately two-hours long

More on: http://blogs.technet.com/jbuff/archive/2009/08/28/announcing-dpm-elearning-is-now-

Exam 70-658 – Configuring System Center Data Protection Manager 2007

Since a couple of weeks you can take the Microsoft DPM2007 Exam.  Happy with this option, I scheduled the exam for this morning.
When preparing for the exam, I wasn’t sure what to expect. There are no books, CBT or test exams available yet.
And I have to say the exam was a bit more difficult than I first expected. I had to read all the questions carefully..
But the result was good. PASS!!!

Without the books and all that stuff there is still a lot of information available to prepare for the exam.

Below a list of what I used.

• The preparation guide
• Technet documentation
• Secondary protection webcast
• Sharepoint webcast
• Hyper-V webcast
• MS exchange Blog
• The DPM Poweshell CMd help for some basic commands
• A DPM test environment
• and of course my blog :-)

There is also a Microsoft learning track available: Course 50213A. (I did not had the opportunity to take a look at this yet.)

Beside all of this I think it really helps if you have some good experience with setting up, configuring and not the less troubleshooting DPM.

-Good luck!!!, to those of you that will take the test as well-
And let me know what you think of the exam?

DPM v3 Q&A

i Found the Q&A text from the First look on Webcast on DPM v3 posted on the Internet.

You can find them on: http://snefi.freeblog.hu/files/dpm.txt

Change the location of the system state backup file

As you might know, DPM stores the system state of a machine first locally on the protected machine before copying the data to the DPM server. DPM select the most suitable disk for the local copy of the system state when you run the backup for the first time. You might want to change this location when available disk space changes or when you add additional disk to your system.
This can be done by editing the configuration file on the protected computer. 

(Technet)
The backup file of system state is created at %systemdrive%\DPM_SYSTEM_STATE.

To change the location of the system state backup file

1.On the protected computer, open PSDatasourceConfig.xml in an XML or text editor. PSDatasourceConfig.xml is typically located at install path\Program Files\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\DPM\Datasources.

2.Change the <FilesToProtect> value from %systemdrive% to the desired location.

3.Save the file.

4.On the DPM server, if there is a protection group protecting the system state of the protected computer in step 1, run a consistency check.

5.The consistency check will fail and generate an alert. Perform the recommended actions in the alert as follows:

a.In the alert details, click the Modify protection group link, and then step through the wizard.

b.Perform a consistency check

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When you have issues with backing up the system state of the machine you should always check the logs on the local machine.

-Application log
-C:\Windows\Logs\WindowsServerBackup

FI: Backup started at ‘’ failed with following error code '2155348165' ( There was a failure in preparing the backup image of one of the volumes in the backup set. ). Please rerun backup once issue is resolved.

Heavy Weight Consistency Check using PowerShell

David Allen has posted a interesting piece on performing consistency checks checks using Powershell. He also describes the difference between a standard and a Heavy Weight consistent check.

Read it all: http://www.scdpmonline.org/heavy-weight-consistency-check-using-powershell.aspx

Backing Up DPM by Using a Secondary DPM Server

In addition to my Prepare for a DPM server disaster post that describes how to protect the DPM server database locally on disk or tape. Now a link to the TechNet article that describes how to protect the DPM server by using a second server http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb795680.aspx

Prepare for a DPM server disaster

The DPM SQL database (DPMDB) is the most crucial part of your DPM installation. The database contains all your protection group information and tape\disk catalogs.
When this database gets corrupted (believe me this can happen), you will loss all this configuration data.

When you have a single DPM server implementation, you can protect this database in two ways.

• Make a backup\Dump to disk: dpmbackup command
• Make a backup to tape: Create a protection group to include the DPM database

I would recommend to use both techniques to protect your DPM databases.The disk solution allows you to recover the DPM quickly when it gets corrupted. The backup to tape allows you to recover the configuration when the full DPM server has become unavailable.

Make a DPM database backup to disk

• Use the command DPMbackup –db to create a dump of the database to the folder %program files%\Microsoft Data Protection manager\DPM\Volumes\ShadowCopy\Database Backups.
• When you schedule this command to run frequently,it is recommended to save multiple versions of the database. With the DPMbackup –db command you cannot specify a alternative location for the database backup. Therefore it is recommended to copy your database dump to an alternative location. This will prevent you from overwriting a good working copy with a more recent corrupt version.

