Woody Walton's Blog

Like many of you, I was excited by the release to manufacturing of Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 (SCDPM).  I had the opportunity to spend several hours with Jason Buffington, a key Product Manager for SCDPM, a few weeks prior to its release.  I had not been following the product closely at all at that time due simply to the fact there are SO MANY products at Microsoft under development at any given time.  ...Well that has changed.  What I saw really opened my eyes!

First, a big props to the Data Protection Manager Team for putting out a stellar product.  If you want more depth on the RTM of  DPM 2007, I would start here for

For more general information I would check out the SCDPM site:

Okay, so where is the beef?  What is in it for partners other than the fact we have a new potential product for backup/recovery, etc?

Well let me tell you....

The first thing that stuck me about the product was the ease and simplicity with which you can configure the backup of Microsoft application servers such as Exchange Server, SQL Server, Office SharePoint Server, Virtual Server 2005 R2, and other work loads like Windows Files Services.  They are all treated as logical units and one doesn't need to know all the small stuff.  Say you are wanting to backup SharePoint.  ...well we all know that it uses SQL on the back end and that there are Content databases and Configuration databases, etc.  To DPM 2007, you simply choose and the logical unit "Sharepoint" and proceed with the wizards.  DPM remembers all the small stuff for you making certain you didn't overlook anything.  Since I am not a backup/recovery expert and have little or no implementation experience with these solutions in the real world, this stuck me as a very nice feature for me, the IT Generalist, or the Partner. 

Another capability that struck me was how DPM 2007 insured zero data loss recovery with a combination of Snapshots and application awareness.  Here is an expert from the DPM 2007 FAQ:

DPM is the new standard for Microsoft application integrated continuous data protection. Providing unmatched application backup functionality and reliable lossless application recovery through an innovative blend of point in time snapshots and application awareness. Most “traditional” replication based CDP products lack application consistency. So while they can roll an application back to any point in time, they are generally unable to guarantee that the application will have been in a consistent state when that point in time copy was made. DPM has combined the best features of a snapshot based, application consistent backup process with the lossless recovery offered by a CDP product. This has been done by integrating application logs into VSS snapshots taken every 15 minutes. With the result being the ability to restore to the last 15 minute snapshot and then roll forward the application logs for an application consistent, zero data loss recovery of Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint. This solution has the benefits of a CDP solution (Zero Data loss recovery) and Snapshot solution (Application Consistency) with none of disadvantages typically found in either.

...DPM V2 uses a backup and replication engine which is optimized for both Application and File workloads. An application consistent snapshot is created on the protected server and a patented volume filter is used to identify changed blocks. These changed blocks are then moved over to the DPM server where a recovery point can be created. This replication process includes WAN optimization and reliability features such as check pointing, bandwidth throttling, and automated retries.

Bottom line is this is a comprehensive Microsoft solution for backing up your customer's critical applications and data.  ...It gets better though.

Not only can you build a new offering into your present portfolio selling DPM 2007, DPM 2007 is listed on Microsoft's SPLA (Service Provider License Agreement). The DPM software itself starts at $424 for the DPM Server and $142 per DPML (file server agent) with Open & Select pricing.  I feel this is a pretty low price barrier.

If you are interested in hosting DPM 2007, then there are a lot of considerations.  First know that Microsoft recommends using Virtual Server 2005 R2 to create segregated VMs with DPM 2007 installed that can play in each customer's environment.  Some other considerations I borrowed from the Backup Hosting Services Datasheet are:

Isolate everything.

Virtual Server ensures that each virtual machine running DPM is completely isolated from an operating system and data perspective. But don’t forget the network or the storage. Isolate the storage by ensuring that each DPM machine is accessing separate LUN’s or other autonomous storage. Isolate the network by ensuring that your router only provides the customer a view into the single DPM virtual machine that protects it – and not the rest of your segment or even the other virtual machines.

Be aware of the bandwidth.

 Over the network, DPM can only synchronize the data as fast as it can come from the production site(s). There is balance between the communications cost and the latency of the data. Make sure you and your customer agree – particularly if SLA’s are involved.

Watch the storage load.

The storage system must be able to handle the amount of data changes that the production server farm(s) send it. As the write load increases, faster systems (or SANs) may be appropriate – and at some point, separating the DPM servers to multiple physical machines.

Understand the business of hosting protection.

One should also consider the financial & legal models that will be needed to not only protect your business as the provider, but also assure your clients’ of your long-term viability and preparedness.

As far as resources are concerned, get stared by downloading the product. You can download the Trial here and start playing with DPM 2007 today.

Seeing is believing, so apart from the trial, I would take a look at some of the Webcasts and an overview video on System Center Data Protection Manager 2007.  

As a last note, I would like to apologize for my quietness. ...let us hope that it does not continue. ;-)