All Backed Up

Fun and Free Xbox Arcade game -- Dash of Destruction

Add a Dash of Giggles

Another Dash of Loud Laughter

Plus a Dash of "No, don't eat my truck with your dinosaur"

That's how you get a "Dash of Destruction" -- and now you know what my house has sounded like since my sons and I downloaded this free Xbox Arcade title from the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Doritos ran a game designing contest, and this was the winner - submitted by Mike Borland, a medical software programmer.  Evidently, this also shows the power of the building your own games with Xbox's development tools (cool, eh?).  You can also check out 'behind the scenes' of the game and the Doritos promotion at www.unlockxbox.com.  

In the game, you can be either a Tyrannosaurus Rex or drive a Doritos delivery truck. 

As a T-Rex, you can plow through buildings as you chase the delivery trucks

As a truck, you run around hotspots picking up Doritos, while avoiding the dinosaurs who are chasing you.

There are probably some profound parenting lessons in this around the truck being faster and more nimble, though the T-Rex is much bigger and stronger.  But so far, I am just enjoying being Godzilla-like and chasing my kids.  And like the commercial says, "you can't eat just one".

Its good for an easy 150 or so achievement points.  The full 200 points is a little tougher (though one of my gamer sons has done it, while his brother and I haven't yet).

And if you have kids who are getting a little stir-crazy during the cold days of their Christmas break, it also includes a multiplayer mode where 4 people on the same console can each choose to be either T-Rex's or Trucks -- and chase each other.

To the kind folks at Doritos and their parent company, Frito-Lay -- THANK YOU for some innovative marketing and a fun little game!   By the way, how about a way to to register your gamertag to show you completed the full 200 points -- and receive a coupon for a free bag of chips?   You get some opt-in mailings, and we get free food?   (cuz' so many Doritos executives read my blog ?)

To the rest of you, please go buy an extra bag of chips.  And in case you are ever asked why, mention this game so that they might promote another gaming contest.  (it could happen)

As always, thanks for reading...

PS> gratuitous and obligatory thanks to my gamer buddy, Matt Hester, for letting me know about this game.

DPM 2007 Sp1 podcast -- Exchange item recovery

As we continue our podcast series for DPM 2007 (now with Service Pack 1) -- here is a new TechNet Edge podcast on how to do individual item level restore with DPM 2007 and Exchange 2007.

This particular topic is not "SP1 specific", but is one of the most common questions that we hear about DPM, and was suggested by some of you blog-readers since watching others in the series.  Please keep the suggestions coming on what else you'd like to see highlighted on DPM via podcast.

This podcast installment is actually from Ilse Van Criekinge, an Exchange MVP, who I had the privilege of meeting and watching at TechEd IT Forum 2008 in Barcelona last month.  Thanks Ilse, for letting us share it !!

DPM 2007 SP1 -- how to do individual item restore for Exchange -- on EDGE

For more detail on how DPM 2007 protects Exchange Server, check out www.microsoft.com/DPM/exchange.

By now, you hopefully have heard that Service Pack 1 was released on December 19th (Merry Christmas) -- but our videos will continue throughout January as we have more DPM 2007 SP1 goodness to share.  Please let us know what other topics.

As always, thanks for reading...

Why SP1 for DPM 2007 is cool

For the official announcement of SP1 -- please check out Service Pack 1 for DPM 2007 is now available on the DPM Product Team blog (yes, I wrote that one too).

Here are some good links on Service Pack 1

What is new in Service Pack 1	http://www.microsoft.com/SystemCenter/DataProtectionManager/en/us/WHATs-NEW.aspx
DPM 2007 SP1 x86	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=125991
DPM 2007 SP1 x64	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=125992
SP1 videos on TechNet Edge	http://edge.technet.com/tags/DPM
Upcoming Webcast on SP1 on January 8, 2009	http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032399151

Now ... let's talk about what it all really means ...

Everything that DPM 2007 did -- is now better! 

SQL Server now does 2008, can back up databases in parallel, and supports mirrored instances

SharePoint got HUGE optimizations, between the catalog improvements and that the index/search is now in the UI

Exchange can now be protected from the SCR node - something truly unique to DPM

Hyper-V is now protect-able, which is probably the most requested feature from those requesting access to the beta bits.  And that makes sense, since Microsoft customers that were standardizing on Hyper-V over another hypervisor have been looking for a Microsoft backup solution for their platform.

