~ Sekar Raju

Hi everyone, Sekar Raju here from DPM support team with few tips on troubleshooting scheduled backup job failures in System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager (DPM 2012 or DPM 2012 R2). We have seen cases where recovery point jobs were not getting executed as scheduled but the protection status of respective data sources continue to appear as Green/OK in the DPM console. Since the protection status for these data sources are displayed as Green/OK, the DPM administrator might think that everything is going well when actually it is not. This issue usually occurs when the SQL Agent fails to run the scheduled job to invoke the DPM engine to execute the job.

NOTE The Ad-hoc manual jobs would run and complete successfully since the SQL Agent is not utilized when performing manual jobs from the DPM console.

How scheduled job execution works

When protection groups are setup, DPM creates jobs for each data source in SQL to run the backup (e.g. incremental syncs, express full, etc.) for each data source and other maintenance jobs. A component called TriggerJob.exe is used to invoke the DPM engine by passing the Job Definition ID for the data source to begin execution of the backup job. TriggerJob.exe is run by the SQL Agent Scheduler at the scheduled time via the following command syntax:

triggerjob.exe <JobDefinitionID> <ScheduleID> <FQDN-DPMServer>

An example of a typical command run by Schedule Agent Scheduler to begin execution of the job at the scheduled time is below.

C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2\DPM\DPM\bin\TriggerJob.exe 1bd305ae-f158-4948-93f8-e935103b168f 1e53fd39-0339-4d41-96ec-89fdf587f1e5 <FQDN-DPMServer>

If for some reason the command fails to run and call triggerjob.exe, the DPM engine will not be invoked and thus the backup job will not be executed. Since SQL failed to run the command, DPM will not know about this failure and will continue to display the protection status of the data sources as Green/OK.

Below are a few things that you can check to troubleshoot the scheduled backup job failures.

1. Check the Application Event Log

As you can imagine, when a scheduled backup job fails to be invoked by SQL, DPM doesn’t raise any alerts for those job failures since it was a failure on the SQL side. However, these events are captured in the Application Event log as SQL, Windows Error Reporting or MSDPM events, depending on root of the problem. Please be sure to check the Application Event Log in the Event Viewer and look for any events from SQL that are related to the scheduled job failure. If your DPM computer is using remote SQL server for DPMDB, then review the Application Event Log on the remote server.

For example, the following event may be found in the Application Event Log which indicates that the SQL Agent encountered some problem when trying to run the command line.

Log Name: Application
Source: SQLAgent$MSDPM2012
Date: <Date & Time>
Event ID: 208
Task Category: Job Engine
Level: Warning
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: <DPMServerName>
Description:
SQL Server Scheduled Job '00890b12-9058-4f42-8143-291dc3de4d78' (0xC52C50485ED1754EB12D16117B258DD7) - Status: Failed - Invoked on: <Date & Time>- Message: The job failed. The Job was invoked by User <UserName>. The last step to run was step 1 (Default JobStep).

Here is a sample event from Windows Error Reporting;

Fault bucket , type 0
Event Name: DPMException
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: TriggerJob
P2: 3.0.7696.0
P3: TriggerJob.exe
P4: 3.0.7696.0
P5: System.UnauthorizedAccessException
P6: System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHRInternal
P7: 20B9A72D
P8:
P9:
P10:
Another sample event from DPM engine;
Log Name: Application
Source: MSDPM
Date: <Date & Time>
Event ID: 976
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: <FQDN of DPMServerName>
Description:
The description for Event ID 976 from source MSDPM cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.
The DPM job failed because it could not contact the DPM engine.

Problem Details:
<JobTriggerFailed><__System><ID>9</ID><Seq>0</Seq><TimeCreated><Date & Time> </TimeCreated><Source>TriggerJob.cs</Source><Line>76</Line><HasError>True</HasError></__System><Tags><JobSchedule /></Tags></JobTriggerFailed>

2. Run the job manually from SQL Server Management Studio

You can also try running the job manually from SQL Management Studio. The steps for doing this are below.

a) Open SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the SQL instance used for the DPMDB database. Expand SQL Server Agent and then Jobs. The GUIDs that you see in the list under Jobs are Schedule ID for each individual job. Right click on a job, then click “Start Job at Step” on the context menu.

b) If the job fails to run, you should see an error similar to the one below.

c) If this error occurs then it would confirm that the SQL Agent was not able to run the job due to the permission or some other reason. Please refer to “Check the logon account credentials” section below for troubleshooting this issue further.

