IT Technology News and Progent Business Solutions

Microsoft has published System Center Data Protection Manager 2010, a powerful backup-and-restore platform designed specifically for supporting Windows servers and clients. Data Protection Manager 2010 allows continual,transparent backup of both physical and virtual computers to local or remote hard disks as well as off-line recording to tape, and enables rapid, easy-to-manage recovery of entire computers or individual files. Data Protection Manager's disk drive support provides the speed and reliability you need to protect your vital business information without disrupting network availability, while DPM's mag tape compatibility makes long-term archiving expenses low and simplifies compliance with contractual or regulatory data retention requirements.

Many small businesses continue to rely on obsolete, tape-based backup and recovery technology. In the event of a major system breakdown, this can lead to substantial revenue loss due to extended network downtime and, possibly, unrecoverable records. Tape-based protection procedures are unreliable because the media is sensitive to mechanical wear and requires a carefully controlled physical environment. Microsoft reported a whopping 17% failure incidence when utilizing tape to archive their in-house operational servers. Mag tape is also inherently slow. Because of this, backup processes require scheduled server downtime, recovery snap shots are often spaced apart by days rather than minutes, and the restoration process is long and tricky.

DPM 2010 solves these problems by supporting fast, reliable disk systems for online backup while relegating tape media to long-term archiving. The high performance of hard disks allows continual non-disruptive backup, reduces restoration point intervals to as low as 15 minutes, and substantially cuts recovery time. For enhanced disk reliability, DPM supports high availability disk clusters and fault-tolerant arrays. Innovations with DPM 2010 include support for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V virtual machines and Clustered Shared Volumes, the option to restore individual files, DAG support for Exchange Server 2010, improved operation with SharePoint, and full data protection during a Live Migration process.

How Progent's Microsoft Engineers Can Help You Deploy DPM 2010
Progent's Microsoft-certified engineers can help your business to evaluate the expenses and advantages of DPM 2010 and can help you in all phases of DPM deployment. Progent can help you:

• Define your protection goals and establish a backup strategy to accomplish them
• Create an efficient multi-site network topology to accommodate System Center Data Protection Manager
• Set up Windows 2008, SQL Server, Exchange Server, and SharePoint to run with DPM 2010
• Set up Protection Groups and Custom Volumes
• Estimate and allocate disk storage for protection
• Plan tape circulation and management
• Install DPM Protection Agents on systems inside and outside your firewall
• Maximize backup and recovery performance

Other DPM Support Services Available from Progent
Progent's Cisco CCIE network engineers can assist you to design a robust network infrastructure that is economical to deploy and easy to maintain and that provides maximum system availability and data protection. Progent's CISSP-ISSAP certified security specialists can help you to create and test a business continuity strategy that is financially sensible for your situation, ensures security for your vital data, and minimizes system downtime in the event a catastrophic IT failure.

Call or Email Progent for Help from a Microsoft-Certified DPM 2010 Specialist
If you wish to ask Progent about consulting expertise for System Center Data Protection Manager 2010 integration, phone 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.