Data Protection Manager - Scripting announcements

• Link
  DPM 2010 - DPM Power shell commands may fail with ArgumentOutOfrangeException after WFM 3.0 update
  Mike Jacquet Sunday, March 03, 2013 4:49 PM

  Please be aware that if you installs either of the following WMI updates on a DPM 2010 server, that some DPM power shell scripts may no longer work.
   
  Some scripts will fail with an ArgumentOutOfrangeException.  I believe that Pruneshadowcopies2010.ps1 is one such script that will fail.
   
  2506146 Description of Windows Management Framework 3.0 for Windows Server 2008 SP2
   http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2506146/EN-US
   
  2506143 Description of Windows Management Framework 3.0 for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
   http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2506143/EN-US
   
  Un-installing 2506146 or 2506143 fixes the problem(s).

Data Protection Manager - Hyper-V and CSV Clusters announcements

• Link
  Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V guests are placed in saved (offline) state during DPM backup.
  Mike Jacquet Friday, February 08, 2013 4:52 PM

  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 is performing "Backup Using Saved State" versus "Backup Using Child Partition" - WHY ?
  Mike Jacquet Sunday, April 28, 2013 11:31 PM

  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
  Application Log truncation does not occur after host level guest backups
  Mike Jacquet Tuesday, December 31, 2013 5:19 PM

  
  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 Host level backup of a VM fails with 0x800423F3 when hosting a SQL Always-on secondary db.
  Mike Jacquet Thursday, June 12, 2014 4:28 PM

  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
  V6 - Windows Server 2012 Hotfix available that helps resolve DPM 2012 Sp1 Hyper-V backup problems.
  Mike Jacquet Monday, January 14, 2013 6:44 PM

  ******** NEW V6 Announcement 1-2-14 *******
  

  The windows team has released another set of fixes to helps improve Windows server 2012 cluster reliability during backups. 

  2878635 - Update is available that improves the resiliency of the cloud service provider in Windows Server 2012: December 2013
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2878635

  The above fix also fixes the below DPM error that was introduced AFTER installing the last Windows update KB2870270 - Update that improves cloud service provider resiliency in Windows Server 2012.  

  Type:     Recovery point
  Status:  Failed
  Description: Change Tracking has been marked inconsistent due to one of the following reasons

  1. Unexpected shutdown of the protected server
  2. Unforeseen issue in DPM Bitmap failover during cluster failover of one or more datasources sharing the tracked volume. (ID 30501 Details: Unknown error (0xe0062009) (0xE0062009))

                  More information

  End time:             7/10/2013 2:03:22 AM
  Start time:           7/10/2013 12:00:34 AM
  Time elapsed:    02:02:47
  Data transferred:             0 MB
  Cluster node      CLNODE01.CONTOSO.LOCAL
  Recovery Point Type      Express Full
  Source details:  \Backup Using Child Partition Snapshot\VMNAMExx
  Protection group:            Protection Group 1

  If you encounter problems with Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V clusters when backing them up with DPM be sure to apply the new Windows update above along with the latest DPM 2012 Sp1 UR3.6.

  Hotfix for System Center 2012 SP1 Data Protection Manager (KB2886362)
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40318

  Important Update on System Center 2012 SP1 Data Protection Manager (DPM) Update Rollup 3.6 – Issues with VM protection and fixes

  Issue #1: DPM has express full technology where DPM tracks the changes via DPM filter driver and the changed block information are tracked as bitmap and is stored in bitmap files. In some scenarios, DPM bitmap files are becoming very big leading to higher CSV volume consumption. This issue is fixed in DPM filter and effects only VM protection scenarios. This fix is done on the DPM filter driver running on the production server.

  ******** OLDER V5 announcement 7-15-13 ********

  The windows team has just released another set of fixes to helps improve cluster reliability during backups.  These also includes TRIM fix and ODX fixes.

  Please ensure you are on DPM 2012 Sp1 UR2 (4.0.3408.0) which does include one fix for Windows 2012 Hyper-V protection.

  2802159 Description of Update Rollup 2 for System Center 2012 Service Pack 1
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2802159

  
  Then install the latest Windows cluster resiliency fixes below.

  Update that improves cloud service provider resiliency in Windows Server 2012
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2870270

  
  Physical Disk resource move during the backup of a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may cause resource outage
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2869923

  
  After installing these fixes, you may start to experience intermittent DPM Hyper-V backup failures with the following error.   This is caused by a slight regression in one of the above Windows fixes, and is currently under investigation and should be fixed in the next Windows cluster / cloud service provider rollup. 

