Data Protection Manager can be used to protect files stored in folders and shares or volumes on your file servers. Data Protection Manager can also be used to protect application data on servers running Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, or Microsoft SQL Server, including the SQL databases used by the System Center components. You can use Data Protection Manager to protect both physical and virtual servers in your environment. You can also use it to perform bare-metal recovery (BMR) of mission-critical servers to manage their system state. Data Protection Manager can even be used to protect Windows client computers and computers in workgroups and untrusted domains.
Data Protection Manager works by creating disk-based replicas (copies) of the file and application data on protected servers. These replicas are stored in storage pools that can be implemented using disk storage, tape storage, a mixture of disk and tape, or a secondary Data Protection Manager server, or they can be backed up to the cloud using Windows Azure backup. Storage is synchronized at customizable intervals to ensure that you can quickly recover data when needed.
To protect a computer in your environment, you install the Data Protection Manager protection
agent on the computer, and then you add the computer to a protection group, which is a collection of data sources that share the same protection configuration, such as disk allocations, a replica creation method, and a protection policy.
It can be used in case of remote and field office locations where there are server without local IT.
We can proceed to backup them remotely and centrally, infact we can limit bandwitch used and have a Disaster recovery approach.
You can use Data Protection Manager to protect virtual machines hosted on standalone Hyper-V hosts that use local or direct-attached storage (DAS) or Server Message Block (SMB) 3.0 file server storage and on host clusters that use Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) storage.
Data Protection Manager provides the core functionality you need to be able to back up and restore file and application data in a private cloud environment, you can build a more robust cloud-protection solution by integrating Data Protection Manager with other System Center components. For example, you can integrate the health-monitoring capabilities of Operations Manager with the DPM Administrator Console by using the DPM Management Pack that is included with Data Protection Manager; you can use the System Center Integration Pack for System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager to create workflows in Orchestrator that interact with Data Protection Manager; you can protect the databases of other System Center components using Data Protection Manager; and you can back up Data Protection Manager data to Windows Azure Backup, which provides scalability and elasticity that can simplify and help reduce the cost of managing your backup storage.
Product home page
Your starting point for exploring, trying, buying, deploying, and supporting Data Protection
Manager and other System Center 2012 R2 components is the System Center 2012 R2 home page on Microsoft’s Server and Cloud Platform site at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/products/system-center-2012-r2/.
TechNet Library
If you’re already familiar with previous versions of Data Protection Manager, you might want to start with “What’s new in System Center 2012 R2 - DPM” found at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn296613.aspx. If you’re new to Data Protection Manager, you can browse
the full online documentation for Data Protection Manager starting from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh758173.aspx.
TechNet blogs
For the latest information about Data Protection Manager, follow the System Center Data
Protection Manager at http://blogs.technet.com/b/dpm/.
TechNet wiki
The System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager Survival Guide can be found on the
TechNet wiki at http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/11867.system-center-2012-data-protection-manager-survival-guide.aspx.
TechNet forums
To get answers to your questions about Data Protection Manager, try posting to one of the
Data Protection Manager forums on TechNet at http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-us/home?category=dpm.
TechNet Evaluation Center
You can download evaluation versions of Data Protection Manager and other System Center
2012 R2 components from the TechNet Evaluation Center at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/evalcenter/dn205295.
TechNet Virtual Labs
You can try out Data Protection Manager and other System Center 2012 R2 components
online using the TechNet Virtual Labs at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/virtuallabs.
Channel 9
Channel 9 on MSDN has lots of helpful videos on Data Protection Manager.
See http://channel9.msdn.com/search?term=VMM.
Microsoft Virtual Academy
The Microsoft Virtual Academy has numerous online courses on Data Protection Manager
and other System Center 2012 R2 components at http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/product-training/system-center.
Twitter
@SystemCenter is your official Twitter source for System Center solutions and news. You can find reviews, discussions, and helpful information at https://twitter.com/system_center.
Here are System requirements:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh758176.aspx