Run the job manually from Command Prompt

You can run the triggerjob.exe command line manually to check whether the command will get executed and that the backup job starts in DPM correctly. To do this, follow the steps below.

a) Open SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the SQL instance used for the DPMDB database. Expand SQL Server Agent and then Jobs. Right-click on one of the jobs and then click Properties.

b) On the Properties dialog, click Steps on the left and click the Edit button at the bottom.

c) On the Job Step Properties dialog, copy the command from the command window as shown below.

i. Run the copied command from an elevated command prompt on the DPM server (with local SQL server):

Example: C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2\DPM\DPM\bin\TriggerJob.exe F60C8734-2DF5-4E86-8C7D-43558BD5A071 2F481ACB-2C3D-4F48-8C70-CA989C3E8FF2 <FQDN of DPMServer>

If the command runs successfully then the problem is likely related to incorrect permissions or log-on credentials. Please refer to the “Check the logon account credentials” section below for troubleshooting this issue further.

ii. Run the command from an elevated command prompt on the remote SQL server (if applicable):

Example: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\DPM2012R2\SQLPrep\TriggerJob.exe F60C8734-2DF5-4E86-8C7D-43558BD5A071 2F481ACB-2C3D-4F48-8C70-CA989C3E8FF2 <FQDN of DPMServer>

In the remote SQL server scenario, if the command completes successfully on the DPM server but fails on the remote SQL server, we need focus our troubleshooting efforts on the remote SQL server to rule out any permission, network and firewall issues.

NOTE

The output of the SQL query will look similar to the one below. Based on this output, you can pick a Schedule ID for a data source that is small and quick to test with.

Check whether SQL jobs are disabled

There are chances that the scheduled jobs are disabled in SQL. To check and enable the jobs follow the steps below.

1. In SQL Server Management Studio, connect to the SQL instance for DPM and run the SQL query mentioned in the previous section to find the list of scheduled jobs.

2. Expand the SQL Server Agent and then Jobs. Compare the jobs listed there with the output from the SQL query run in step 1. If a job from the query shows up as Disabled (with an arrow pointing down) then right-click on the job, click Enable and then run the job manually from SQL by following the steps mentioned in previous section.

Check the logon account credentials

DPM enters the SQL Agent account name into the registry, and later DPM checks that account each time the DPM engine launches. The internal interfaces to DPM are secured using this account so the account name needs to match the account the SQL Agent is using.

NOTE The account used by SQL Agent/SQL Server services for the SQL instance that hosts DPMDB should be a local account (mostly MICROSOFT$DPM$Acct (or) NTAuthority\System). If these services are configured to run under a domain service account then check whether there is any specific reason as to why those were configured to use domain account. The scenarios where it would require a domain account for SQL services include the following:

a) Remote SQL Server: DPM is configured to use a remote SQL Server instance to host its DPMDB database.

b) Library Sharing is enabled: Check whether library sharing is enabled or not. If not, then change the account to local account at both place (SQL Services and Registry keys mentioned above) or change the registry key values to match domain account used by SQL services, depending on the situation.

Follow the steps mentioned below to verify account information and make changes as needed:

1) Check logon account configured for following services of SQL instance for DPM:

- SQL Server (InstanceName)
- SQL Server Agent (InstanceName)

2) Check the values in the following registry key and verify whether the values are different. Update the values to reflect the user account being used for the SQL Agent Service.

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\Setup

SqlAgentAccountName

SchedulerJobOwnerName

The following KB article contains steps to verify the SQL accounts in the registry:

2930276 - System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager upgrade fails and generates ID: 4323: "A member could not be added" (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2930276/EN-US)

3) Restart the SQL Agent and the SQL Server services after changing the account information in the registry.

4) On the DPM server, select the protection group, click Modify on the ribbon at the top, then complete and update the protection group without making any changes. This step is necessary in order to re-generate the jobs in SQL with the updated account information.

5) If you are using an account other than the Microsoft$DPM$Acct service account, update DCOM launch and access permissions to match what was granted to Microsoft$DPM$Acct.

To do this, launch DCOMCNFG.exe from a command prompt, then navigate to Component Services -> Computers -> My Computer -> DCOM Config -> Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2010 Service. Right-click the service name and select Properties. Choose the Security tab and select Edit in the Launch and Activation Permissions area. Now add the new account and give it all permissions.

Check Permissions
Check permission on following folders (where triggerjob.exe is located), as applicable:

1. DPM Server: C\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2\DPM\DPM\bin

2. Remote SQL Server: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\DPM2012R2\SQLPrep

The DPM service account, Microsoft$DPM$Acct, or the account used per the previous section (if the SQL server is remote) should have Full Control permissions.

Check the triggerjob.exe path on the remote SQL server

If you are using a remote SQL server instance for both DPM 2012 SP1 and DPM 2012 R2, then the DPM 2012 R2 SQL Prep overwrites the triggerjob.exe path on the remote SQL server for DPM 2012 SP1 and changes the path as shown below.

Before: %DPMInstall%\Program files\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\DPM2012\SQLPrep

After: %DPMInstall%\Program files\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\DPM2012R2\SQLPrep

This causes the SQL Agent to fail in finding triggerjob.exe when DPM 2012 SP1 scheduled jobs are run. If this symptom matches your scenario, simply re-run DPM 2012 SP1 SQLPrep to resolve the issue.

Please review a blog post here for additional details about this specific symptom.

Check network and firewall settings

If you are using multiple NICs and different networks for SQL/DPM and the Agent or host file on the SQL server is used to point to the DPM server, perform the following tests to rule out incorrect IP address or firewall settings:

1) Ensure that triggerjob.exe is in the path specified.

