Azure Backup

As more and more companies are looking into expanding their backup and restore service into the cloud I want to give you a short FAQ with some pros and cons regarding the Azure Backup service.

• What are the requirements to start using Azure Backup with DPM?

For the current release of Azure Backup it requires that you install the Update Roll up 2 for DPM 2012 SP1 before installing the Azure Backup Agent.

• Is there any storage limits within Azure Backup?

No. There is no limit to the amount of data you can back up to an Azure Backup vault. However the size of the data source (VM, volume, SQL database) that you want to back up to a vault cannot exceed 1.65TB.

• What is the maximum retention time?

The maximum retention time is 3360 days. 

(Requires DPM 2012 R2 & Update Rollup 3)

• Which workloads are supported?

At the time of this post there is some workloads limitations.

Supported OS:

§  Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

§  Windows Server 2012

§  Windows Server 2012 R2

Supported workloads:

§  Virtual machines (VMs)

§  Volumes

§  Files and Folders

Unsupported workloads:

§  Active Directory/System State

§  Exchange

§  SharePoint
§  SQL

Pros

• All backed up data are encrypted.
• Data compression around 25% (Depending on size and data type).
• Support for Windows 2012 servers that uses deduplication.
• Off-site storage
• Encrypted, compressed and sparse files and folders supported.

Cons

• 10-15% storage allocation of the total backed up data for the cache folder.
• Only primary DPM-server can be configured with online backups.
• Some workloads not yet supported.

Update Rollup 4 for System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager

Update Rollup 4 (UR4) has been released and here is two of the long awaited features implemented in UR4:

• Added support for protecting SQL Server 2014

This update let you protect the latest SQL Server 2014 as a workload. There is no change in the user experience or scenarios that are supported. Therefore, you can continue to back up SQL Server 2014 by using DPM in the same manner that you protected older SQL Server versions.

• Added support for SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 2 (SP2)

This update lets protect the latest SQL Server 2012 SP2 as a workload and also use it as a DPM configuration database. There is no change in the user experience or scenarios that are supported. Therefore, you can continue to back up SQL Server 2012 SP2 by using DPM in the same manner that you protected older SQL Server versions.

To see the full list of issues that are fixed and implemented features check out: http://support2.microsoft.com/kb/3009516/sv 

Protect OneDrive-folders with DPM

Recently a customer asked me how they should protect their user-data that is located in their OneDrive for Business folders and here is the solution for that.

Microsoft is currently providing up to 90 days to restore deleted OneDrive objects from the recycle bin. It could seem as enough time for user-data but keep in mind that the recycle bin does not protect you in the two following scenarios:

• Data corruption.
• Version history. There is however some Office-supported file types (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote) that will create a new version of the document. Note that version history has to be turned on!

Locate path to the local-cache of the OneDrive folder.

1. Right click the OneDrive-folder on the client machine and choose Properties.
2. Press the Location and note down the folder path.

Protect locally synchronized OneDrive-folders with DPM

1. Log onto the DPM-server and open the DPM-console.
2. Install the DPM-agent on the client machine from the Management-tab.
3. Create a new protection group from the Protection-tab.
4. After the Welcome page select the Clients option.
   
   
5. Mark the client/clients computer you want to protect, press Add and press Next.
6. On the Specify Inclusions and Exclusions-page. Enter the path to the OneDrive-folder and make sure you switch to Include under Path (use the variable %username% to avoid adding rows for every user)
   
   
7. Continue trough the wizard and choose your protection rules, data protection method, short(/long)-term goals and storage allocation.

After the Protection Group is successfully created, be patient as it can take some time before the agent is fully configured and starts its first synchronization.

Your users offline OneDrive-data is now protected!

Hi and welcome!

This blog is for you System Center Data Protection Manager people out there and even if you do not use DPM today you are more then welcome to check out my posts that may help you get a better understanding of the product. 

I will be posting everything from basic information to problem resolution and also integration with the other products in the System Center suite. If You have a suggestion for a post do not hesitate to contact me on the email to the right!

//Markus