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How does Data Protection Manager 2016 save and restore data?

Data Protection Manager 2016 works with a wide range of enterprise applications, but administrators need to be aware that some backup types do not work with every program.

Stephen J. Bigelow
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Published: 08 Jan 2018

System Center Data Protection Manager 2016 typically operates by creating a copy of protected data to backup storage on the DPM server. But administrators have flexibility to put those backups on storage that is located -- and partitioned -- elsewhere.

To get started, IT administrators install a DPM agent on every computer to protect, then add that machine to a protection group in DPM. A protection group is a collection of computers that all share the same protection settings or configurations, such as the group name, protection policy, disk target and replica method.

After the agent installation and configuration process, DPM produces a replica for every protection group member, which can include volumes, shares, folders, Exchange storage groups and SQL Server databases. System Center Data Protection Manager 2016 builds replicas in a provisioned storage pool.

After DPM generates the initial replicas, its agents track changes to the protected data and send that information to the DPM server. DPM will then use the change journal to update the file data replicas at the intervals specified by the configuration. During synchronization, any changes are sent to the DPM server, which applies them to the replica.

DPM also periodically checks the replica for consistency with block-level verification and corrects any problems in the replica. Administrators can set recovery points for a protection group member to create multiple recoverable versions for each backup.

Application data backups require additional planning

Application data protection can vary based on the application and the selected backup type. Administrators need to be aware that certain applications do not support every DPM backup type. For example, Microsoft Virtual Server and some SQL Server databases do not support incremental backups.

Administrators need to be aware that certain applications do not support every DPM backup type.

For a synchronization job, System Center Data Protection Manager 2016 tracks application data changes and moves them to the DPM server, similar to an incremental backup. Updates are combined with the base replica to form the complete backup.

For an express full backup job, System Center Data Protection Manager 2016 uses a complete Volume Shadow Copy Service snapshot, but transfers only changed blocks to the DPM server. Each full backup creates a recovery point for the application's data.

Generally, incremental synchronizations are faster to backup but can take longer to restore. To balance the time needed to restore content, DPM will periodically create full backups to integrate any collected changes, which speeds up a recovery. DPM can support up to 64 recovery points for each member of a protection group. However, DPM can also support up to 448 full backups and 96 incremental backups for each full backup.

The DPM recovery process is straightforward regardless of the backup type or target. Administrators select the desired recovery point with the Recovery Wizard in the DPM Administrator Console. DPM will restore the data from that point to the desired target or destination. The Recovery Wizard will denote the location and availability of the backup media. If the backup media -- such as tape -- is not available, the restoration process will fail.

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