2) Run the triggerjob.exe command manually using the hostname and IP address of DPM server, each one in-turn, and check whether the command completes and invokes the DPM engine successfully.

3) Make sure DNS resolution is working properly and that a firewall is not blocking communications.

a. On the SQL Server, add a HOST file entry for the DPM Server name and IP address.

b. Add the following firewall rules on the DPM server.

· advfirewall firewall add rule name="SMB for installation (TCP-139,445-In)" dir=in action=allow profile=any localport=139,445 protocol=tcp remoteip=agentIPAddresses

· advfirewall firewall add rule name="SMB for installation (UDP-137,138-In)" dir=in action=allow profile=any localport=137,138 protocol=udp remoteip=agentIPAddresses

· advfirewall firewall add rule name="RPC for DPM (TCP-135,5718,5719,49152-65535-In)" dir=in action=allow profile=any localport=135,5718,5719,49152-65535 protocol=tcp remoteip=agentIPAddresses,SQLIPAddress

Proactively monitor for scheduled job failures

You can setup an alert outside of DPM to monitor for SQL Agent Scheduler failures. For example, if you have System Center 2012 Operations Manager (OpsMgr 2012) implemented in your environment, you can configure it to monitor and generate alerts for warnings or errors raised by source “SQLAgent$MSDPM2012”, or you can specifically monitor for Event ID 208.

Conclusion

I hope the tips in this post help should you ever find yourself in need of troubleshooting this issue. And be sure to periodically check the status of recovery point jobs and their availability by reviewing recovery points on the Recovery task area in the DPM console to avoid any surprises.

Sekar Raju | Senior Support Engineer | Microsoft C&E Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/
System Center – Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
System Center – Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
System Center – Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
System Center – Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
System Center – Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center – Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

Windows Intune: http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsintune/
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
The RMS blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/rms/

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

A Guided Walkthrough (troubleshooter) is available in the article listed below that helps identify and resolve performance and crash related issues with the System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager admin console (DPM 2012 or DPM 2012 R2).

For all the details please see the following:

KB3008149 - Guided Walkthrough for Troubleshooting Data Protection Manager console issues (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3008149)

J.C. Hornbeck| Solution Asset PM | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/
System Center – Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
System Center – Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
System Center – Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
System Center – Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
System Center – Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center – Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

Windows Intune: http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsintune/
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
The AD RMS blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/rmssupp/

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

The article below describes the issues that are fixed in Update Rollup 4 for Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager (DPM 2012). Additionally, this article contains the installation instructions for Update Rollup 4 for System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager.

For all the latest details please see the following:

KB3009516 - Update Rollup 4 for System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3009516)

J.C. Hornbeck| Solution Asset PM | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/
System Center – Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
System Center – Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
System Center – Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
System Center – Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
System Center – Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center – Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

Windows Intune: http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsintune/
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
The RMS blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/rms/

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

The article below describes the issues that are fixed in Update Rollup 8 for Microsoft System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager Service Pack 1 (DPM 2012 SP1). Additionally, this article contains the installation instructions for Update Rollup 8 for System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager SP1.

For all the latest details please see the following:

KB2991995 - Update Rollup 8 for System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager SP1 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2991995)

J.C. Hornbeck| Solution Asset PM | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/
System Center – Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
System Center – Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
System Center – Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
System Center – Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
System Center – Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center – Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

Windows Intune: http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsintune/
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
The RMS blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/rms/

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

We are pleased to announce support for SQL Server 2014 as a workload in DPM 2012 R2 Update Rollup 4(UR4).

Existing users of DPM will be delighted to know that there is no change in the user experience or SQL Server protection and recovery scenarios supported. Thus users can continue to backup SQL Server 2014 using DPM in the same way that they were protecting older SQL Server versions. If you are new to protecting SQL Server using DPM, go through the Protect SQL Server Data TechNet article that contains the details of all the pre-requisites.

Supported scenarios:

• Protect standalone SQL Server instance
• Protect SQL Server Failover Cluster instance (FCI): For details on how to configure SQL Server Failover cluster please refer to Windows Server Failover Clustering with SQL Server.
• Protect SQL Server AlwaysOn availability groups: The AlwaysOn availability groups can be a standalone SQL Server instances or an FCI instance. For details on how to configure SQL Server Availability Group please refer to Getting Started with AlwaysOn Availability Groups

DPM supports the following SQL Server 2014 Always On backup preferences:

• Secondary only
• Primary
• Any Replica

Continued protection while upgrading to SQL Server 2014

Customers upgrading from older SQL Server versions to SQL Server 2014 will be delighted to know that DPM continues to back up the already protected databases, even after the SQL Server upgrade. All that needs to be done is to install DPM 2012 R2 Update Rollup 4 before the SQL Server upgrade, and let DPM take care of the data protection after the SQL Server upgrade is done – without the need for a consistency check. Backup jobs should be avoided during the SQL Server upgrade process.

Unsupported scenarios for SQL Server 2014

• SQL Server 2014 cannot be used as a DPM configuration database to store backup information for workloads it protects.
• SQL server 2014 added a new feature to create a database for on-premise SQL Server in Windows Azure Blob storage. DPM cannot be used to protect this configuration.
• There are some known issues with "Prefer secondary" backup preference for the SQL AlwaysOn option, DPM always takes a backup from secondary; if no secondary can be found then the backup fails.

