Data Protection Manager (DPM) helps you manage the process of protecting and recovering data on the file servers in your network. This topic describes the high-level steps you need to perform to successfully protect and recover data in the DPM environment.
Protecting data
The high-level process used to protect data involves the following steps:
1. You select data sources on a file server that you want to protect.
2. To start protecting data, DPM creates a full copy (referred to as a replica) of the selected data sources on the DPM server.
3. To continue protecting data, DPM synchronizes each replica with the data sources on a recurring schedule. When a replica is updated, it replaces the previous replica.
4. To support data recovery, DPM creates point-in-time copies (referred to as shadow copies) of the replica on a recurring schedule. DPM maintains up to 64 shadow copies of each replica.
Recovering data
The high-level process for recovering data involves the following steps:
1. You select the version of the data that you want to recover from the shadow copies on the DPM server.
2. DPM restores a copy of the selected data to its point of origin on the file server or to an alternate destination that you specify.
Data protection in action
Consider an example of how you might use DPM to protect data:
• A file server in your network contains two volumes, E and F.
• Volume E hosts Share Z that contains inventory and purchase order information that changes 24/7.
• Volume F contains building maps and wiring diagrams. These files do not change often but they are important for keeping company facilities maintained and secure.
You can use DPM to protect the data on both of these volumes, selecting synchronization and shadow copy schedules that meet your data protection requirements.
To protect the share on Volume E
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1. Create a protection group, InvOrders, and add Share Z to this protection group as a member. For more information, see How to create a protection group.
2. Select nearly-continuous (hourly) synchronization and schedule eight shadow copies to be created throughout the day.
DPM creates a replica of Share Z and creates eight shadow copies each day until it reaches the maximum of 64 shadow copies. When the next shadow copy is created, it deletes the oldest shadow copy. With this protection configuration, the maximum data you can lose is one hour of changes. You can recover previous versions of files for the past eight days. You can also extend the recovery range by deleting interim shadow copies. The shadow copies use the same folder and file structure as the data sources, making it easy to browse to the data you want to recover.
To protect the data on Volume F
1. Create a protection group, BldgMaint, and add Volume F to this protection group as a member.
2. Schedule synchronization to occur two times a week at midnight. A shadow copy is created immediately following each synchronization job.
DPM creates a replica volume of Volume F and creates two shadow copies each week. With this protection configuration, the maximum data you could lose would be four days of changes and you could potentially recover previous versions of files from the last 180 days. Again, you can extend the recovery range by deleting interim shadow copies.
