Using tapes (Tape Drive) in DPM 2010 - Part I

A doubt too common that I get is how to use tapes in DPM (System Center Data Protection Manager), since the videos that I published in late 2009 (http://www.marcelosincic.com.br/blog/post/Serie-Technet-VideoCast-System-Center-Data-Protection-Manager.aspx) not discussed the matter by be using VMs and did not have a tape drive.

You need have a tested model (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/systemcenter/dm/cc678583), in my case is a Dell TL4000 with robot and two cartridges, but you can use VTL (http://bit.ly/v8wq1C).

I will divide into 3 posts, this first on how to use the backup to tape, the second on operation with the tapes, and how to manage and the third post about appropriate backup policies.

Part I – Using tape backups

In DPM have backup “short-term” which is held on disk and the backup “long-term” which is on tape.

It is necessary first to enable DPM to recognize the drive, as shown in the image below:

Note that in the example above we are treating a robo tape with capacity for LTOs 3 and 4 in carrousel.

After recognizing the unit in the protection group will have the option to enable backups to tape, as below:

When you choose that you want to back up “long-term” will take the next two screens, the first below shows the retention period of tape backup, its frequency and the backup schedule.

Finally, choose which of the drives (when multiple) want the backup to be done and if you want to encrypt and compress, remembering that it is not possible to combine the two methods:

I conclude here the part 1 of this series and soon I’ll post part 2 and 3 updating this post with the following.

Read the second part in http://msincic.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/using-tapes-tape-drives-in-dpm-2010-part-ii/

Read the third part in http://msincic.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/using-tapes-in-dpm-2010-part-iii/

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