SP1 provides new protection scenarios for Microsoft customers

Branch Offices

Local Data Source Protection (LDSP) means that your branch office file server can now be your branch office "File Server + Hyper-V host + DPM client-backup" server.   DPM 2007 SP1 can now protect data residing on its own platform.  This means that it can back up your client desktops/laptops on premise, whatever files are on file serving volumes, and any VM's running as guests.   This opens up some cool scenarios for customers with distributed branches. 

And since DPM can replicate from one DPM server to another, your new File-HyperV-DPM branch servers can replicate the key data back to the DPM server at headquarters = Disaster Recovery of the branch office data and Centralized Backup because the remote servers can be disk-only, with tapes still being managed centrally.

Disaster Recovery

DPM 2007 SP1 now enables protection to the cloud.   Look for more details on this in January/February, but SP1 customers will notice new options in the UI around 'Online Protection' which will lead you to a landing page, where you can enroll in off-site data protection before replicating your data from your DPM server to an offsite data center.  You'll see more detail on that early next year, as our partner makes their announcements.

Client Protection

Protecting Windows XP and Vista is about to be more cost effective.  DPM customers will notice in the UI that alongside the Standard DPML and Enterprise DPML counters, there are new counters for Client DPML.  Yes, on the February 2009 price list, Microsoft customers and partners will find Client DPML's that are the same price as the other Client ML's from System Center (OM & CM).  

To be clear, client machines were already protect-able by the Standard DPML from DPM2007.  But based on customer-demand, we are releasing a more economical SKU.  Customers who are already protecting desktops with Standard DPML's should likely re-purpose those to Windows Servers, and acquire less expensive DPML's for their clients.  The other client requirements still apply:  1) must be joined to a domain - so no 'home' editions of Windows and 2) must be routinely connected - ideal for desktops, less so for the laptop that never connects.

Cross-Forest Protection

Whereas before, the DPM server could be in different domains but the same forest -- now we can protect across forests.  This was especially in response to Microsoft customers who had grown through acquisition and often had separate forests.   As long as there is a trust, you can protect from one to the other.

And we aren't stopping there

There is a new Management Pack for DPM 2007 that will allow you to monitor the DPM servers across your enterprise from System Center Operations Manager.

We have a Best Practice Analyzer coming

A new Infrastructure Planning & Design Guide is currently in beta

And more in 2009

So, if you are running Microsoft application, file or virtualization servers (or desktops), there has never been a better time for take a look at Data Protection Manager 2007.

And speaking of 'taking a look' - check out our podcast series on DPM and SP1 on EDGE.TECHNET.COM.

As always, thanks for reading ... and Merry Christmas.

New Sales Promotion -- get DPM Server licenses when you purchase System Center SMSE's

For those that are unfamiliar with DPM 2007 licensing, I just recorded a licensing podcast on Edge.Technet.com

This is the 3rd of many installments on point topics over DPM 2007 SP1 - and I will continue to blog here as new ones post every week or so.  Check out the series of podcasts on Edge.

In the licensing podcast on Edge, after we talk about the DPM licenses themselves, we talk about some cool benefits of acquiring your DPML's within the SMSE, instead of as 'standalone' licenses.  And now, it gets even better !

With the acquisition of 200 or more System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise (SMSE) licenses between December 1st 2008 and June 30th 2009, a Select, Select Plus or Enterprise Agreement customer will be deemed to have:

• 5 System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 server licenses
• 1 System Center Configuration Manager 2007 server license
• 1 System Center Operations Manager 2007 server license

Use of the above software licenses will be governed by the terms and conditions of the customer’s license agreement and the product use rights for the above products.

The customer’s right to use the above referenced products under this offering is evidenced by their license agreement, evidence of their qualifying SMSE licenses, and this product condition note.  The right to use the above referenced server licenses expires upon expiration or termination of the qualifying SMSE licenses. 

The customer has the option to acquire Software Assurance for the server licenses granted under this offering.  That coverage must be acquired by no later than June 30th, 2009.  Customers without media for any of the above products should contact their reseller for media fulfillment options.  Media fulfillment charges may apply.

So, as you are looking at acquiring DPM 2007 (with SP1 eminently), if you are also looking at other management technologies from Microsoft, the SMSE is the right way to go -- and make sure you take advantage of this offer, if you can!

Thanks for reading

Now available for download - Infrastructure Planning & Design (IPD) guide for DPM 2007 SP1

We are just a few days away from releasing Service Pack 1 for DPM 2007, and part of the release is updating our existing content and adding new materials.

The DPM Team has been working with the Microsoft Solution Accelerators group to develop this IPD, which goes into beta this week -  so please tell us what you think !!

