IT Technology News and Progent Business Solutions

Microsoft has shipped Data Protection Manager 2010, an advanced backup-and-recovery platform built specifically for supporting Windows file and application servers and clients. Data Protection Manager 2010 allows on-going,transparent backup of physical and virtual computers to onsite or off-site disks as well as off-line backup to tape, and permits fast, simple-to-manage restoration of whole computers or single files. DPM's disk drive support provides the performance and dependability required to protect your critical business data without disrupting network availability, while Data Protection Manager's tape drive compatibility makes long-term archiving expenses affordable and helps ensure adherence to contractual or legal data retention mandates.

Most small businesses continue to rely on obsolete, tape-centric backup and restore technology. In the event of a serious IT breakdown, this can result in substantial revenue loss because of extended network unavailability and, possibly, unrecoverable information. Tape-only protection solutions are vulnerable because the media is sensitive to mechanical wear and requires a carefully controlled physical environment. Microsoft recorded a whopping 17% failure incidence when utilizing tape to archive their in-house production servers. Mag tape is also low performance. Because of this, backups require periodic server downtime, recovery points are commonly spaced apart by days rather than minutes, and the restore process is time consuming and tedious.

DPM resolves these shortcomings by supporting fast, dependable hard disks for short-term backup while relegating tape media to long-term storage. The high performance of disks permits ongoing non-disruptive backup, reduces recovery point spacing to as little as 15 minutes, and substantially cuts restoration time. For improved disk reliability, DPM supports disk clusters and fault-tolerant arrays. New features of Data Protection Manager 2010 include operation with Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V R2 virtualization and CSV, the ability to restore individual files, DAG support for Exchange 2010, enhanced operation with SharePoint Server, and full data protection during a Live Migration procedure.

How Progent's Microsoft-certified Engineers Can Assist You Deploy DPM 2010
Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can assist you to evaluate the costs and advantages of Data Protection Manager 2010 and can help you in all phases of DPM integration. Progent can assist you to:

• Determine your protection targets and create a backup/restore strategy to accomplish them
• Design an efficient wide area network topology to support Data Protection Manager
• Set up Microsoft Windows Server 2008, SQL Server, Exchange, and SharePoint Server to work with DPM 2010
• Configure Storage Pools and Custom Volumes
• Calculate and allocate hard disk space for backup
• Define tape library rotation and administration
• Install Protection Agents on systems on both sides of your firewall
• Maximize backup and recovery speed

Additional DPM-related Consulting and Support Available from Progent
Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE network experts can assist you to design a resilient network infrastructure that is affordable to install and simple to manage and that provides maximum system uptime and data protection. Progent's CISSP-ISSAP certified security specialists can assist your company to produce and validate a disaster recovery plan that is economically realistic for your business, provides security for your vital corporate information, and reduces system downtime in case of a catastrophic IT breakdown.

Contact Progent for Support from a Microsoft-Qualified DPM 2010 Consultant
If you wish to ask Progent about consulting assistance for System Center Data Protection Manager 2010 integration, phone 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.