Data Protection Manager closer to shipping...

The new Data Protection Manager is almost done! From Infoworld:

Microsoft has completed production of its disk-based data backup and recovery system and will release the product to manufacturing in the next 30 days, said Ben Matheson, group product manager for DPM at Microsoft. The vendor also has set the pricing for the product at $950 for one DPM server and the ability to protect three other file servers. Microsoft has completed production of its disk-based data backup and recovery system and will release the product to manufacturing in the next 30 days, said Ben Matheson, group product manager for DPM at Microsoft. The vendor also has set the pricing for the product at $950 for one DPM server and the ability to protect three other file servers.

For some, DPM seems too revolutionary - for example Josh Meier from Ars Technica misses the point on how DPM would integrate enterprise backup solution. DPM is not a complete replacement for tape backup - it is a complementary solution that can go in parallel with a tape-based backup. In fact, DPM already has integrated support for tape-oriented backup as well, in addition of providing fast recovery abilities at the file level.

Microsoft designed DPM from the ground up to interoperate with existing tape-based backup and recovery products, but recommends that customers use disk as well because of the unreliability and time-consuming nature of tape.

"DPM doesn’t really replace anything; it's designed to be complementary," Matheson said. "Ninety percent or more customers rely on tape backup, but when it comes time to do recovery, it’s slow and unreliable ... we are advocating that customers have a disk-to-disk-to-tape backup scenario."

(update - fixing link)

Comments

• Anonymous
  July 15, 2005
  Adi,
  
  I am sorry that you feel like I missed the point about DPM. I am still a strong believer in tape based backup and an even stronger believer that users are only going to hurt themselves.
  
  One of the largest problems I see with the product is the ability for users to backup and restore their own files. Inevitabily an end user is going to restore an older version of a file right over the top of one they have been working on for the past 8 hours. Just wait and see.
  
  I don't disagree that there is a place for this type of a setup, however I don't feel that it is the target you are currently aiming at.
• Anonymous
  July 15, 2005
  >> One of the largest problems I see with the product is the ability for users to backup and restore their own files. Inevitabily an end user is going to restore an older version of a file right over the top of one they have been working on for the past 8 hours. Just wait and see.
  
  I agree with your concern. In some cases an IT administrator will not want end-users to restore files.
  
  But I would also point out that issue is not necessarily a DPM issue. You already have today the ability to restore individual files through the Shadow Copies for Shared Folders feature, that already shipped in Windows Server 2003. Shadow Copies for Shared Folders (SCSF in short) offers amazing cost cuts just because users don't have to involve an administrator in restoring a file from the tape. You can just right-click on a file (on a SCSF-enabled share), select one of its previous versions, you will have the file copied locally.
  
  Restoring a file with SCSF is also possible, although there are methods to automatically disable the "Restore" button (and leave only the "Copy" button) through group policy settings, for example. Please see this KB article for more details: support.microsoft.com/?kbid=888603
  
  
  Thanks, Adi
• Anonymous
  July 15, 2005
  One more note on my previous comment:
  
  >>> Restoring a file with SCSF is also possible, although there are methods to automatically disable the "Restore" button (and leave only the "Copy" button) through group policy settings, for example. Please see this KB article for more details: support.microsoft.com/?kbid=888603
  
  This hotfix is already included in Windows Server 2003 SP1, as mentioned here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/824721
  
  Thanks, Adi