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Upgrade your DPM installation

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Important

This content has been retired and may not be updated in the future. The product, service, or technology mentioned in this content is no longer supported.

This article provides the upgrade information for System Center 1801 - Data Protection Manager (DPM).

Upgrade to DPM 1801

You can install System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) version 1801 on Windows Server 2012 R2 or on Windows Server 2016. DPM 1801 is the first release in the System Center Semi-Annual Channel (SAC). You can upgrade to DPM 1801 from either DPM 2012 R2 Update Rollup 14 (UR14) or from DPM 2016 Update Rollup 4 (UR4). Before you upgrade or install DPM 2016, read the Installation prerequisites.

Upgrade path for DPM 1801

If you're going to upgrade from DPM 2012 R2 or DPM 2016 to DPM 1801, ensure that your installation has the necessary updates:

  • Upgrade DPM 2012 R2 to DPM 2012 R2 Update Rollup 14. If you're upgrading from DPM 2016, then first upgrade to DPM 2016 Update Rollup 4. You can download the Update Rollups from Windows Update.
  • Upgrade the DPM server to DPM 1801.
  • Update the agents on the protected servers.
  • Upgrade the DPM Remote Administrator on all the production servers.
  • Backups continue without rebooting your production server.

Upgrade steps for DPM

  1. To install DPM, double-click Setup.exe to open the System Center 1801 wizard.
  2. Under Install, select Data Protection Manager to start the setup wizard. Agree to the license terms and conditions and follow the setup wizard.

Some DPM 1801 features, such as Modern Backup Storage, require Windows Server 2016. You can run DPM 1801 on Windows Server 2012 R2 with UR14. However, to use features such as Modern Backup Storage or RCT-based Hyper-V VM backup, you must use Windows Server 2016. For instructions on installing DPM, see the article Installing DPM.

Migrating the DPM database during upgrade

You may want to move the DPM Database as part of an upgrade. For example:

  • You're merging instances of SQL Server.
  • You're moving to a remote, more powerful SQL Server.
  • You want to add fault tolerance by using a SQL Server cluster.
  • You want to move from a remote SQL server to a local SQL server or vice versa.

DPM 1801 setup allows you to migrate the DPM database to different SQL Servers during an upgrade.

Possible database migration scenarios

The following scenarios exist when upgrading DPM 2012 R2 or DPM 2016 to DPM 1801 using a:

  1. Local instance and migrating to a remote instance of SQL Server during setup.
  2. Remote instance and migrating to a local instance of SQL Server during setup.
  3. Local instance and migrating to a remote SQL Server Cluster instance during setup.
  4. Local instance and migrating to a different local instance of SQL Server during setup.
  5. Remote instance and migrating to a different remote instance of SQL Server during setup.
  6. Remote instance and migrating to a remote SQL Server Cluster instance during setup.

Preparing for a database migration

If you want to use a new SQL Server to migrate the DPM database, before you upgrade DPM, ensure that both the SQL Servers have the same:

  • SQL Server requirements
  • Setup configuration
  • Firewall rules
  • DPM Support files (sqlprep)

Once you've the new instance of SQL Server installed and prepared for DPM use, you must create a backup of the current DPM database and restore it on the new SQL Server.

Pre-upgrade steps: Back up and restore DPM 2012 R2 DPM database to a new SQL instance

This example prepares a remote SQL Server cluster to use in a migration.

  1. On the System Center Data Protection Manager 2012 R2 server or on the remote SQL Server hosting the DPM database, start Microsoft SQL Management Studio and connect to the SQL instance hosting the current DPM 2012 R2 DPMDB.

  2. Right-click the DPM database, and under Tasks, select the Back Up… option.

    Screenshot showing Select Backup.

  3. Add a backup destination and file name, and then select OK to start the backup.

    Screenshot showing Confirm.

  4. After the backup is complete, copy the output file to the remote SQL Server. If this is a SQL Cluster, copy it to the active node hosting the SQL Instance you want to use in the DPM upgrade. Before you can restore the DPM database, you must copy it to the Shared Cluster disk.