Restore a DPM database from disk

Before you start:

1. Secure the current DPMDB.BAK database backup, by renaming it: %program files%\\Microsoft DPM\DPM\Volumes\ShadowCopy\Database Backups
2. Next, create a backup of the running database in DPM  with the following command: dpmbackup –DB Also rename this DPMDB.BAK file to DPBDB_before_restore.BAK

Restore database:

1. Use DPMSync to attach the database to DPM.
• DPMSync –RestoreDB –DBLoc (location and name of the database secured in step 1 of before you start) When this database is also corrupt you can use a previous saved version of the database
• DPMSync takes the DPM service offline and attaches the backed up database to SQL Server.
2. Run the command DpmSync –sync
• This will sync the database with the available recovery points
3. Start DPM 2007 Administrator Console. You now have some protection errors to resolve.
4. Secure now the working DPM DB running: DPMBACKUP –DB from the DPM server

Make a DPM database backup to disk

Enable local protection (When using the local SQL installation): 

• Starting with DPM 2007 SP1 it is possible to backup the local files of the DPM server.
• To enable it you need a powershell command (DPM Management Shell): Set-DPMGlobalProperty –AllowLocalDataProtection $true

Protect SQL database:

• Create a new protection group
• Select the local DPM server and select under SQL the DPMDB
• Use long-term protection using tape
• Specify the protection schedule

Recover a DPM database from disk
This is a not the most pleasant solution, since you have to uninstall and reinstall DPM2007. You should only use this when the recovery from disk is not possible

1. create a backup of the running database in DPM  with the following command: dpmbackup –DB ,rename this DPMDB.BAK file to DPBDB_before_restore.BAK
2. Place the tapes with the most recent DPM database backup
3. Uninstall Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 through the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel.

   Important

   Remember to select Retain disk-based recovery points.

4. Restart the computer.
5. Delete the DPM database using SQL Server Management Studio.
6. Install DPM 2007.
7. Restart the computer
8. Install the same level of Service pack and latest hotfixes
9. Restart the server again
10. Secure the now clean Database
• Run the command dpmbackup –DB
11. Open the Libraries tab on the Management tab of DPM Administrator Console.
12. Click Rescan on the Actions pane. Go to Updating Tape Library Information for more information on using the Rescan option.
13. Select the library from the list and click Inventory libraries… and perform a detailed inventory from the Actions pane.
14. Select the imported tape from the list and click Recatalog imported tape on the Actions pane.
• Do this for all tapes on which the DPM database resides
15. Open the Recovery tab from DPM Administrator Console.
16. Select the DPMDB by expanding the External Tapes node.
17. Click Recover on the Actions pane.
18. Restore the database files to a separate folder
19. All DPM and SQL services must be stopped.
20. Rename the following Database files .\DPMDB:
• a) DPMDB2007RTM.mdf to DPMDB2007RTM.mdf.old
• b) DPMDB2007RTM_log.ldf to DPMDB2007RTM_log.ldf.old
21. Copy the restored database files to the location .\DPMDB
22. Start first the SQL services, next start the DPM services
23. When all services are started again:Run the command DpmSync –sync
• This will sync the database with the available recovery points
24. Start the DPM administrative console
• If this works > DPM should be up, you now have some protection errors to resolve
• If this not work try step 15 to 23 for with the two other versions of the database

***Secure the now working database Run the command dpmbackup –DB

DPM Vodcasts

On the Microsoft Technet Edge site are 8 videos available on various DPM 2007 sp1 subjects.

How to protect SharePoint with DPM 2007 sp1
DPM 2007 SP1 -- how to do individual item restore for Exchange
DPM 2007 SP1 – Licensing
SharePoint Backup/Recovery with Michael Noel
DPM 2007 SP1 -- Protecting Hyper-V
DPM 2007 SP1 -- What's new for protecting SharePoint
Data Protection Manager with Jason Buffington
DPM 2007 SP1 -- How does DPM really work

More on: http://edge.technet.com/tags/DPM/