IT Technology News and Progent Business Solutions

Microsoft has released System Center Data Protection Manager 2010 (DPM 2010), a comprehensive backup-and-recovery platform designed by Microsoft specifically for protecting Windows file and application servers and workstations. Data Protection Manager 2010 allows continual,transparent backup of both physical and virtual computers to onsite or remote disk drives as well as off-line backup to tape, and permits fast, easy restoration of whole computers or individual files. Data Protection Manager's hard disk support provides the performance and dependability you need to preserve your critical business information without interrupting network operations, while DPM's tape drive compatibility makes long-term archiving costs affordable and simplifies compliance with contractual or regulatory retention requirements.

Most small businesses still depend on obsolete, tape-based backup and restore technology. In the event of a serious IT failure, this can lead to substantial revenue loss because of prolonged network downtime and, possibly, lost information. Tape-only protection procedures are vulnerable because tape media is sensitive to wear and tear and requires a carefully controlled warehousing environment. Microsoft recorded a 17% failure rate when using mag tape to archive their own operational servers. Mag tape is also low performance. Consequently, backups call for scheduled server downtime, recovery points are often spaced apart by days instead of minutes, and the restore procedure is time consuming and tricky.

DPM solves these shortcomings by supporting high-performance, reliable hard disks for online backup and restricting tape to long-term storage. The high performance of disks allows continual non-disruptive backup, shrinks recovery point intervals to as low as 15 minutes, and dramatically lowers recovery time. For improved disk system reliability, Data Protection Manager 2010 supports high availability disk clustering and fault-tolerant arrays. Innovations with DPM 2010 include support for Windows 2008 Hyper-V virtualization and Clustered Shared Volumes, the option to restore individual files, Database Availability Group support for Exchange Server 2010, improved operation with SharePoint, and protection during a Live Migration process.

How Progent's Microsoft Engineers Can Assist You Integrate System Center Data Protection Manager 2010
Progent's Microsoft-certified engineers can assist you to assess the expenses and benefits of Data Protection Manager 2010 and can help you in all facets of DPM integration. Progent can help you:

• Determine your protection targets and establish a backup strategy to accomplish them
• Create a cost-effective wide area network topology to support Data Protection Manager
• Configure Microsoft Windows Server 2008, SQL Server, Exchange Server, and SharePoint Server to run with DPM
• Configure Storage Pools
• Calculate and reserve disk space for backup
• Plan tape library rotation and management
• Install DPM Protection Agents on systems on both sides of your network firewall
• Optimize backup and restoration speed

Additional DPM Support Services Available from Progent
Progent’s Cisco-certified CCIE network engineers can help you to design a robust network infrastructure that is economical to install and simple to manage and that offers maximum uptime and data protection. Progent's CISSP-ISSAP security specialists can assist you to create and validate a disaster recovery plan that is financially sensible for your situation, provides security for your sensitive data, and reduces downtime in case of a major network failure.

Contact Progent for Help from a Microsoft-Certified DPM 2010 Expert
If you wish to contact Progent about consulting support for DPM 2010 solutions, phone 1-800-993-9400 or see Contact Progent.