Manage multiple DPM servers with Central Console
Updated: May 13, 2016
Applies To: System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager
Central Console is a System Center 2012 Operations Manager console that you can deploy to manage and monitor multiple System Center 2012 – Data Protection Manager (DPM) servers from a single location. It provides:
Centralized monitoring of DPM servers from a single location—You can monitor different versions of DPM, and track the status of servers, tasks, protected resources, tape libraries, available storage and disk space.
Role-based access control
Remote recovery
Remote corrective actions
Service level agreement (SLA)-based alerting—Alerts are generated when an SLA is broken.
Alert consolidation—Consolidate alerts and work on high priority items, as follows:
Repeated alerts—Display only one alert for repeated alerts. For example if a job is scheduled to run hourly and hasn’t run for the last ten hours, only one alert for the failed job is displayed.
Same root cause—If multiple alerts have the same root cause, or if multiple backups fail for the same data source, only the alerts informing you of the failure is generated.
Ticket generation—If you are using a ticketing system, only one ticket is generated.
Scoped console—This is based on the DPM Administrator Console with a few differences:
The title bar provides you with alert information such as ticket number and the related DPM server.
The context bar gives you more details about the alert and where it is generated.
The console only shows the objects for which the alert is generated. It also displays tasks that aren’t associated with any protection group or server because the jobs are common across all objects.
For installation instructions see Install Central Console.
Tasks in Central Console
| Task | Details | Location |
|---|---|---|
| View jobs | Provides a list of all the jobs currently running on DPM servers that are monitored by the DPM Central Console. | Tasks > select object > Actions > View Jobs |
| View alerts | The Central Console gives you two views of DPM data: - Alert view: A list of all DPM alerts that are generated and that require action. - State view: The state of the various DPM objects, including data sources. The right side of the console gives you a list of DPM tasks that you can perform based on the DPM object for which the alert was generated. |
To view alert: Right-click object > Open > Alert View View the state of DPM objects: DPM folder > State Views > select object Resolve alert: DPM folder > Alerts View > select alerts group and alert > Alert Tasks > select option |
| View affected items | You can use the View Affected Items dialog box to view all the items that an alert was generated for. | Actions > View Affected Items > select option |
| Modify disk allocation | Use the Modify Disk Allocation dialog box to increase the amount of disk space allocated to recovery point volumes and replica volumes. | DPM folder > State Views > Datasources > select data source > Actions > Modify Disk Allocation |
| Create recovery point | The Create Recovery Point dialog box allows you to create a recovery point for a data source. | DPM folder > State Views > Datasources > select data source > Create Recovery Point |
| Recover data | Recover data using the Recovery Data Source option. | DPM folder > State Views > Datasources > select data source to recover > Actions > Recover Data Source |
| Manage users | In DPM, you can use the Central Console to modify roles and tasks that users have permissions to work on. Because the Central Console is built on Operations Manager for System Center, you use the Operations Manager console to manage users. For more information about security roles in Operations Manager, see How to Administer Security Roles, Accounts, and Profiles in Operations Manager. | Tasks > assign roles |
| Work with protection groups | In System Center 2012 – Data Protection Manager (DPM), you can create and maintain protection groups, maintain recovery points and replicas for protection groups, and recover data for protection groups. | Create group: DPM folder > State Views > DPM Server > Action > DPM Server Tasks > Manage DPM server Modify group: DPM folder > State Views > Protection Groups > Action > Protection Group Tasks > Manage Protection |
| Troubleshoot with Central Console | Use the Troubleshoot option to get more details for an alert. | Select alert > Troubleshoot |
Task permissions
| Task | Details | Roles with permission for task |
|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure management | - Modify disk allocation - Clear the Replica Inconsistent alert - Allocate more disk space |
- DPM Admin - Tier-2 Support (Escalation) |
| Protection intent management | - Run the Tape Erase job again - Run the Stop Protection job again - Modify the Catalog Alert threshold size - Claim ownership of the computer - Modify protection group for this data source |
- DPM Admin - Tape Admin - Tier-2 Support (Escalation) |
| Recovery related | - DPM Admin - Recovery Operator |
|
| Access to logs | - DPM Admin - Tier-2 Support (Escalation) |
|
| Basic corrective actions | - Run the Tape Inventory job - Run the Catalog Reload job - Run the Verification job - Run the Drive Cleaning job - Run the Configure Protection job again - Retrigger backup with verification |
- Tier-2 Support (Escalation) - Tape Admin - Tape Operator |
| Modify disk allocation | - DPM Admin - Tier-2 Support (Escalation) |
|
| Perform consistency check | - DPM Admin - Tier-2 Support (Escalation) |
|
| Create recovery point for disk | - DPM Admin - Tier-2 Support (Escalation) |
|
| Create recovery point for tape | - DPM Admin - Tier-2 Support (Escalation) - Tape Admin |
|
| Agent management | - DPM Admin - Tier-2 Support (Escalation) - Tape Admin |
|
| Cancel scheduled jobs | - DPM Admin - Tier-2 Support (Escalation) - Tape Admin |
|
| Retry jobs | - DPM Admin - Tier-2 Support (Escalation) - Tape Admin - Recovery Operator - Tier-1 Support (Helpdesk) |
|
| Tape library operations | - Allow a detailed inventory - Open the library door - Enable or disable a drive - Clean a drive - Remove a tape |
- DPM Admin - Tier-2 Support (Escalation) - Tape Admin - Tape Operator |
| Tape operations | - Erase a tape - Mark or unmark a tape as free |
- DPM Admin - Tape Admin |
| Allow recovery | - DPM Admin - Recovery Operator |
|
| Reporting operations | - DPM Admin - Reporting Operator |
|
| Monitoring operations | - DPM Admin - Tier-2 Support (Escalation) - Tape Admin - Tape Operator - Tier-1 Support (Helpdesk) |
|
| Advanced tape library operations | - Rescan a library - Rename a library - Refresh a library - Add tape (I/E port) |
- DPM Admin - Tier-2 Support (Escalation) - Tape Admin - Tape Operator |
| Resume backups | - DPM Admin - Tier-2 Support (Escalation) - Tier-1 Support (Helpdesk) |