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Data Protection Manager - General announcements

Data Protection Manager - Tape Protection announcements

  • Link
    User Voice Feedback Forum!! - Data Protection Manager
    Andy Nadarewistsch

    Have feedback or a suggestion to improve DPM? We have added DPM and Azure back-up on user voice feedback forum on Azure.  We had piloted this initially with Azure backup and were thrilled with all the feedback/ideas. We have now added SCDPM to it as well. Would love to hear your ideas and feedback.  If you see an idea you like, vote for it ! If you have a new ideas, post it (the search bar will tell you if there is a similar idea so do check that before you post a new idea).

    Go to - http://feedback.azure.com/forums/258995-azure-backup-and-scdpm

  • Link
    DPM 2012 Sp1 / R2 and Windows 2012 / R2 - Virtual Fibre Channel attached tape library support.
    Mike Jacquet

    Both Windows 2012 and Windows 2012 R2 Hyper-V server have support for Virtual Fibre Channel (vFC) which allow you to attach physical fibre channel devices inside a Hyper-V guest running Windows 2012 / R2.

    System Center Data Protection Manager 2012 SP1 and later support running on Windows 2012.  
    System Center Data Protection Manager 2012 R2 is also supported running on Windows 2012 R2.

    When running DPM 2012.. in a Windows 2012 virtual machine, using the synthetic FC to connect to a tape drive / library is not supported because Windows 2012 does not currently offer support for it.

    However, DPM 2012 R2 +Sp3 or later running in Windows 2012 R2 virtual machine does support using the Vfc to connect to a fiber attached tape library

    This is documented in the following TechNet articles.

    Windows: Hyper-V Virtual Fibre Channel Overview

    DPM:  Verifying tape library compatibility  - see the section labeled: Run the compatibility tool for Hyper-V Fibre Channel

  • Link
    Creating and using certifcates for DPM tape backups.
    Mike Jacquet

    Below are quick links for using certificates encrypting DPM tape backups for all versions of DPM.

    How to Create Self-Signed Certificates for Successful Encryptions
    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff399364.aspx

    MakeCert.exe is available as part of the Windows SDK, which you can download from one of the below links:

    http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=84091.
          http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa386968(v=vs.85).aspx

    You can install Windows SDK and select option “Tools” under “.Net Development” and   unchecked everything else for installing makecert.exe only.

    How to Import Certificates into DPMBackupStore
    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff399563.aspx


    People who have to have deal with Real Certificate Authorities can use the following information to assist with their requests:
     
    If you are dealing with an organization that uses a Windows CA, have them issue a certificate based on the "Web Server" Template.
    If you are dealing with an organization that uses another vendors CA, request that they issue you a certificate with the following:
     
    Key Usages = Digital Signature, Non-Repudiation, Key Encipherment, Data Encipherment
    Extended Key Usage = Server Authentication
     
    The above match the values of your self generated certificate.

  • Link
    Support for IBM System Storage TS2900 Tape Autoloader Added to DPM 2010 and beyond
    Mike Jacquet

    DPM 2010 now supports the IBM System Storage TS2900 / TS357X Tape Autoloader after installing this DPM 2010 or later Hotfix.

    2465832 Description of the hotfix rollup package for System Center Data Protection Manager 2010: March 2011
    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-US;2465832

    However, you must also add this registry key before that fix will be implemented.

    Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\Agent
DWORD: RSMCompatMode
Value: 29 (Decimal)


  • Link
    DPM compatible Tape libraries
    Mike Jacquet

    ·     Windows 2012 no longer has a tape library compatibility certification tests, so NO vendors tape libraries will show as being certified in the Windows catalog.  For that reason the guidance we're giving customers is if the library is listed on the Windows server catalog under the hardware / storage section and shows compatible with Windows 2008 X64 or Windows 2008 R2 x64, then it should work fine with all versions of DPM.  Any driver incompatibilities with Windows 2012 will need to be addressed by the vendor.  
    http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/

    Compatible tape libraries - Applies To: System Center 2012 - Data Protection Manager, System Center 2012 SP1 - Data Protection Manager
    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh916523.aspx


    Also leverage the DPM 2007 compatibility list, anything on this list should work on DPM2010 if they have Windows 2008 X64 drivers.

    System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 Tested Hardware
    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/dpm/cc678583.aspx

    If you cannot find support for the library, you can download and run the DPMtapeLibraryCompatibilityChecker tool from the following page.

    Verifying tape library compatibility


    For Standalone drive.
    =====================

    Run the following command to list libraries attached to the system.

    DPMLibraryTest.exe /Certify /LL


    Run the following command, where \\.\tape######## is the symbolic name of the tape drive to test from the output of the /LL command.