  5. On the Remote SQL Server, start Microsoft SQL Management Studio and connect to the SQL instance you want to use in the DPM upgrade. If this is a SQL Cluster, do this on the Active node that you copied the DPM backup file to. The backup file should now be located on the shared cluster disk.

  6. Right-click the Databases icon, then select the Restore Database… option. This starts the restore wizard.

    Screenshot of Microsoft SQL Management Studio showing Select restore database option.

  7. Select Device under Source, and then locate the database backup file that was copied in the previous step and select it. Verify the restore options and restore location, and then select OK to start the restore. Fix any issues that arise until the restore is successful.

    Screenshot of Microsoft SQL Management Studio showing Restore database option.

  8. After the restore is complete, the restored database will be seen under the Databases with the original name. This Database will be used during the upgrade. You can exit Microsoft SQL Management Studio and start the upgrade process on the original DPM Server.

    Screenshot of Microsoft SQL Management Studio showing showing Select DPMDB option.

  9. If the new SQL Server is a remote SQL server, install the SQL management tools on the DPM server. The SQL management tools must be the same version matching the SQL server hosting the DPMDB.

Starting upgrade to migrate DPMDB to a different SQL Server

Note

If sharing a SQL Instance, run the DPM installations (or upgrades) sequentially. Parallel installations may cause errors.

  1. After the pre-migration preparation steps are complete, start the DPM 2016 Installation process. DPM Setup shows the information about current instance of SQL Server pre-populated. This is where you can select a different instance of the SQL Server or change to a Clustered SQL instance used in the migration.

    Screenshot of the DPM setup page.

  2. Change the SQL Settings to use the instance of SQL Server you restored the DPM Database to. If it's a SQL cluster, you must also specify a separate instance of the SQL Server used for SQL reporting. It's presumed that firewall rules and SQLPrep have already run. You've to enter correct credentials and then select the Check and Install button.

    Screenshot showing the Install database page.

  3. Prerequisite check should succeed, then select NEXT to continue with the upgrade.

    Screenshot showing the Prerequisites check page.

  4. Continue with the wizard options and complete the setup.

  5. After the setup is complete, the corresponding database name on the instance specified will now be DPMPB_DPMServerName. As this may be shared with other DPM servers, the naming convention for the DPM database will now be: DPM2016$DPMDB_DPMServerName

Adding Storage for Modern Backup Storage

To store backups efficiently, DPM 2016 uses Volumes. Disks can also be used to continue storing backups like DPM 2012 R2.

Add Volumes and Disks

If you run DPM 2016 on the Windows Server, you can use volumes to store backup data. Volumes provide storage savings and faster backups. You can give the volume a friendly name, and you can change the name. You can apply the friendly name while adding the volume or later by selecting the Friendly Name column of the desired volume. You can also use PowerShell to add or change friendly names for volumes.

To add a volume in the administrator console:

  1. In the DPM Administrator console, select the Management feature > Disk Storage > Add.

  2. In the Add Disk Storage page, select an available volume > select Add > type a friendly name for the volume > select OK.

    Screenshot showing how to add volume.

If you want to add a disk, it must belong to a protection group with legacy storage. Those disks can only be used for those protection groups. If the DPM server doesn't have sources with legacy protection, the disk won't appear. For more information on adding disks, see Adding disks to increase legacy storage. You can't give disks a friendly name.

Assign Workloads to Volumes

DPM 2016 allows the user to specify which kinds of workloads should be assigned to which volumes. For example, expensive volumes that support high IOPS can be configured to store only the workloads that require frequent, high-volume backups like SQL with transaction Logs. To update the properties of a volume in the storage pool on a DPM server, use the PowerShell cmdlet, Update-DPMDiskStorage.

Update-DPMDiskStorage

Syntax

Parameter Set: Volume

Update-DPMDiskStorage [-Volume] <Volume> [[-FriendlyName] <String> ] [[-DatasourceType] <VolumeTag[]> ] [-Confirm] [-WhatIf] [ <CommonParameters>]

The changes made through PowerShell are reflected in the UI.

Protecting Data Sources

To begin protecting data sources, create a Protection Group. The following procedure highlights changes or additions to the New Protection Group wizard.