Download Update Rollup 4 for DPM to start protecting SQL Server 2014 and do send us your comments and feedback.

Please click on the relevant links below to get started and do send us your comments and feedback!

• Learn more about Azure Backup and System Center DPM.
• Click for a free Azure trial subscription, and download the latest Azure backup agent to get started!
• Need help? Reach out to the DPM forums and the Azure Backup forum for support.
• Tell us how we can improve Azure Backup:  contribute new ideas and up-vote existing ones.

This year at TechEd Europe, Shreesh Dubey (GPM, Backup and Archival products) and Islaam Gomaa (MVP) delivered a talk on Cloud integrated data protection using System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) and Microsoft Azure Backup.

Here is a quick recap of the topics covered for those who missed it:

1. Reliable protection of large scale private cloud deployments on Windows Server 2012 R2 + Hyper-V
2. Leveraging Windows Server deduplication to optimize backup storage
3. Enterprise-level reporting with rich dashboards to monitor/manage backups at scale
4. Protection of Microsoft workloads on VMware
5. Long term retention and leveraging Azure Backup for tape replacement
6. A sneak peek into the investments being made in the backup protection space, especially for the Azure cloud.

After the session, Shreesh Dubey and Symon Perriman from Microsoft also had the chance to interview Dik van Brummen, the CTO of SaaSPlaza, and discuss a real world example of using DPM and how his business is benefitting. Having adopted DPM, Dik provides a stunning customer testimonial about the performance and scale of DPM, and the improvements made in the last one year.

For those looking to tune into the details of the session, the full video is available for viewing below. The session slides can also be downloaded for offline viewing. Each of the topics listed above will be covered in greater detail on the DPM blog in the coming weeks, but the video provides a great primer for the fantastic changes that have been introduced since the last TechEd.

Related sessions at TechEd Europe:

• Windows Server Data Deduplication at Scale: Dedup Updates for Large-Scale VDI and Backup Scenarios 

Related links/content:

• Learn more about Azure Backup and System Center DPM.
• Click for a free Azure trial subscription, and download the latest Azure backup agent to get started!
• Need help? Reach out to the DPM forums and the Azure Backup forum for support.
• Tell us how we can improve Azure Backup: contribute new ideas and up-vote existing ones!

A Guided Walkthrough is now available that helps identify and troubleshoot issues relating to End User Recovery (EUR) in System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager (DPM 2012 or DPM 2012 R2). If you are experiencing issues related to End User Recovery then the troubleshooter below is a good place to start.

KB3017550 - Troubleshooting End User Recovery problems in System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3017550)

J.C. Hornbeck| Solution Asset PM | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/
System Center – Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
System Center – Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
System Center – Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
System Center – Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
System Center – Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center – Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

Windows Intune: http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsintune/
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
The RMS blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/rms/

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

Back in the spring of this year, Brad Anderson (VP Enterprise Mobility) and Mark Russinovich (CTO Azure) did a Hybrid Cloud webcast series that got a lot of attention (if you missed it, you can check out all three episodes here).  Both guys presented a lot of expert-level info in a pretty short amount of time, and now Brad is back again with a new webcast series about Enterprise Mobility.

Everyone in the security community recognizes the huge challenge (and opportunity) that device mobility represents and the rapidly growing importance of managing and securing these devices. Adding enterprise mobility mastery to the toolkit is more essential now than ever and Brad makes a convincing argument about this in a handful of posts about App & Data Protection, Secure E-mail, and Identity Management.  For reference, each of those posts come from his much larger Enterprise Mobility blog series which I’d definitely recommend reading whenever you have some extra time to fill.

You can read overviews of each of the four scheduled webcasts and register to watch them here.  Each webcast is slated to run ~30 minutes followed by a 30 minute live Q&A.

Enjoy!

J.C. Hornbeck| Solution Asset PM | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/ 
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/ 
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/ 
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/ 
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager 
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

Hi everyone, just a quick note to let you know about our new Cloud Integrated Backup (System Center Data Protection Manager & Azure Backup) feedback forum. This is where we would like to hear your feedback and ideas on how we can improve these products. If you have some ideas for how we can improve Azure Backup and DPM then please let us know here:

http://feedback.azure.com/forums/258995-azure-backup-and-scdpm/filters/new

J.C. Hornbeck| Solution Asset PM | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/ 
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/ 
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/ 
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/ 
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager 
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

DPM 2012 R2

System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) offers backup to Azure for long term protection by leveraging Azure Backup. The first step in configuring DPM-A (DPM backup to Azure) is to register the DPM server to the Azure Backup vault. This article explains how the registration process is greatly simplified and enhanced with Update rollup UR4 for DPM.

Till Update Rollup 3 (UR3), users were required to generate a self-signed certificate and upload this certificate to the backup vault through the portal. During the registration process, the certificate was used to register the server to the backup vault. While this process ensured security, it was a bit overwhelming.