    DPMLibraryTest.exe /CERTIFY /TL \\.\Tape2147483646 /SA


    For tape library
    ================

    Run the following command to list the libraries attached to the system:

    DPMLibraryTest.exe /Certify /LL

    Run the following command, where \\.\Changer# is the symbolic name of the tape library to test from the output of the /LL command.

    DPMLibraryTest.exe /CERTIFY /TL \\.\Changer0 /ST 1 2 4 5

     

    Description of the tests.

    Test 1: Basic Configuration
    This test will scan your system for attached devices. It will identify the libraries and the stand-alone drives attached to your system and give you a summary of what it finds. For each device, you will see a Device Name, Serial Number, Vendor Name, Product Name, Firmware Revision and SCSI properties.
    At the end of this test, the user must verify whether all the information as seen by the tool. If the information is incorrect, check the following:
    • Check if all the devices are listed in Device Manager.
    • Ensure that the drivers for the devices are up-to-date.
    • If the drive mappings are incorrect, use the DPMDriveMapping.exe to correct the mappings. If you do not have DPM installed on the computer, copy the DPMLA.xml that DPMDriveMapping.exe creates to the folder to which you extracted the Tape Library Certification tool.

    Test 2: Mount/Dismount
    This test will pick a tape from the first available slot and perform a mount/dismount of that tape to/from a drive.

    Test3: Drive Cleaning
    A cleaner cartridge in needed for this test to run. Please read the pre-requisites section for this test. If you are using Firestreamer or a VTL where you cannot remove/change tapes, please use the /ST flag of the tool to skip the cleaner test.

    Test4: I/E Media
    This test will pick up the first available tape and move it to the I/E port and back. If your library/VTL does not have I/E ports the tool will automatically skip the test.

    Test5: I/O
    This test will pick up the first available writable tape and write a few buffers to it and try reading what is written. The purpose of this test is only to check for reading/writing ability.  Any specific/transient errors in any drive have to be inspected using the Advance Mode.
     Warning
    This test will overwrite information in the tape. Ensure that the first available tape does not have important data on it.

    Once complete, for any test failures, review the  LibraryTestTool-*-Curr.errlog files located in the directory you ran the tool from.

    Once the tool passes the tests, then DPM should be able to use the tape library for backups.

     


    NOTE1: DPM does not support Automated Cartridge System Library Software, ACSLS is the software that controls an Automated Cartridge System (ACS). There are no plans to support it.

    NOTE2:  DPM does not support tape libraries that have auto-clean feature enabled. If the library supports auto-clean but that feature cannot be disabled, wo do not recommend using that library with DPM.



Data Protection Manager - Exchange protection announcements

Data Protection Manager -SharePoint Protection announcements

  • Link
    DPM 2012 SP1 Protecting Sharepoint using SQL 2012 Always On AG as backend is not currently supported.
    Mike Jacquet

    When you try to protect a Windows SharePoint farm using SQL 2012 Always On AG backend using System Center Data Protection Manager 2012 Sp1, you receive one of the following error messages:

    ERROR
    =====
    DPM cannot protect this SharePoint farm because DPM did not detect any dependent databases to be protected. (ID: 32008) Verify that the appropriate SQL Server VSS writers are enabled on the computers hosting the SharePoint databases.


    This Windows SharePoint Services farm cannot be protected because DPM did not find any dependent databases and search indices to be protected. (ID: 32008) 1) Verify that the appropriate SQL Server VSS Writers on the computers hosting the Windows SharePoint Services databases are enabled. 2) Verify that the Windows SharePoint Services Search VSS Writers are enabled on the computers where the search indices are.

    CAUSE
    =====
    At this time using SQL 2012 availability groups (AG) for Sharepoint back end is not supported by DPM 2012 Sp1.  We will have some public facing content on the limitation shortly.  I cannot say at this time if this will be fixed in a future DPM 2012 rollup, it needs to be investigated by the product group.

Data Protection Manager - Hyper-V and CSV Clusters announcements

  • Link
    Free ebook: Microsoft System Center Data Protection for the Hybrid Cloud
    giridharreddy

     Free ebook: Microsoft System Center Data Protection for the Hybrid Cloud

    If you are responsible for architecting and designing the backup strategy for your organization, especially if you're looking for ways to incorporate cloud backup into your business continuity scenarios, this book is for you. With the increasing trends in virtualization as well as the move to the pubic cloud, IT organizations are headed toward a world where data and applications run in on-premises private clouds as well as in the public cloud. This has key implications for data protection strategy, and it is important to choose the solution that provides the same level of data protection you have afforded so far while allowing you to harness the power of the public cloud.