To create a Protection Group:

  1. In the DPM Administrator Console, select the Protection feature.

  2. On the tool ribbon, select New.

    The Create new Protection Group wizard opens.

    Screenshot showing how to create protection group.

  3. Select Next to advance the wizard to the Select Protection Group Type screen.

  4. On the Select Protection Group Type screen, select the type of Protection Group to be created and then select Next.

    Screenshot showing how to choose server or client.

  5. On the Select Group Members screen, in the Available members pane, DPM lists the members with protection agents. For the purposes of this example, select volume D:\ and E:\ to add them to the Selected members pane. Once you've chosen the members for the protection group, select Next.

    Screenshot showing how to select group members for protection group.

  6. On the Select Data Protection Method screen, type a name for the Protection group, select the protection method(s) and select Next. If you want short term protection, you must use Disk backup.

    Screenshot showing how to select data protection method.

  7. On the Specify Short-Term Goals screen, specify the details for Retention Range and Synchronization Frequency and select Next. If desired, select Modify to change the schedule when recovery points are taken.

    Screenshot showing the specify short-term goals page.

  8. The Review Disk Storage Allocation screen provides details about the selected data sources, their size, the Space to be Provisioned, and Target Storage Volume.

    Screenshot showing the Review Disk Storage Allocation page.

    The storage volumes are determined based on the workload volume allocation (set using PowerShell) and the available storage. You can change the storage volumes by selecting other volumes from the dropdown menu. If you change the Target Storage, the Available disk storage dynamically changes to reflect the Free Space and Underprovisioned Space.

    The Underprovisioned Space column in Available disk storage reflects the amount of additional storage needed if the data sources grow as planned. Use this value to help plan your storage needs to enable smooth backups. If the value is zero, then there are no potential problems with storage in the foreseeable future. If the value is a number other than zero, then you don't have sufficient storage allocated - based on your protection policy and the data size of your protected members.

    Screenshot of Underallocated disk storage page.

The remainder of the New Protection Group wizard is unchanged from DPM 2012 R2. Continue through the wizard to complete the creation of your new protection group.

Migrating legacy storage to Modern Backup Storage

After upgrading DPM 2012 R2 to DPM 2016 and the operating system to Windows Server 2016, you can update your existing protection groups to the new DPM 2016 features. By default, protection groups aren't changed and continue to function as they were configured in DPM 2012 R2. Updating protection groups to use Modern Backup Storage is optional. To update the protection group, stop the protection of all the data sources with Retain Data, and add the data sources to a new protection group. DPM begins protecting these data sources the new way.

  1. In the Administrator Console, select the Protection feature, and in the Protection Group Member list, right-click the member and then select Stop protection of member....

    Screenshot showing how to stop protection.

    The Remove from Group page opens.

  2. In the Remove from Group page, review the used disk space and the available free space in the storage pool. The default is to leave the recovery points on the disk and allow them to expire per their associated retention policy. Select OK.

    If you want to immediately return the used disk space to the free storage pool, select Delete replica on disk. This will delete the backup data (and recovery points) associated with that member.

    Screenshot showing how to retain data.

  3. Create a new protection group that uses Modern Backup Storage and include the unprotected data sources.

Adding Disks to increase legacy storage

If you want to use legacy storage with DPM 2016, it may become necessary to add disks to increase legacy storage. To add disk storage:

  1. On the Administrator Console, select Management.

  2. Select Disk Storage.

  3. On the tool ribbon, select Add.

    The Add Disk Storage page opens.

    Screenshot showing add disks page.

  4. In the Add Disk Storage page, select Add disks.

    DPM provides a list of available disks.

  5. Select the disks, select Add to add the disks, and select OK.

New PowerShell cmdlets

For DPM 2016, two new cmdlets: Mount-DPMRecoveryPoint and Dismount-DPMRecoveryPoint are available. Select the cmdlet name to see its reference documentation.

Enable Cloud Protection

You can back up a DPM server to Azure. The high-level steps are:

  • create an Azure subscription,
  • register the server with the Azure Backup service,
  • download vault credentials and the Azure Backup Agent,
  • configure the server's vault credentials and backup policy.

For more information on backing up DPM to the cloud, see the article Preparing to backup workloads to Azure with DPM.

Next steps