With UR4, registration of the DPM server to the Azure Backup vault is simplified without compromising on the security by using a concept called “vault credential”. A vault credential is an authentication entity that can be downloaded from the backup vault on the portal. The vault credential is valid for 48 hours from the downloaded time and can only be used during the registration process to authenticate the server with the backup vault.

Simplified workflow of registering DPM server to the backup vault

Step 0: Prerequisites

The following are the pre-requisites for getting started with DPM-A registration:

1. An active subscription on Azure. (Sign up for trial)
2. A backup vault created on Azure.
3. DPM deployment with UR4 downloaded and installed.

Step 1: Download the vault credentials and install the Azure Backup agent

Navigate to the Quick Start page of your designated vault from the Azure Recovery Services portal. Download the Azure Backup agent and the vault credentials from the links mentioned on the portal page.

Install the Azure Backup agent on the DPM server. Refer to “Getting Started with Azure Backup” for the detailed steps on installing the agent. The following screenshot shows the final status upon the successful installation of the agent.

Now go to the DPM Administrator console and complete the registration process.

Step 2: Register DPM Server to Azure Backup vault with vault credentials

To register the DPM Server to the backup vault, open the DPM console. In the Management pane, select Online and then select Register. These actions are highlighted in the picture below. Enter the right proxy settings and select Next to proceed to the Backup Vault screen.

In the Backup Vault section of the Register Server wizard, Browse to the vault credentials file that was downloaded earlier from the portal (in step 1 above). It takes a few seconds for the authentication to happen. The vault information is then auto-populated for review.

There are a few more steps to complete the registration including entering the settings for the recovery folder, network throttling, and the encryption passphrase. Detailed explanation of these options is available in this TechNet article.

On successful registration, the following status is shown for Online subscriptions in DPM Administrator console.

This completes the registration process and the DPM server is configured to backup to Azure.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1) I downloaded the vault credentials 3 days ago. Can I use the vault credentials to register my server?

A1) No. The vault credentials will have to be downloaded again. A new vault credential file is generated every time the user clicks on the “Download vault credentials” link on the portal. The validity of the credential file is 48 hours from the time it is generated.

Q2) I have online protection enabled with UR3. I am upgrading from UR3 to UR4. Will this impact my online backup protection?

After the upgrade to UR4, all online protection operations will fail until the latest Azure Backup agent is installed. It is strongly recommended to upgrade the Azure Backup agent before upgrading to UR4.

Q3) I have online protection enabled with UR3. I have no plans to upgrade to UR4. What is the impact?

Backward compatibility for UR3 and older versions is provided by retaining the certificate management flow in the portal, as shown below. Please note that upgrading to UR4 is strongly recommended as it brings in latest features and fixes.

Quick Reference

Download DPM UR4 and follow the steps outlined in the article for installation. Configure DPM to Azure with vault credentials, or learn how to configure DPM to Azure with certificates.

• Learn more about Azure Backup and System Center DPM.
• Click for a free Azure trial subscription, and download the latest Azure backup agent to get started!
• Need help? Reach out to the DPM forums and the Azure Backup forum for support.
• Tell us how we can improve Azure Backup: contribute new ideas and up-vote existing ones!

As part of our mission to reduce overall TCO of DPM deployment, we are pleased to announce a new White Paper on Deduplication of DPM Storage.  Customers can gain tremendous storage savings and reduce overall backup storage cost  by leveraging this technology.  While actual storage savings are dependent on kind of data that is being backed up, internal testing showed storage savings anywhere between 50% to 90%.

DPM is an enterprise class backup solution that provides simple yet powerful workflows for protecting server and client deployments in a data center.  DPM can be leveraged to backup data to any combination of disk, tape or Azure for long term retention.  DPM Central Console enables customers to manage multiple DPM servers under single pane of glass.  Even though DPM copies full data only once and only incremental after that, Recovery Time Objective (RTO) remains same irrespective of how old is the recovery point.  DPM storage consumption is inherently low because of storing “forever incremental” on disk.  To further reduce TCO of overall DPM deployment, we are introducing Deduplication of DPM storage.  As DPM backs up multiple data sources and its combination with multiple recovery points, there is lot of redundancy in backup data.  This blog entry shows how to reduce overall DPM storage consumption by Deduplicating DPM data.

This scenario is enabled with the combination of DPM 2012 R2 UR4 and Windows 2012 R2 host and file servers with latest KBs on them.  For optimal storage savings, DPM is configured as follows.

In above example, DPM is deployed as a VM and its storage is VHDX files residing on a Scale Out File Server.  Dedup is enabled on SOFS volumes.  As Dedup is a high storage and compute intensive operation, separating storage and Hyper-V will ensure that production VMs are not impacted by Dedup logic.  Windows Dedup can be scheduled to run at specific times.  Whenever Dedup logic kicks in, it will do Dedup of changed content from last Dedup cycle. 

Further details on the best practices and configuration have been captured in Deduplication of DPM Storage White Paper.

Quick Reference

• Tell us how we can improve DPM: contribute new ideas and up-vote existing ones!
• Learn more about Azure Backup and System Center DPM.
• Download DPM UR4 and follow the steps outlined in the article for installation.
• Need help? Reach out to the DPM forums and the Azure Backup forum for support.