  • Link
    DPM Host level backup of a VM fails with 0x800423F3 when hosting a SQL Always-on secondary db.
    Mike Jacquet

    DPM encountered a retryable VSS error. (ID 30112 Details: VssError:The writer experienced a transient error. If the backup process is retried, the error may not reoccur. (0x800423F3))"

    This is fixed in SQL Server 2012 SP2

    Bugs that are fixed in SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 2
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2958429

    -  DPM’s full backup on the server with AlwaysOn secondary will be converted to copy_only backup

    How to obtain the latest service pack for SQL Server 2012
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2755533

  • Link
    Application Log truncation does not occur after host level guest backups
    Mike Jacquet


    I would like make you aware of what seems to be change in behavior between Windows 2008 (R2)  / Windows 2012 and Windows 2012 R2 host level backups of guests.  It used to be that when a Guest was backed up by DPM when protecting Windows 2008 (R2) and Windows 2012 hosts - the Hyper-V writer would communicate with the integration components inside the guest and would consider a host level backup as being equivalent of guest level backup for application data like exchange and SQL.  This resulted in the application logs being truncated after every host level backup of the guest.  This was desirable so you didn't need two separate backups, one for the VM guest, and one for application backup to truncate the logs.  If you really wanted to prevent the logs from being truncated so you could perform separate application level backups, you needed to add a registry key to the guest and set it to a value of 1.  This is documented on the following Windows KB article.

    975925 A hotfix is available that addresses the issues that occur when you perform a host-level backup of a Hyper-V VM on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975925/en-us


    It appears that the default behavior in Windows 2012 R2 is just the opposite and the logs do not get truncated by default when performing host level backups of guest VM's running applications like exchange and SQL.

    The solution is to add the following registry keys and value as needed inside the Guest and set it to 0 so the application logs do get truncated after host level backups.
    In Registry Editor, locate the following registry subkey:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Virtualization\VssRequestor

    Create a registry entry of the REG_DWORD type.
    Set the name of the registry entry to BackupType.
    Set the value of the registry entry to 0.

  • Link
    DPM is performing "Backup Using Saved State" versus "Backup Using Child Partition" - WHY ?
    Mike Jacquet

    When DPM protects a Hyper-V guest using HOST level protection, the Hyper-V writer on the hyper-V host communicates with the integration components inside the guest and determines if child partition or saved state backup will be performed.  Once DPM adds the guest to a protection group, the description: "Backup using child partition" or "backup using saved state" will not change, even thought the condition that determines the state may change.

    To get a real-time view of how then next backup will be perfomed, you can run the following test.

    To list hyper-V writer captions for guests to see if online or saved state backups can be done:

    From an administrative command prompt:

    a. Type: copy con script.txt and press enter
     b. Type: list writers and press enter
     c. Press CTRL + Z (to save)
     d. Type: diskshadow /s script.txt | find /i "caption: backup using"

    Output will be displayed for each guest.


    Here are the general conditions that make a VM go into a saved state during backup.

    Protecting Hyper-V machines
    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh757866.aspx


    Conditions when DPM fails to back up Hyper-V virtual machines in an online state

    By default, System Center 2012 – Data Protection Manager (DPM) performs a backup of a Hyper-V Virtual Machine (VM) in an online state. However, DPM cannot back up a Hyper-V VM in an online state, if one or more of the following conditions are true:

    •Backup (Volume Snapshot) Integration Service is disabled or not installed.
    •The virtual machine has one or more dynamic disks.
    •The virtual machine has one or more non-NTFS based volumes.
    •The virtual machine Cluster Resource Group in a cluster setup is offline.
    •The virtual machine is not in a running state.
    •A ShadowStorage assignment of a volume inside the virtual machine is explicitly set to a different volume other than itself.
    •An App-V drive is installed on the virtual machine that creates a non-NTFS volume.

    These conditions are set by the Hyper-V writer. In such a case, the VM is put in a saved state before a snapshot of host volumes are taken (except when the VM is turned off) for a backup. The Hyper-V writer adds the VM in the following format:
    •For offline backups: Backup Using Saved State\<VMName>
    •For online backups: Backup Using Child Partition Snapshot\<VMName>

    Additional reason is if there is less than 300MB free space on a volume in the guest.


    If you are using DPM 2010/2012/2012 Sp1 to backup guests running on a Windows 2008 (R2) hyper-v server you may observe that Windows 2012 server / Windows 8 guest VM's only get the option "Backup using saved state". It is also reported that some Windows 2012 server guests transfer the whole VM during backups instead on block level changes. 

    The below resolves both of these issues.

    SOLUTION
    =======

    The Windows 8 or Windows server 2012 guest needs to have scoped VSS snapshots turned off in order to support online backups. This is a new feature apparently in Win8/2012 and the default is enabled.

    Implement this registry key on EACH Windows 8 or Windows 2012 guest to resolve the issue.  You must add a key called SystemRestore, then add a value called ScopeSnapshots as follows.

    HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore
    REG_DWORD ScopeSnapshots 0x0

    See the additional info on scoped snapshots.

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa378941(v=vs.85).aspx



  • Link
    Anouncement: System Center Data Protection Manager CSV Serialization Tool
    Mike Jacquet

    This tool will help serialize DPM backups across multiple Windows 2008 based hyper-v clusters in a unattended way.

    Download the tool from the below KB article.

    System Center Data Protection Manager CSV Serialization Tool
    http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36524

    Overview

    With the current approach, if there are multiple clusters managed by DPM, the user needs to run DSConfig.ps1 on one node of each cluster and then XMLs of each cluster needs to be merged and replace the DataSources.xml in %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft System Center 2012\DPM\DPM\Config  directory of the DPM server. And moreover these steps need to be repeated each time any VM is added to the cluster.

    The XML merging/serialization tool will remove many of these manual steps. The tool needs to be run on the DPM server periodically (or scheduled). It will run DSconfig.ps1 on one node of each cluster, merge the XML and replace Datasources.xml in the DPM config directory. 

                                   

    System requirements

    Supported operating systems: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

    For DPM: Supported operating systems: 

    • Windows Server 2008
    • Windows Server 2008 R2
    • Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
    DPM Versions: DPM 2010 with  QFE 3 and above or  DPM 2012
    For CSV Cluster Nodes:
    Windows Server 20008 R2 & Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
  • Link
    Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V guests are placed in saved (offline) state during DPM backup.
    Mike Jacquet

    Please be aware of the following blog.

    Hyper-V Backup doesn’t interrupt running virtual machines (anymore)

    You are using DPM 2012 R2 to backup Windows Server 2012 R2 hyper-v guests and observe that some VM's only backup using "Offline" state but you want backups to be using "Online " state.

    SOLUTION
    =======
    Ensure the effected guests have a SCSI controller configured in the properties of the Hyper-V guest.   Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V servers require a SCSI controller inside the guests so snapshots created as part of the backup process can be mounted.  IDE controller does not allow this hot-mount operation, so you must install a SCSI controller in the guest.


    The Windows 2012 R2 Hyper-V writer on the hyper-V host communicates with the integration components inside the guest and determines if online or offline backup will be performed.   Be sure the latest integration components are installed in each guest.

    To get a real-time view of how the next backup will be performed, you can run the following test.

    To list Windows 2012 R2 hyper-V writer captions for guests to see if online or offline state backups will be done:

    From an administrative command prompt on the Hyper-V server:

    a. Type: copy con script.txt and press enter
     b. Type: list writers and press enter
     c. Press CTRL + Z + enter (to save)
     d. Type: diskshadow /s script.txt | find /i "caption: O"


    Output will be displayed for each guest as follows.


    C:\temp>diskshadow /s script.txt | find /i "caption: O"
                            - Caption: Online\SQLSERVER
                            - Caption: Offline\WSS-V14

    The Windows 2012 R2 Hyper-V writer adds the VM in the following format:

     For offline backups: Offline\<VMName>
     For online  backups: Online\<VMName>

    NEW NOTE: Windows group just released “Linux Integration Services Version 3.5 for Hyper-V”. The document mentions that some versions of Red Hat and CentOS are now supported to do online backup.

    Live virtual machine backup support
    ======================
    RHEL/CentOS 6.0-6.3
    RHEL/CentOS 5.7-5.8
    RHEL/CentOS 5.5-5.6

    ADDTL NOTES: If there are open file handles during a live virtual machine backup operation, the backed-up virtual hard disks (VHDs) might have to undergo a file system consistency check (fsck) when restored.

    Live backup operations can fail silently if the virtual machine has an attached iSCSI device or a physical disk that is directly attached to a virtual machine (“pass-through disk”).

    NOTE: Anyone wanting online backups on RHEL/Centos 6.4/6.5 should check out Hyper-V Backup Essentials on the LIC GitHub.

    A customer reported this installed without problems and seems to work.


  • Link
    DPM 2012 support for Windows Server 2012
    Mike Jacquet

    System Center DPM 2012 (non-Sp1) is not supported running on Windows Server 2012.  We have had reports of DPM 2012 console crashes when navigating to the recovery tab if DPM 2012 is installed on Windows server 2012.  This issue is fixed in DPM 2012 SP1, so please upgrade to fix the problem.

    We also do not support protecting Windows Server 2012 using SCS DPM 2012 )non-Sp1)   Please do not expect any support for DPM 2012 (non-sp1) running on Windows Server 2012, or issues while protecting data sources in Windows Server 2012.  This includes Hyper-V protection.