  
  Type:     Recovery point
  Status:  Failed
  Description:        Change Tracking has been marked inconsistent due to one of the following reasons
  1. Unexpected shutdown of the protected server
  2. Unforeseen issue in DPM Bitmap failover during cluster failover of one or more datasources sharing the tracked volume. (ID 30501 Details: Unknown error (0xe0062009) (0xE0062009))

                  More information
  End time:             7/10/2013 2:03:22 AM
  Start time:           7/10/2013 12:00:34 AM
  Time elapsed:       02:02:47
  Data transferred:             0 MB
  Cluster node      CLNODE01.CONTOSO.LOCAL
  Recovery Point Type      Express Full
  Source details:  \Backup Using Child Partition Snapshot\VMNAMExx
  Protection group:            Protection Group 1

  
  DPM Auto-consistency check should fix the problem and allow future backups to succeed.

  For more information on DPM Auto-CC feature see: http://blogs.technet.com/b/dpm/archive/2011/06/06/how-to-use-and-troubleshoot-the-auto-heal-features-in-dpm-2010.aspx

  
  Note This update replaces a previous resiliency improvements update that is described in KB 2848344
  There are no additional configuration changes required after installing this update.
  If you continue to see problems protecting Windows 2012 Hyper-V guests after installing the above hotfix, please open a support case for further investigation.

  Associated BLOG: http://blogs.technet.com/b/dpm/archive/2013/04/29/support-tip-hyper-v-hosts-fail-and-log-event-id-5120-when-being-backed-up.aspx

• Link
  DPM 2012 support for Windows Server 2012
  Mike Jacquet Wednesday, November 14, 2012 5:02 PM

  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.

  
  
  
• Link
  Anouncement: System Center Data Protection Manager CSV Serialization Tool
  Mike Jacquet Friday, February 08, 2013 7:27 PM

  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

Data Protection Manager - Tape Protection announcements

• Link
  User Voice Feedback Forum!! - Data Protection Manager
  Andy Nadarewistsch Friday, November 21, 2014 8:09 PM

  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
  Creating and using certifcates for DPM tape backups.
  Mike Jacquet Sunday, June 16, 2013 5:47 PM

  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
  DPM compatible Tape libraries
  Mike Jacquet Friday, August 06, 2010 10:24 AM

  ·     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.
  
  
  
  
• Link
  DPM 2012 Sp1 / R2 and Windows 2012 / R2 - Virtual Fibre Channel attached tape library support.
  Mike Jacquet Monday, November 18, 2013 8:38 PM

  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.

  This is documented in the following TechNet articles.

  DPM: Installing DPM in a virtual environment

  Windows: Hyper-V Virtual Fibre Channel Overview

  When the Windows operating system supports fibre channel connected tape libraries using vFC, then the DPM team will re-evaluate support for this.  In the meantime, you can use iSCSI attached tape libraries when running DPM in a Hyper-V virtual machine.

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  Support for IBM System Storage TS2900 Tape Autoloader Added to DPM 2010 and beyond
  Mike Jacquet Wednesday, March 23, 2011 4:22 PM

  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)
  

  
  
  

Data Protection Manager -SharePoint Protection announcements

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  DPM 2012 SP1 Protecting Sharepoint using SQL 2012 Always On AG as backend is not currently supported.
  Mike Jacquet Tuesday, January 15, 2013 1:43 AM

  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 - Exchange protection announcements

• Link
  Exchange Pre-Requisites
  Andy Nadarewistsch Wednesday, September 10, 2014 11:06 PM

  Be sure to review the Exchange Planning items located here - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh758158.aspx
• Link
  Exchange 2013 Eseutil integrity check fails with (ID 30146 Details: Unknown error (0xc0000135) (0xC0000135))
  Andy Nadarewistsch Friday, March 01, 2013 9:40 PM

  Symptom:

  ===============================================

  When trying to backup Exchange 2013 databases with Eseutil Integrity check, the backup fails with:
  Data consistency verification check failed for LOGS of Storage group <Storage group name> on <Server.contoso.com> (ID 30146 Details: Unknown error (0xc0000135) (0xC0000135))

  Resolution:

  ===============================================

  Install the VC++ 2012 redistributable on the DPM server

  Release Notes for Data Protection Manager in System Center 2012 SP1 - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj860394.aspx

  NOTES:

  Exchange Server 2013 backups fail

  Description: Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 backups fail if the option to run Eseutil on the backup is enabled.