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow is episode 2 of the ongoing “Success with Enterprise Mobility” webcast series.

This episode will focus on how to effectively integrate your existing Configuration Manager expertise with Microsoft Intune and more efficiently manage the devices accessing your corporate network.

You can register here.

In this episode, Brad is joined by ConfigMgr & Intune’s very own Michael Wallent!  Stick around for live Q&A with Brad after the webcast.

J.C. Hornbeck| Solution Asset PM | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/ 
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/ 
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/ 
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/ 
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager 
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

We are pleased to announce the release of the Evaluation VHD for System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager. The VHD is a sys-prepped disk with Windows Server 2012 R2 as the operating system and contains System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager (DPM) with Update Rollup 4 (UR4), Microsoft Azure Backup, along with an easy-to-install setup script. This VHD will also enable you to configure and use cloud backup and long term retention to Azure. The VHD can be used either on-premises as a standalone fully functioning DPM server, or in Azure.

Setup, installation, and benefits

As with any sys-prepped setup, some inputs are needed to get the operating system in shape. This is followed by a seamless one-click installation of SQL Server, DPM, and Azure Backup Agent requiring minimum user input (the details can be found under the “Install instructions” section of the download page). The installation will complete to create a single deployment of DPM using a locally installed SQL Server instance. This fully functioning copy of DPM runs for the trial period of 180 days from the day of provisioning. The copy of DPM from the evaluation VHD would be installed with Update Rollup 4, and you would need to check for newer updates from the DPM console.

Deployment in Azure

We had earlier announced the protection of Microsoft workloads running in Azure using DPM. Using this VHD, customers can make the process of setting up DPM in an Azure IaaS VM much simpler and completed in a few quick and simple steps. To do so, download and extract the VHD and then follow the instructions on creating and uploading a VHD to Azure starting from step 2.

Upgrading to the Retail version

In order to continue using the VHD beyond the evaluation period, you would need to purchase licenses for the appropriate editions of Windows Server and System Center. Upgrading to retail version is a matter of activating Windows, activating SQL Server, and then running the DPM Upgrade Wizard with the product key obtained with purchase of the System Center license.

That’s it! Try out the DPM Evaluation VHD now and let us know your feedback!

Resources

• Learn more about Azure Backup and System Center DPM.
• Click for a free Azure trial subscription, and download the latest Azure backup agent to get started!
• Need help? Reach out to the DPM forums and the Azure Backup forum for support.
• Tell us how we can improve Azure Backup: contribute new ideas and up-vote existing ones.

When you have disks that are physically attached to a server that is running Microsoft System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager (DPM 2012 or DPM 2012 R2), the disks are displayed in Disk Management as expected, however when you try to add them to the Data Protection Manager disk pool, Data Protection Manager may not enumerate some of the disks. Because of this, they cannot be added to the disk pool. No error is generated in the GUI and a rescan does not help. Also, when you use the get-dpmdisk command in the Data Protection Manager Management Shell, these disks are not enumerated there as well.

For all the details regarding this issue, why it occurs and how to resolve it, please see the following:

KB3032775 - Some disks are not enumerated when you try to add them to a Data Protection Manager disk pool (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3032775)

J.C. Hornbeck| Solution Asset PM | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

Main System Center blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
Orchestrator Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

Microsoft Intune: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoftintune/
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
RMS blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/rms/
App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv

Forefront Endpoint Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
Forefront Identity Manager blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/
Application Proxy blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/applicationproxyblog/
The Surface Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/surface/

When you use Microsoft Azure Backup agent in Windows, you currently experience the following restrictions:

- Azure Backup uses only one single retention policy to back up the data.
- The number of backup copies is limited to 120.
- Azure Backup does not provide the option of sending the data over network bandwidth alone to the end user.

After installing the update below, Azure Backup improves the capabilities as follows:

- Azure Backup lets you set multiple retention policies on backup data. Backup data can be stored for multiple years by maintaining more backup copies near term, and less backup copies as the backup data becomes aged.
- The number of backup copies that can be stored at Azure is increased to 366.
- Azure Backup integrates with the Azure Import service to send the initial backup data to Azure datacenter. This capability will enable the customers to ship the initial backup data through disk to the nearest Azure datacenter.

For additional details and a link to the update, please see the following:

KB3033794 - Azure Backup supports offline disk shipment and increases the number of backup copies and retention policies in Windows (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3033794)

J.C. Hornbeck| Solution Asset PM | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

Main System Center blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
Orchestrator Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

Microsoft Intune: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoftintune/
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
RMS blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/rms/
App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv

Forefront Endpoint Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
Forefront Identity Manager blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/
Application Proxy blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/applicationproxyblog/
The Surface Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/surface/

We are excited to announce the release of Update Rollup 5 for System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager.  This is a feature-rich release and an important milestone in our cloud integrated backup vision. In the coming weeks, we will publish detailed blogs and videos of the new features, keep watching this space for more!