Data Protection Manager - Setup and Agent management announcements

Data Protection Manager - Storage Pool announcements

Data Protection Manager - Scripting announcements

Data Protection Manager - General announcements

Data Protection Manager - Tape Protection announcements

  • Link
    User Voice Feedback Forum!! - Data Protection Manager
    Andy Nadarewistsch

    Have feedback or a suggestion to improve DPM? We have added DPM and Azure back-up on user voice feedback forum on Azure.  We had piloted this initially with Azure backup and were thrilled with all the feedback/ideas. We have now added SCDPM to it as well. Would love to hear your ideas and feedback.  If you see an idea you like, vote for it ! If you have a new ideas, post it (the search bar will tell you if there is a similar idea so do check that before you post a new idea).

    Go to - http://feedback.azure.com/forums/258995-azure-backup-and-scdpm

  • Link
    DPM 2012 Sp1 / R2 and Windows 2012 / R2 - Virtual Fibre Channel attached tape library support.
    Mike Jacquet

    Both Windows 2012 and Windows 2012 R2 Hyper-V server have support for Virtual Fibre Channel (vFC) which allow you to attach physical fibre channel devices inside a Hyper-V guest running Windows 2012 / R2.

    System Center Data Protection Manager 2012 SP1 and later support running on Windows 2012.  
    System Center Data Protection Manager 2012 R2 is also supported running on Windows 2012 R2.

    When running DPM 2012.. in a Windows 2012 virtual machine, using the synthetic FC to connect to a tape drive / library is not supported because Windows 2012 does not currently offer support for it.

    However, DPM 2012 R2 +Sp3 or later running in Windows 2012 R2 virtual machine does support using the Vfc to connect to a fiber attached tape library

    This is documented in the following TechNet articles.

    Windows: Hyper-V Virtual Fibre Channel Overview

    DPM:  Verifying tape library compatibility  - see the section labeled: Run the compatibility tool for Hyper-V Fibre Channel

  • Link
    Creating and using certifcates for DPM tape backups.
    Mike Jacquet

    Below are quick links for using certificates encrypting DPM tape backups for all versions of DPM.

    How to Create Self-Signed Certificates for Successful Encryptions
    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff399364.aspx

    MakeCert.exe is available as part of the Windows SDK, which you can download from one of the below links:

    http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=84091.
          http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa386968(v=vs.85).aspx

    You can install Windows SDK and select option “Tools” under “.Net Development” and   unchecked everything else for installing makecert.exe only.

    How to Import Certificates into DPMBackupStore
    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff399563.aspx


    People who have to have deal with Real Certificate Authorities can use the following information to assist with their requests:
     
    If you are dealing with an organization that uses a Windows CA, have them issue a certificate based on the "Web Server" Template.
    If you are dealing with an organization that uses another vendors CA, request that they issue you a certificate with the following:
     
    Key Usages = Digital Signature, Non-Repudiation, Key Encipherment, Data Encipherment
    Extended Key Usage = Server Authentication
     
    The above match the values of your self generated certificate.

  • Link
    Support for IBM System Storage TS2900 Tape Autoloader Added to DPM 2010 and beyond
    Mike Jacquet

    DPM 2010 now supports the IBM System Storage TS2900 / TS357X Tape Autoloader after installing this DPM 2010 or later Hotfix.

    2465832 Description of the hotfix rollup package for System Center Data Protection Manager 2010: March 2011
    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-US;2465832

    However, you must also add this registry key before that fix will be implemented.

    Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\Agent
DWORD: RSMCompatMode
Value: 29 (Decimal)


  • Link
    DPM compatible Tape libraries
    Mike Jacquet

    ·     Windows 2012 no longer has a tape library compatibility certification tests, so NO vendors tape libraries will show as being certified in the Windows catalog.  For that reason the guidance we're giving customers is if the library is listed on the Windows server catalog under the hardware / storage section and shows compatible with Windows 2008 X64 or Windows 2008 R2 x64, then it should work fine with all versions of DPM.  Any driver incompatibilities with Windows 2012 will need to be addressed by the vendor.  
    http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/

    Compatible tape libraries - Applies To: System Center 2012 - Data Protection Manager, System Center 2012 SP1 - Data Protection Manager
    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh916523.aspx


    Also leverage the DPM 2007 compatibility list, anything on this list should work on DPM2010 if they have Windows 2008 X64 drivers.

    System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 Tested Hardware
    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/dpm/cc678583.aspx

    If you cannot find support for the library, you can download and run the DPMtapeLibraryCompatibilityChecker tool from the following page.

    Verifying tape library compatibility


    For Standalone drive.
    =====================

    Run the following command to list libraries attached to the system.

    DPMLibraryTest.exe /Certify /LL


    Run the following command, where \\.\tape######## is the symbolic name of the tape drive to test from the output of the /LL command.