Open Beta for IPD Guide-Now Available for Download -- Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 SP1

This guide leads the reader through the process of planning a Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2007 SP1 infrastructure. Work through the infrastructure design process in a logical, sequential order. This IPD guide enables the reader to quickly identify what types of data will be protected, what the recovery goals are, and the protection strategy to achieve those goals. Other benefits of using this guide include best practice design guidance from the product group and an optimized infrastructure to best meet the business requirements.

Please tell us what you think! Download the beta guide and send us your honest feedback. We appreciate your input and will work to make each guide as helpful and useful as possible.

Infrastructure Planning and Design streamlines the planning process by:

• Defining the technical decision flow through the planning process.
• Listing the decisions to be made and the commonly available options and considerations.
• Relating the decisions and options to the business in terms of cost, complexity, and other characteristics.
• Framing decisions in terms of additional questions to the business to ensure a comprehensive alignment with the appropriate business landscape.

Get the beta IPD by visiting the Connect Web site at http://connect.microsoft.com (invitation code embedded).

--jason

Xbox Dad -- where did you go?

It's actually a rhetorical question -- effective December 1st, Xbox.com has retired the 'Xbox Dad' persona/column on family gaming. 

My sincerest thanks to the original Xbox Dad (Duncan) for sharing his column with me this year -- and to the folks at Xbox.com for the opportunity to contribute.  It was a great experience to have this outlet for my passion on video gaming with your children.

Xbox.com does have other resources for family-friendly gaming:

The 'Family Games Blog' where the other community voices are offering snipits on what they and their kids are playing

In the Xbox Forums, check out the 'Gamer Parents & Family Gaming' forum

If you'd like to see more info on Xbox family gaming, please give them your suggestions.

If you are looking for any of my 2008 family-friendly gaming commentaries, here they are:

Fantastic Four - Rise of the Silver Surfer

Fathers Day 2008 - what one Xbox Dad got this year

LEGO : Star Wars -- the best kids' game that I know of

My Xbox360 has its own blog

Naruto - Rise of the Ninja

New Xbox Experience (NXE) is here - my kids are loving the avatars

Scene It - Lights, Camera, Action

Viva Piñata - Party Animals

Viva Piñata - Trouble in Paradise

Windows Home Server and Xbox360

I took a few days off before Thanksgiving (eating turkey, playing a lot of games, and breaking 15,000 on my gamerscore), so beyond the games above, here are some glowing endorsements (hopefully to be blogged here) -- for the some great Christmas presents:

Fable II -- yes, it is as awesome as most of the hype.  If you are a role-playing fan, this is a must have (and get it before December 14th, so that you will be ready when the first downloadable content is added).

A Kingdom for Keflings - a very innovative and addictive Xbox Live Arcade game that takes advantage of the new NXE avatars.  All of my kids enjoyed it, and it was even more fun in Co-Op across Xbox Live.   If Xbox Live Marketplace keeps coming out with little Co-Op's like this, I may need a 3rd Xbox360 so that my boys and I can co-op.

LEGO : Batman -- perhaps my new favorite Lego video game (which is saying something).  There is less source material than the Star Wars trilogies, but you get to play the same levels not only from the hero (Batman) point of view, but also as the villains' (Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Two-Face, Catwoman and Poison Ivy).

Star Wars : The Force Unleashed -- not for kids, but definitely for Dad !!

Perhaps Xbox.com will offer another persona for family game recommendations in 2009 -- or maybe another online gaming site will offer me a podium to write from :-). 

But in the meantime, I will start posting my game feedback back on this blog, when I can.

As always, thanks for reading...

What is new for protecting SharePoint with DPM 2007 SP1 -- TechNet EDGE Video

Service Pack 1 for DPM 2007 is coming -- and it is coming soon (December)...

I just finished recording the 2nd in a video series on the new features for DPM 2007 Service Pack 1.

The first installment aired two weeks ago - during IT FORUM in Barcelona, as an overview of the features in SP1

This installment (live today) is on the specifics of SharePoint protection enhancements within SP1 for DPM 2007.

 

Take a look at the overview video:

Hopefully, you are as excited as we are that SP1 is almost here

And please let me know which feature you'd like a deep dive on next ...

As always, thanks for reading...

NXE is here - and my kids are loving the Avatars

Most of you know that aside from my vocational passion around Data Protection and Storage Solutions for Windows servers ... my vice is video gaming, particularly with my family.  And in that vein, the kind folks at xbox.com have been letting me co-write about family games as XBOX DAD..