  Workaround: Install the VC++ 2012 redistributable on the DPM server.

  For more information, see Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2012 Update 1.

  
  
  
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  New - Protecting Exchange 2013 TechNet
  Andy Nadarewistsch Wednesday, September 10, 2014 11:08 PM

  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn751026.aspx
• Link
  User Voice Feedback Forum!! - Data Protection Manager
  Andy Nadarewistsch Friday, November 21, 2014 7:58 PM

  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

Data Protection Manager - General announcements

• Link
  Announcing Deduplicating DPM storage whitepaper
  Mike Jacquet Tuesday, January 06, 2015 7:18 PM

  Please find the following whitepaper detailing how to dedup DPM storage pool to help reduce overall disk storage requirements for disk based backups.  This solution requires Windows 2012 R2 and System Center Data Protection Manager 2012 R2

  Deduplicating DPM Storage

• Link
  DPM 2010 - DPM Power shell commands may fail with ArgumentOutOfrangeException after WFM 3.0 update
  Mike Jacquet Friday, February 22, 2013 12:34 AM

  Please be aware that if you installs either of the following WMI updates on a DPM 2010 server, that some DPM power shell scripts may no longer work.

  Some scripts will fail with an ArgumentOutOfrangeException.  I believe that Pruneshadowcopies2010.ps1 is one such script that will fail which result in recovery points not getting deleted. 

  2506146 Description of Windows Management Framework 3.0 for Windows Server 2008 SP2
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2506146/EN-US

  2506143 Description of Windows Management Framework 3.0 for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2506143/EN-US

  Un-installing 2506146 or 2506143 fixes the problem(s).

• Link
  NEW - Introducing Long Term Retention for DPM Azure cloud backups
  Mike Jacquet Wednesday, August 27, 2014 5:02 PM

  Please check out the new long term online protection retention option introduced in DPM 2012 R2 UR3 update. 

  Introducing Long Term Retention for DPM Azure cloud backups

• Link
  Guided Walkthrough for Troubleshooting Data Protection Manager console issues
  Mike Jacquet Tuesday, October 21, 2014 10:28 PM

  For DPM Console crash issues, please review this troubleshooter before posting a new question.

  Guided Walkthrough for Troubleshooting Data Protection Manager console issues

• Link
  SQL 2008 SP2 or SP3 is now supported as DPM 2010 backend
  Praveen T [MSFT] Wednesday, February 09, 2011 11:25 AM

  The SQL backend for DPM 2010 server can now be on SQL 2008 Sp2 or SP3 version. If you have a remote SQL backend, it can also be upgraded to SQL 2008 SP2 or SP3. Both the configurations are fully supported.

  
  
• Link
  DPM 2012 support for Windows Server 2012
  Mike Jacquet Thursday, October 04, 2012 9:57 PM

  updated 6-5-13

  Hello Everyone,

  System Center DPM 2012 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 System Center 2012 SP1 which supports being installed on Windows 2012 operating system.

  If you are already in this condition,  you have two options:

  A) You can upgrade to System Center 2012 Sp1.

  B) You can backup the DPMDB, rebuild the DPM server using Windows 2008 R2 install DPM 2012, then restore your current database. The process is explained in the below technet article.

  Recovering DPM servers
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj244606.aspx

  We also do not support protecting Windows Server 2012 workloads using SCS DPM 2012, you must upgrade to DPM 2012 Sp1.   Please do not expect any support for DPM 2012 running on Windows Server 2012, or issues while protecting data sources in Windows Server 2012.

  
  
  
  
  
  

Data Protection Manager - Setup and Agent management announcements

• Link
  DPM 2012 support for Windows Server 2012
  Mike Jacquet Wednesday, June 05, 2013 4:58 PM

  updated 6-5-13

  Hello Everyone,

  System Center DPM 2012 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 System Center 2012 SP1 which supports being installed on Windows 2012 operating system.

  If you are already in this condition,  you have two options:

  A) You can upgrade to System Center 2012 Sp1.

  B) You can backup the DPMDB, rebuild the DPM server using Windows 2008 R2 install DPM 2012, then restore your current database. The process is explained in the below technet article.