Azure is an integral and important part of this update rollup. Every feature of this update has an element of Azure plugged in to it. Customers will experience similar functionality and a more seamless experience irrespective of whether their data is protected locally or to the cloud. We have enabled more features for customers who are already using Azure for their long term backup & retention needs. If Azure is not an integral part of your DPM led backup strategy, this release still provides a compelling value prop.

The high level description of the enhancements in this update are divided into four categories:

1. Support for new workloads

2. Better data transfer and retention options to Azure

3. Enhanced monitoring and alerting

Improved workload support

With Microsoft making regular improvements to its core applications like SQL Server and SharePoint, it becomes important to backup the latest versions of the application with new features for eg: SharePoint on SQL Servers with AlwaysOn.

It is also critical to have a consistent backup solution irrespective of the underlying platform – application could run on on physical servers, Hyper-V or VMware clouds, or Microsoft Azure. Having a single backup product that covers public and private clouds is a great management asset for IT administrators, and UR5 brings DPM a step closer to that goal.

The key updates around workload support are:

1. Support for backing up SharePoint servers to Azure
2. Support for backing up Exchange servers to Azure
3. Support for backing up Windows Clients to Azure
4. Support for backing up SharePoint servers with SQL Server AlwaysOn, to local disk and to Azure
5. Support for backing up Microsoft workloads hosted on VMware, to local disk and to Azure

With support for SharePoint with SQL AlwaysOn, DPM automatically detects and handles SQL Server failovers without any user intervention. Thus the end-to-end backup and recovery workflow remains the same; there are no changes to the user experience!

The protection of SharePoint, Exchange, and Windows Client to Azure brings parity between the workloads that can be protected by DPM to the local disk and to Azure. This makes setting up of protection groups much simpler and intuitive – with a focus on a natural, customer-driven grouping of data sources.

This parity also extends to clouds. Whether the application is deployed in Hyper-V virtual machines, or VMware virtual machines, or Azure IaaS virtual machines – the protection flow and experience remain exactly the same! The support for Microsoft workloads hosted on VMware clouds goes a long way in having a uniform backup and management story.

Protect workloads to disk, cloud and tape.

For more details on supported workloads please refer to the DPM Protection Support Matrix

Better data transfer and retention options to Azure

Microsoft Azure is a fundamentally different backup target than what is encountered on-premises. Datacenters today are optimized for local backup over Gigabit Ethernet LANs and long term retention to locally attached tape drives. With Azure, this element of “proximity” disappears and solutions have to be creative to work around nuances that arise do to the lack of proximity.

A simple example is Initial seeding of backup data. During this step, the data is transferred from the production storage to the backup storage for the first time. Backing up a large data source will take longer time to complete. In typical enterprise deployments, throwing more local resources brings orders of magnitude difference.

However, attempting to do this with Azure will result in increased infrastructure cost that doesn’t yield the same results. A lot of customers may have low bandwidth, high latency internet connections which slows down the initial backup process.

The two Azure Backup-specific features added to DPM UR5 help to address some of these very concerns:

1. Offline transfer of the initial copy to Microsoft Azure
2. Multiple retention ranges with Azure Backup for a “better than tape” story

Offline transfer of the initial copy to Microsoft Azure

If you have terabytes of data that needs to be backed up to Azure, the initial seeding could potentially take a few weeks, over a slow network. UR5 leverages the Azure Import/Export Service, which enables you to ship encrypted data in hard disk drive to Azure to complete your initial seeding.

New Offline Initial Replica for Azure

For more details on how to configure backup to Azure and the new DPM-Azure enhancements in Update Rollup 5 please visit the TechNet article.

Multiple retention ranges for long term retention with Azure Backup

In September 2014, we added Long Term Retention of data to Azure Backup with a maximum retention of 9 years. While it provided the retention range customers were looking for a Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) scheme.

With the latest update, customers can truly look at Azure as a viable tape replacement alternative. With more retention points (366 – up from 120) and flexible scheduling & retention policies, customers can now backup to Azure for a longer duration and take advantage of cloud scale economies .

With our ultra-efficient storage mechanism in Azure, the complete backup, storage, and retention of data is now significantly better than tape-based long term retention strategies.

Multiple retention policies for Online Protection

Better monitoring and alerting

A backup solution is incomplete without extensive monitoring and alerting systems. Administrators already use the SCOM console to get a centralized view of their DPM deployment. With UR5, DPM now:

1. Displays missed SLA alerts in the DPM console
2. Provides enhanced reporting via SCOM

Continuing on our UR4 journey where customers could configure backup SLAs; with DPM display the alert in SCOM. The SLA missed alerts is also shown in the DPM console (without needed SCOM). This is useful for customers who don’t have multiple DPM servers but still need centralized alerting

The SCOM integration provided an aggregated view across all DPM servers. The new management pack for SCOM provides a powerful reporting infrastructure that can be used to generate data-rich custom reports and dashboards across multiple DPM servers! Customers no longer have to visit every DPM server to extract the canned reports – the new Reporting Management Pack provides all that and much more!

Install the DPM console on the SCOM server, and import the new Reporting Management Pack available on the Microsoft Download Center. There is also a demonstration report shipped with the Management Pack to help customers create custom reports as shown in the screenshot below.