If you own an Xbox 360, you've hopefully heard about the NXE - New Xbox Experience, that among other things offers 'Avatars'.  Avatars are caricatures of you as a gamer (or what you would like to be seen as) -- which not only appear on your console, but can be your gamer-picture, and even visible on all of your friends' Xbox consoles during their playlists.   Originally, I thought that that was the coolest feature -- so I could finally 'see' what some of my online friends look like.  But, after my kids saw my avatar and immediately screamed "Daddy is in the Xbox !!!  How did you do that?!?" ... we spent a good amount of time playing with getting each member of our family to be exactly correct in our avatar -- I was a beta tester for the NXE, so my kids have been playing with it for a while.    I am sure that the official Xbox folks, as well as every other gamer authority, will be talking about all of the new capabilities of the NXE -- YES, NetFlix streaming video is very cool - and one more reason to have your Xbox on the best TV in the house YES, creating a 'party' to connect with friends, even before the game starts is very slick YES, the new menus give you a lot more information to help you to get more out of your Xbox360 YES, the friends list showing your friends' avatars is both funny and informative to see what they are playing and how they'd like to be seen YES, the list goes on and on... ... but as your friendly neighborhood Xbox Dad, one of the neatest things to me was watching my 7 and 4 year olds scroll through clothing choices and facial items to create themselves.  It really is that intuitive for a gamer kid, and they are fun to build.  There are plans for providing ways to get additional content (marketplace?  in-game rewards?) for your avatar - which should provide surprises and/or bragging rights when your friends next see you in their console.    So, if you are reading this -- quick, go power up your Xbox360, log in to with your Live account (silver or gold) and get ready for a new UI that really makes the difference between a 'game console' in your playroom and an 'entertainment device' that deserves to be the hub of your living room. As always, thank you for reading ...

DPM 2007 SP1 - what is coming soon

Hey folks,

Now that IT Forum in Barcelona is over, I can start sharing more details on what all is included in Service Pack 1 for DPM 2007.  We are feverishly trying to get all of our content updated to talk about the new capabilities, but there is still more to do - as every protected workload got some feature enhancements with SP1.

One piece of feedback that I have heard from those that read this blog is that your favorite posts are the podcasts on specific features -- so I am going to try to record one feature per week from SP1 between now and when I run out of features (or time).

The series will be hosted on EDGE (edge.technet.com), with the first in the series delivered while I was in Barcelona.

Check out last week's video - what is coming in SP1

And then check back on Edge (and my blogs) for the weekly feature highlights.  Am thinking SharePoint protection will be the next up. :-)

Thanks for reading...

TechNet Radio -- Total Wine success story with System Center

Earlier this week, I sat down with my friends at Total Wine to talk about how they are using System Center.   

It's one of the first times that I've gotten to talk about technology and 'wine' instead of 'whine'. 

In fact, as part of my research to be fully prepared for the TechNet Radio interview, I opened up a nice Pinot Grigio just before the recording.

In the interview, we covered:

SC Data Protection Manager - replacing previous backup solutions that were unreliable and making backups 'fun' - with some interesting anecdotes on DPM v2 beta, 2007 and the upcoming SP1 (they are a TAP customer), plus some juicy tidbits on the pain that they had with backup with 'the other guys'

 

SC Virtual Machine Manager - as the Total Wine virtualization deployment continues rolling out, VMM is as much a part of their plan as Hyper-V itself.

 

SC Operations Manager - as the nerve center of all of TW's Microsoft and in-house applications.  The coolest part was in discussing the upcoming custom applications, Total Wine is designing the application (in-house) to be monitored by SCOM, instead of the other way around - to be sure that they maintain that one view of everything that matters to their business.

 

SC Configuration Manager - for deploying everything from new applications to replacement servers in remote stores.  The bottom line for TW is that store staff should know about wine and beer, not technology and POS applications.  To do that, all of their deployments and change control happens transparently via SCCM.

 

The audio shows 1 hour, but only the first 22 minutes are System Center with Total Wine - the rest are the Microsoft TechNet October Security Bulletins.

WMA | MP3 High | MP3 Low

To save to your computer, right click and choose 'save target as…'.

If you'd like to lock in to the DPM portion of the case study, there is about 3 minutes of good introduction on Total Wine's business and infrastructure - and DPM 2007 is covered from around 3:30 until 9:30.  

To learn more about DPM and the rest of System Center in use at Total Wine - check out the Microsoft case study.

