Using a SAN with DPM 2007

Data Protection Manager 2007 is a Microsoft solution that can protect the data in your servers. Combining VSS technologies with DPM-specific code, it provides an easy way to create consistent snapshots of your server’s data at regular intervals. You can later easily restore that data to any of those points in time. DPM understand different types of Windows Server data like file shares, Hyper-V virtual machines, SQL Server databases, Exchange Server mailboxes and SharePoint farms, making it easy to backup and restore data in those specific workloads.

In a typical scenario, the DPM Agent running in the protected server will initially send a replica of the data to the DPM Server. After that, it will keep track of changes and send the difference according to a specified schedule. In case you need a restore, the data is sent from the DPM Server back to the protected server.

The DPM Server will obviously need storage for itself. This storage can be in locally attached disks or on a SAN. The data in the protected servers can also be can stored in locally attached disks or on a SAN. If both the DPM Server and the protected servers use a SAN for storage, there are interesting things your could do to leverage the SAN technologies and reduce the time for both the initial replica creation and an eventual data restore. This is something many SAN vendors have thoroughly documented via white papers.

Here is a list of SAN vendors that provide those DPM-specific directions (in alphabetical order) with the links to documentation in their web sites:

Compellent / Storage Center
http://www.compellent.com/~/media/com/Files/Alliances/DPM_and_Compellent_Storage_Center.ashx

DELL / EqualLogic
http://www.equallogic.com/enewsletter/tr-dpm07-equalogic-solution.pdf  

EMC / CLARiiON
http://www.emc.com/collateral/hardware/white-papers/h4260-clariion-stor-sol-ms-dpm-wp.pdf

HP / LeftHand Networks
http://stratsolutions.com/PDF/IP%20SANS/Whitepapers/SAN%20iQ%20and%20Data%20Protection.pdf 

HP / StorageWorks EVA
http://h71028.www7.hp.com/ERC/downloads/4AA1-6235ENW.pdf 

IBM / DS3200
http://www-03.ibm.com/support/techdocs/atsmastr.nsf/5cb5ed706d254a8186256c71006d2e0a/f184cb4b1035b90e8625752900294a06/$FILE/37957-00_RevA_DPM.pdf

NetApp / FAS
http://media.netapp.com/documents/tr-3726.pdf

This list is current as of 01/26/2009, but we expect more SAN vendors to document their support for DPM in the future.

For more information about DPM, please check the main web site at http://www.microsoft.com/dpm