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Configure tape storage

 

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Data Protection Manager, System Center 2012 - Data Protection Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager

DPM stores data on tape libraries and standalone tape drives for long-term storage of all workload protected by DPM, and for short-term storage of file data.

Prerequisites for tape storage

  • Review the list of compatible libraries at Compatible tape libraries for System Center 2012 – DPM

  • Use the instructions in Verify tape library compatibility to check your tape device if it doesn’t appear on the compatibility list.

  • Get an overview of using tape libraries with DPM in Plan for tape-based backups.

  • A standalone tape drive should be directly attached to the DPM server. A tape library should be attached to the DPM server with storage area network (SAN) or SCSI.

  • The tape capacity you need will depend on the size of the protected data and the number of tape backup jobs you’ll need to run. To plan for the number of tapes required for a protection group, multiply the required backup frequency by the retention range (specifies from how far back data can be recovered).

  • After you directly attach your tape device on the DPM server, DPM automatically recognizes them and displays them in the library. If they don’t display, or you add new ones, rescan to detect them.

  • You’ll need to add Configure firewall exceptions for the agent so that DPM can detect the tape device.

Install and configure tape devices

After you follow the prerequisites, you’ll need to do the following: C

  1. Attach tape drive—Follow the instructions provided with the tape device to attach and install it on the DPM server.

  2. Verify serial numbers—Check that the medium changer and tape drives have serial numbers. DPM uses these for identification. Installed tape devices are listed in Device Manager.

  3. Add firewall exceptions—Add firewall exceptions so that DPM can detect the tape:

    • C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012\DPM\SQL\SSQL10_50.MSDPMV4RC\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe

    • C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Shared\sqlbrowser.exe

    • C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012\DPM\DPM\bin\DPMLA.exe

  4. Detect manually—DPM automatically detects tape devices that are physically attached to it and they’re displayed in the Libraries workspace of the Management view. If a device isn’t displayed, you can detect it manually with the Rescan button. This might take a few minutes. After you rescan, check that the details displayed in Device Manager and in the tape library are the same

  5. Set up tape sharing—Set up tape sharing if you want to share a single tape library across multiple DPM server. Note that:

    • The tape library is typically a collection of tape drives that automatically mount and dismount tape media.

    • The tape library must be in a storage area network (SAN) environment.

    • The library server is a computer on which DPM is installed, the library-sharing command has been run, and the medium changer is enabled.

    • A library client is a computer on which DPM is installed, the library-sharing command has been run, and the medium changer is not enabled.

    • We recommend that the system configuration of the library server computer and all library client computers be as similar as possible, and that you do not configure any protection groups on the library server.

    • All DPM servers using a shared library must use a similar SQL Server setup for hosting DPM databases. For example, they should all use a local instance of the DPM database or all of them should use a remote instance. You cannot have some DPM servers using local instance and others using a remote instance.

After you’ve set up tapes, when you create a protection group including data sources you want to protect, you’ll be able to select tape for long-term and short-term data storage.

Set up tape sharing

  1. On the computer that will be the library server for the shared library, enable the medium changer by using Device Manager.

  2. On each library client computer, ensure that the medium changer is not enabled.

  3. Enable Named Pipes protocol for the SQL Server instances of the library server and library client computers. Then restart the SQL service.

  4. Run the following commands to configure the DPM servers to use a shared library:

  5. On each library client computer, open an elevated Command Prompt window, and then run the following commands:

    cd <system drive> :\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2\DPM\DPM\Setup

    AddLibraryServerForDpm.exe –DpmServerWithLibrary
    <FQDN of library server>

    where <FQDN of library server> is the fully qualified domain name of the library server.

  6. On the library server computer, open an elevated Command Prompt window, and then run the following commands one time for each library client. For example, if your library server supports three library clients, you must run this command three times on the library server.

    cd <system drive> :\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2\DPM\DPM\Setup

    AddLibraryServerForDpm.exe – ShareLibraryWithDpm
    <FQDN of library client>

    where <FQDN of library client> is the fully qualified domain name of the library client.

  7. On each library client computer, open an elevated Command Prompt window, and then run the following commands:

    Important

    Do not run these commands on the library server.

    Note

    Before you run the following commands, on all library client computers ensure that both the SQL Server (MSDPM2012) and SQL Server Agent (MSDPM2012) services use a domain user account as the logon account, not a local account, which is the default configuration, and that the domain account that is used is a member of the local Administrator group on all of the computers that are sharing the library.

    cd <system drive> :\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2\DPM\DPM\Setup

    SetSharedDpmDatabase -DatabaseName <SqlServerInstanceDatabaseName> [-DoNotMoveData]

    where ** is the database name of the library server.

    Tip

    You can find this information in the About DPM window as DPM’s SQL Server. You can copy this information from there, using your mouse.

  8. In DPM Administrator Console on the library server, perform a rescan, and then perform a rescan or refresh on each of the library client computers.

    The quickest way to see all media on all of the DPM servers is to perform a rescan on each, followed by a detailed inventory. Next, on any one of the servers, mark a number of media as free, and then perform a refresh on the other servers.

After you have configured library sharing, you can use the shared tape library as if it were attached to each DPM server.