My sincere thanks to Todd Slan and Robert DeSantos at Total Wine for allowing Microsoft System Center to partner with them in helping them manage the Total Wine infrastructure - and to my friends in System Center and the folks at TechNet for putting this interview together.

-- Jason

How to protect SQL SERVER with DPM -- new Technet Webcast starting soon

We're starting in about an hour -- 9:30 AM Pacific Time on Friday, September 26th

What better way to start the weekend than being sure that your data protection solution 'has got your back' (pun intended) for your database server farm?

So, grab some coffee, find a comfortable chair and join us at:

TechNet Webcast- Protect SQL Server 2008 with Data Protection Manager 2007 (Level 300)

SEARCH and GIVE ... a new way to 'search' and 'give'...

There are a few things that I truly love about the Microsoft culture:

Philanthropy -- Bill G has truly modeled a spirit of giving back, and that every one can help -- and that spirit of generosity really seems to be permeated in the mindset of Microsoft management at all levels.

Tenacity -- While some MS products are leading in their segments, others battle against large incumbents -- but we keep our eye on the prize and keep improving our offerings.  Search being a good example

Marketing initiative -- I used to envy the 'Microsoft Marketing Machine' when I was on the outside.  And it is even cooler sitting in the eye of the storm.

The reason that I bring up these three (there are others) is that the folks at LIVE.COM have done a very cool thing for Search - by adding a community donation program to search.live.com.

While some other search engines may greedily take all of their profits with every searching click, the folks at Live.com will donate one penny per search query to your favorite charity or school.

So, please --

If you have not tried search.live.com recently ... check out SEARCHandGIVE.com, which is powered by Live.com's search engine

If you have tried it (and therefore obviously understand that it is a strong search engine) - consider changing your search provider to searchandgive.com.  Start donating to your local school or charity -- one click at a time.

It really is simple -- go to the site, register yourself with your Hotmail / Windows Live ID, and then pick your charity/school from the list.   It will ask you to confirm SearchandGive.com as your search provider and you are done!!   I used search already, so to make it even easier, I added it as one of my tabs on my home page. 

As always, thanks for reading

What would you ask the DPM developers ?

In just a few weeks, I am flying to India to visit with the parts of the DPM Development Team that are based in Hyderabad.

Am excited about this trip for a few reasons:

1)  I've never been to India

2)  We are going to connect around the final feature set for DPM 2007 Service Pack 1.   I've already seen product demo's and listened to feature briefings, but this is my chance to really get deep with the some of the folks to are building the features themselves, face to face, and chew on the new features and functions.

3)  As the developers have been rolling off of DPM 2007 Service Pack 1 ... and on to DPM v3 ... this is my first chance to get deep with the very cool stuff being built for DPM v3.

So, it ought to be an amazing trip -- and I want to take some of you with me.

I'm bringing a camcorder and am planning on interviewing several of the Hyderabad DPM folks - to let you guys see the faces and hear the thoughts of how our development team is thinking about the future of DPM.   I will stream the interviews as podcasts from this blog or the DPM Product Team blog - hopefully one per week, starting in September.

Please post your questions as 'comments' to this blog post -- or send them to me in email at the link on this blog.

So, other than "what is the roadmap?" ... What would you like to hear from my friends in India?

As always, thanks for reading...

Video - Technical Introduction of DPM2007 ... from Tech-Ed 2008 US

From July 2008 in Orlando -- this was the first of three breakout sessions on DPM2007.

This session covers:

- Installing the DPM Server

- Configuring the DPM Server disk and tape

- Deploying DPM agents from the administration console

- Setting up Data Protection

- Recovering Data

Click here to watch - Technical Introduction of DPM2007

originally posted on the TechNet Spotlight ... thanks guys !!!

PS> I slowed down my blogs and outreach this summer, but will kick back in as August winds down.

I am headed to India in September to hang-out with the DPM development team -- so look for lots of camcorder coverage next month.

Planned Podcasts include any-point-in-time restores of SQL Server 2008, and previews of the very cool features in DPM 2007 SP1 coming this fall.

XboxDad has new articles coming out.   And I've put a few new entries on my personal blog, as well.

So, if you haven't already unsubscribed due to lack of activity - please stay tuned...

As always -- thanks for reading.

Live from TechEd 2008 - Jason and Devin !!! (video)

Devin Ganger, my friend, Exchange MVP and author of "Mastering Data Protection Manager" recently joined me at TechEd in Orlando last week to talk about DPM and Exchange protection.

Check out the video -- 'Making backups cool with DPM"

For more information about Devin's book, please visit www.MasteringDPM.com

Thanks for reading...