    DPMLibraryTest.exe /CERTIFY /TL \\.\Tape2147483646 /SA


    For tape library
    ================

    Run the following command to list the libraries attached to the system:

    DPMLibraryTest.exe /Certify /LL

    Run the following command, where \\.\Changer# is the symbolic name of the tape library to test from the output of the /LL command.

    DPMLibraryTest.exe /CERTIFY /TL \\.\Changer0 /ST 1 2 4 5

     

    Description of the tests.

    Test 1: Basic Configuration
    This test will scan your system for attached devices. It will identify the libraries and the stand-alone drives attached to your system and give you a summary of what it finds. For each device, you will see a Device Name, Serial Number, Vendor Name, Product Name, Firmware Revision and SCSI properties.
    At the end of this test, the user must verify whether all the information as seen by the tool. If the information is incorrect, check the following:
    • Check if all the devices are listed in Device Manager.
    • Ensure that the drivers for the devices are up-to-date.
    • If the drive mappings are incorrect, use the DPMDriveMapping.exe to correct the mappings. If you do not have DPM installed on the computer, copy the DPMLA.xml that DPMDriveMapping.exe creates to the folder to which you extracted the Tape Library Certification tool.

    Test 2: Mount/Dismount
    This test will pick a tape from the first available slot and perform a mount/dismount of that tape to/from a drive.

    Test3: Drive Cleaning
    A cleaner cartridge in needed for this test to run. Please read the pre-requisites section for this test. If you are using Firestreamer or a VTL where you cannot remove/change tapes, please use the /ST flag of the tool to skip the cleaner test.

    Test4: I/E Media
    This test will pick up the first available tape and move it to the I/E port and back. If your library/VTL does not have I/E ports the tool will automatically skip the test.

    Test5: I/O
    This test will pick up the first available writable tape and write a few buffers to it and try reading what is written. The purpose of this test is only to check for reading/writing ability.  Any specific/transient errors in any drive have to be inspected using the Advance Mode.
     Warning
    This test will overwrite information in the tape. Ensure that the first available tape does not have important data on it.

    Once complete, for any test failures, review the  LibraryTestTool-*-Curr.errlog files located in the directory you ran the tool from.

    Once the tool passes the tests, then DPM should be able to use the tape library for backups.

     


    NOTE1: DPM does not support Automated Cartridge System Library Software, ACSLS is the software that controls an Automated Cartridge System (ACS). There are no plans to support it.

    NOTE2:  DPM does not support tape libraries that have auto-clean feature enabled. If the library supports auto-clean but that feature cannot be disabled, wo do not recommend using that library with DPM.



Data Protection Manager - Exchange protection announcements

Data Protection Manager -SharePoint Protection announcements

  • Link
    DPM 2012 SP1 Protecting Sharepoint using SQL 2012 Always On AG as backend is not currently supported.
    Mike Jacquet

    When you try to protect a Windows SharePoint farm using SQL 2012 Always On AG backend using System Center Data Protection Manager 2012 Sp1, you receive one of the following error messages:

    ERROR
    =====
    DPM cannot protect this SharePoint farm because DPM did not detect any dependent databases to be protected. (ID: 32008) Verify that the appropriate SQL Server VSS writers are enabled on the computers hosting the SharePoint databases.


    This Windows SharePoint Services farm cannot be protected because DPM did not find any dependent databases and search indices to be protected. (ID: 32008) 1) Verify that the appropriate SQL Server VSS Writers on the computers hosting the Windows SharePoint Services databases are enabled. 2) Verify that the Windows SharePoint Services Search VSS Writers are enabled on the computers where the search indices are.

    CAUSE
    =====
    At this time using SQL 2012 availability groups (AG) for Sharepoint back end is not supported by DPM 2012 Sp1.  We will have some public facing content on the limitation shortly.  I cannot say at this time if this will be fixed in a future DPM 2012 rollup, it needs to be investigated by the product group.

Data Protection Manager - Hyper-V and CSV Clusters announcements

  • Link
    Free ebook: Microsoft System Center Data Protection for the Hybrid Cloud
    giridharreddy

     Free ebook: Microsoft System Center Data Protection for the Hybrid Cloud

    If you are responsible for architecting and designing the backup strategy for your organization, especially if you're looking for ways to incorporate cloud backup into your business continuity scenarios, this book is for you. With the increasing trends in virtualization as well as the move to the pubic cloud, IT organizations are headed toward a world where data and applications run in on-premises private clouds as well as in the public cloud. This has key implications for data protection strategy, and it is important to choose the solution that provides the same level of data protection you have afforded so far while allowing you to harness the power of the public cloud.