  Recovering DPM servers
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj244606.aspx

  We also do not support protecting Windows Server 2012 workloads using SCS DPM 2012, you must upgrade to DPM 2012 Sp1.   Please do not expect any support for DPM 2012 running on Windows Server 2012, or issues while protecting data sources in Windows Server 2012.

• Link
  DPM 2012 Certificate Based Authentication BLOGS now available
  Mike Jacquet Wednesday, July 25, 2012 8:43 PM

  General information on using CBA.

  How to use certificates to authenticate computers in workgroups or untrusted domains with data protection manager
     http://blogs.technet.com/b/dpm/archive/2012/04/23/how-to-use-certificates-to-authenticate-computers-in-workgroups-or-untrusted-domains-with-data-protection-manager.aspx

  dpm 2012 certificate based protection  
  http://blogs.technet.com/b/dpm/archive/2011/09/01/dpm-2012-certificate-based-protection.aspx  

  The articles cover symptoms, diagnosis and log analysis.

  DPM Server
     Missing DPM cert reg key (it’s own key)
     Missing Member cert reg key on the DPM server
     Missing or invalid certificate
  Member Server
     Missing DPM cert reg key on the member server.
     Missing Member server cert reg key (it’s own key)
     Missing or invalid certificate

  DPM Certificate Troubleshooting-Part 1: General Troubleshooting
    http://blogs.technet.com/b/dpm/archive/2012/07/23/dpm-certificate-troubleshooting-part-1-general-troubleshooting.aspx
   
  DPM Certificate Troubleshooting- Part 2: Registry
    http://blogs.technet.com/b/dpm/archive/2012/07/24/dpm-certificate-troubleshooting-part-2-registry.aspx
   
  DPM Certificate Troubleshooting-Part 3-Certificates
    http://blogs.technet.com/b/dpm/archive/2012/07/25/dpm-certificate-troubleshooting-part-3-certificates.aspx

  Enjoy

• Link
  Attempts to schedule a mailed report in DPM 2012 fail with “Reporting Services Server cannot connect to the DPM database”
  Mike Jacquet Sunday, February 02, 2014 10:40 PM

  Attempts to schedule a mailed report in DPM 2012 fail with “Reporting Services Server cannot connect to the DPM database”

  Please find solution in the following blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/dpm/archive/2013/12/05/attempts-to-schedule-a-mailed-report-in-dpm-2012-fail-with-reporting-services-server-cannot-connect-to-the-dpm-database.aspx

• Link
  DPM Agent Network Troubleshooting
  Mike Jacquet Monday, February 06, 2012 9:05 PM

   

  Hello Folks,

  Please check out Shane Brasher's excellent DPM agent troubleshooting blog here: http://blogs.technet.com/b/dpm/archive/2012/02/06/data-protection-manager-agent-network-troubleshooting.aspx

   

  Don't overlook these earlier blogs:

  Agent Tshooting: http://blogs.technet.com/askcore/archive/2008/04/23/troubleshooting-agent-deployment-in-data-protection-manager-2007.aspx
  
  DCOM:  http://blogs.technet.com/askcore/archive/2008/05/09/troubleshooting-agent-deployment-in-data-protection-manager-2007-dcom.aspx
  
  Networking: http://blogs.technet.com/askcore/archive/2008/05/01/troubleshooting-agent-deployment-in-data-protection-manager-2007-networking.aspx 

   

   

Data Protection Manager - Storage Pool announcements

• Link
  Announcing DPM Storage Pool Dedup
  Mike Jacquet Tuesday, February 24, 2015 2:34 PM

  The below blog and whitepaper will cover the supported DPM configuration necessary to dedup the DPM storage pool.  Internal testing showed storage savings anywhere between 50% to 90%.

  Announcing Deduplication of DPM Storage

  Deduplicating DPM storage

• Link
  New DPM 2010 Storage Calculator web link
  Mike Jacquet Thursday, September 02, 2010 5:49 PM

  Hello,

  Since this link is broken: URL http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c136c66c-bd4a-4fb1-8088-f610cd02dc51&displaylang=en

  Here is a NEW location of the latest storage calculators posted September 2, 2010.

   

  http://blogs.technet.com/b/dpm/archive/2010/09/02/new-dpm2010-storage-calculator-links-sep-2010.aspx

  Contains:

  DPM_2010_Storage_Calculator_for_Exchange_2010.xlsx
  DPM_2010_Storage_Calculator_for_Hyper-V.xlsx
  DPM_2010_Storage_Calculator_for_SharePoint.xlsx

  Enjoy.