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    DPM Host level backup of a VM fails with 0x800423F3 when hosting a SQL Always-on secondary db.
    Mike Jacquet

    DPM encountered a retryable VSS error. (ID 30112 Details: VssError:The writer experienced a transient error. If the backup process is retried, the error may not reoccur. (0x800423F3))"

    This is fixed in SQL Server 2012 SP2

    Bugs that are fixed in SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 2
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2958429

    -  DPM’s full backup on the server with AlwaysOn secondary will be converted to copy_only backup

    How to obtain the latest service pack for SQL Server 2012
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2755533

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    Application Log truncation does not occur after host level guest backups
    Mike Jacquet


    I would like make you aware of what seems to be change in behavior between Windows 2008 (R2)  / Windows 2012 and Windows 2012 R2 host level backups of guests.  It used to be that when a Guest was backed up by DPM when protecting Windows 2008 (R2) and Windows 2012 hosts - the Hyper-V writer would communicate with the integration components inside the guest and would consider a host level backup as being equivalent of guest level backup for application data like exchange and SQL.  This resulted in the application logs being truncated after every host level backup of the guest.  This was desirable so you didn't need two separate backups, one for the VM guest, and one for application backup to truncate the logs.  If you really wanted to prevent the logs from being truncated so you could perform separate application level backups, you needed to add a registry key to the guest and set it to a value of 1.  This is documented on the following Windows KB article.

    975925 A hotfix is available that addresses the issues that occur when you perform a host-level backup of a Hyper-V VM on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975925/en-us


    It appears that the default behavior in Windows 2012 R2 is just the opposite and the logs do not get truncated by default when performing host level backups of guest VM's running applications like exchange and SQL.

    The solution is to add the following registry keys and value as needed inside the Guest and set it to 0 so the application logs do get truncated after host level backups.
    In Registry Editor, locate the following registry subkey:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Virtualization\VssRequestor

    Create a registry entry of the REG_DWORD type.
    Set the name of the registry entry to BackupType.
    Set the value of the registry entry to 0.

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    DPM is performing "Backup Using Saved State" versus "Backup Using Child Partition" - WHY ?
    Mike Jacquet

    When DPM protects a Hyper-V guest using HOST level protection, the Hyper-V writer on the hyper-V host communicates with the integration components inside the guest and determines if child partition or saved state backup will be performed.  Once DPM adds the guest to a protection group, the description: "Backup using child partition" or "backup using saved state" will not change, even thought the condition that determines the state may change.

    To get a real-time view of how then next backup will be perfomed, you can run the following test.

    To list hyper-V writer captions for guests to see if online or saved state backups can be done:

    From an administrative command prompt:

    a. Type: copy con script.txt and press enter
     b. Type: list writers and press enter
     c. Press CTRL + Z (to save)
     d. Type: diskshadow /s script.txt | find /i "caption: backup using"

    Output will be displayed for each guest.


    Here are the general conditions that make a VM go into a saved state during backup.

    Protecting Hyper-V machines
    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh757866.aspx


    Conditions when DPM fails to back up Hyper-V virtual machines in an online state

    By default, System Center 2012 – Data Protection Manager (DPM) performs a backup of a Hyper-V Virtual Machine (VM) in an online state. However, DPM cannot back up a Hyper-V VM in an online state, if one or more of the following conditions are true:

    •Backup (Volume Snapshot) Integration Service is disabled or not installed.
    •The virtual machine has one or more dynamic disks.
    •The virtual machine has one or more non-NTFS based volumes.
    •The virtual machine Cluster Resource Group in a cluster setup is offline.
    •The virtual machine is not in a running state.
    •A ShadowStorage assignment of a volume inside the virtual machine is explicitly set to a different volume other than itself.
    •An App-V drive is installed on the virtual machine that creates a non-NTFS volume.

    These conditions are set by the Hyper-V writer. In such a case, the VM is put in a saved state before a snapshot of host volumes are taken (except when the VM is turned off) for a backup. The Hyper-V writer adds the VM in the following format:
    •For offline backups: Backup Using Saved State\<VMName>
    •For online backups: Backup Using Child Partition Snapshot\<VMName>

    Additional reason is if there is less than 300MB free space on a volume in the guest.


    If you are using DPM 2010/2012/2012 Sp1 to backup guests running on a Windows 2008 (R2) hyper-v server you may observe that Windows 2012 server / Windows 8 guest VM's only get the option "Backup using saved state". It is also reported that some Windows 2012 server guests transfer the whole VM during backups instead on block level changes. 

    The below resolves both of these issues.

    SOLUTION
    =======

    The Windows 8 or Windows server 2012 guest needs to have scoped VSS snapshots turned off in order to support online backups. This is a new feature apparently in Win8/2012 and the default is enabled.

    Implement this registry key on EACH Windows 8 or Windows 2012 guest to resolve the issue.  You must add a key called SystemRestore, then add a value called ScopeSnapshots as follows.

    HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore
    REG_DWORD ScopeSnapshots 0x0

    See the additional info on scoped snapshots.

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa378941(v=vs.85).aspx



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    Anouncement: System Center Data Protection Manager CSV Serialization Tool
    Mike Jacquet

    This tool will help serialize DPM backups across multiple Windows 2008 based hyper-v clusters in a unattended way.

    Download the tool from the below KB article.

    System Center Data Protection Manager CSV Serialization Tool
    http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36524

    Overview

    With the current approach, if there are multiple clusters managed by DPM, the user needs to run DSConfig.ps1 on one node of each cluster and then XMLs of each cluster needs to be merged and replace the DataSources.xml in %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft System Center 2012\DPM\DPM\Config  directory of the DPM server. And moreover these steps need to be repeated each time any VM is added to the cluster.

    The XML merging/serialization tool will remove many of these manual steps. The tool needs to be run on the DPM server periodically (or scheduled). It will run DSconfig.ps1 on one node of each cluster, merge the XML and replace Datasources.xml in the DPM config directory. 

                                   

    System requirements

    Supported operating systems: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

    For DPM: Supported operating systems: 

    • Windows Server 2008
    • Windows Server 2008 R2
    • Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
    DPM Versions: DPM 2010 with  QFE 3 and above or  DPM 2012
    For CSV Cluster Nodes:
    Windows Server 20008 R2 & Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
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    Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V guests are placed in saved (offline) state during DPM backup.
    Mike Jacquet

    Please be aware of the following blog.

    Hyper-V Backup doesn’t interrupt running virtual machines (anymore)

    You are using DPM 2012 R2 to backup Windows Server 2012 R2 hyper-v guests and observe that some VM's only backup using "Offline" state but you want backups to be using "Online " state.

    SOLUTION
    =======
    Ensure the effected guests have a SCSI controller configured in the properties of the Hyper-V guest.   Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V servers require a SCSI controller inside the guests so snapshots created as part of the backup process can be mounted.  IDE controller does not allow this hot-mount operation, so you must install a SCSI controller in the guest.


    The Windows 2012 R2 Hyper-V writer on the hyper-V host communicates with the integration components inside the guest and determines if online or offline backup will be performed.   Be sure the latest integration components are installed in each guest.

    To get a real-time view of how the next backup will be performed, you can run the following test.

    To list Windows 2012 R2 hyper-V writer captions for guests to see if online or offline state backups will be done:

    From an administrative command prompt on the Hyper-V server:

    a. Type: copy con script.txt and press enter
     b. Type: list writers and press enter
     c. Press CTRL + Z + enter (to save)
     d. Type: diskshadow /s script.txt | find /i "caption: O"


    Output will be displayed for each guest as follows.


    C:\temp>diskshadow /s script.txt | find /i "caption: O"
                            - Caption: Online\SQLSERVER
                            - Caption: Offline\WSS-V14

    The Windows 2012 R2 Hyper-V writer adds the VM in the following format:

     For offline backups: Offline\<VMName>
     For online  backups: Online\<VMName>

    NEW NOTE: Windows group just released “Linux Integration Services Version 3.5 for Hyper-V”. The document mentions that some versions of Red Hat and CentOS are now supported to do online backup.

    Live virtual machine backup support
    ======================
    RHEL/CentOS 6.0-6.3
    RHEL/CentOS 5.7-5.8
    RHEL/CentOS 5.5-5.6

    ADDTL NOTES: If there are open file handles during a live virtual machine backup operation, the backed-up virtual hard disks (VHDs) might have to undergo a file system consistency check (fsck) when restored.

    Live backup operations can fail silently if the virtual machine has an attached iSCSI device or a physical disk that is directly attached to a virtual machine (“pass-through disk”).

    NOTE: Anyone wanting online backups on RHEL/Centos 6.4/6.5 should check out Hyper-V Backup Essentials on the LIC GitHub.

    A customer reported this installed without problems and seems to work.


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    DPM 2012 support for Windows Server 2012
    Mike Jacquet

    System Center DPM 2012 (non-Sp1) is not supported running on Windows Server 2012.  We have had reports of DPM 2012 console crashes when navigating to the recovery tab if DPM 2012 is installed on Windows server 2012.  This issue is fixed in DPM 2012 SP1, so please upgrade to fix the problem.

    We also do not support protecting Windows Server 2012 using SCS DPM 2012 )non-Sp1)   Please do not expect any support for DPM 2012 (non-sp1) running on Windows Server 2012, or issues while protecting data sources in Windows Server 2012.  This includes Hyper-V protection.



Data Protection Manager - Setup and Agent management announcements

Data Protection Manager - Storage Pool announcements

Data Protection Manager - Scripting announcements