A demo report based on new reporting framework

More information about this feature can be found here

Try out the System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager Update Rollup 5 now and let us know your feedback.

Resources

• Learn more about Azure Backup and System Center DPM.

• Click for a free Azure trial subscription, and download the latest Azure backup agentto get started!

• Need help? Reach out to the DPM forums and the Azure Backup forumfor support.

• Tell us how we can improve Azure Backup: contribute new ideas and up-vote existing one
  

~ Dwayne Jackson | Senior Support Escalation Engineer

Hi everyone, Dwayne Jackson here with a quick tip in case you ever run into an issue where the console for System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager (DPM 2012 or DPM 2012 R2) fails to open. First, check to see if your symptoms match any of those listed below.

The first symptom is that you’ll see this error:

Unable to connect to DPM Server Name.Consoto.com (ID: 948)
Verify that the DPM service is running on this computer

You will also see an event logged similar to this one:

Log Name: Application
Source: MSDPM
Date: Date/Time
Event ID: 941
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: DPMServerName.Contoso.com
Description:
The description for Event ID 941 from source MSDPM cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.
If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.
The following information was included with the event:
Unable to connect to the DPM database. Make sure that SQL Server is running and that it is configured correctly.
Problem Details:
<FatalServiceError><__System><ID>19</ID><Seq>1</Seq><TimeCreated>1/28/2015 3:22:57 PM</TimeCreated><Source>DpmThreadPool.cs</Source><Line>163</Line><HasError>True</HasError></__System><ExceptionType>SqlException</ExceptionType><ExceptionMessage>Cannot open database "DPMDBNAME" requested by the login. The login failed.
Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM'.</ExceptionMessage><ExceptionDetails>System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): Cannot open database" DPMDBNAME " requested by the login. The login failed.

Also, if you examine DPMUI0Curr.log you’ll see entries similar to the ones in my example below.

095C 0558 01/28 15:06:37.101 09 proxyutils.cpp(64) NORMAL CoreServicesProxy::CreateCoreServices
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:37.101 09 proxyutils.cpp(104) NORMAL CoreServicesProxy::CreateCoreServicesImpl(DPMServer.Contoso.com)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:37.101 09 engineservicesproxy.cpp(550) NORMAL EngineServicesProxy::GetOSVersionOnDPMServer()
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.304 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING No retry on exception System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): Cannot open database"DPMDBNAME" requested by the login. The login failed.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.304 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Login failed for user 'Domain\user attempting to login'.
…

095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Login failed for user 'Domain\user attempting to login'.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.TryGetConnection(DbConnection owningObject, UInt32 waitForMultipleObjectsTimeout, Boolean allowCreate, Boolean onlyOneCheckConnection, DbConnectionOptionsuserOptions, DbConnectionInternal& connection)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.TryGetConnection(DbConnection owningObject, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions, DbConnectionInternal& connection)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.TryGetConnection(DbConnection owningConnection, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions, DbConnectionInternal& connection)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionClosed.TryOpenConnection(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.TryOpen(TaskCompletionSource`1 retry)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.Open()
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.DB.SqlContext.Open()
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING ClientConnectionId:df004fd3-c27c-4485-851a-9255a0777ad0
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Error = 4060
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Index #0
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Source: .Net SqlClient Data Provider
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Number: 4060
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING State: 1
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Class: 11
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Server: tcp: DPMSERVERNAME
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Message: Cannot open database "DPMDBNAME" requested by the login. The login failed.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Procedure:
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Line: 65536
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Index #1
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Source: .Net SqlClient Data Provider
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Number: 18456
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING State: 1
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Class: 14
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Server: tcp:DPMSERVERNAME
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Message: Login failed for user 'Domain\user attempting to login'.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Procedure:
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Line: 65536 FileName:; Method:Open(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:14.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:Open(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:14.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:CreateAgentTypes(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:51.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:.ctor(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:62.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:Connect(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:147.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:GetDpmServerObject(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:48.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:GetServer(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:233.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:ProcessRecord(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:61.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:ProcessRecord(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:264.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:DoExecute(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:35.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:SynchronousExecuteEnumerate(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:78.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:InvokeHelper(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:305.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:InvokeThreadProc(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:217.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:RunInternal(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:112.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:Run(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:0.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:Run(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:43.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:ThreadStart(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:26.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 62 OMCatalog.cs(242) WARNING OMSqlContext :: Open() refreshing token
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING Caught exception - System.InvalidOperationException: ExecuteReader requires an open and available Connection. The connection's current state is closed.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ValidateCommand(String method, Boolean async)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method, TaskCompletionSource`1 completion, Int32 timeout, Task& task, Boolean asyncWrite)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior behavior, String method)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior behavior)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.DB.SqlRetryCommand.InternalExecuteReader()
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.OMCommon.OMSqlRetryCommand.InternalExecuteReader()
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.AgentManagementDBReader.ReadAgentManagementAllAgentTypes(OMSqlContext context)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.AgentManagement.AMFactory.CreateAgentTypes(ProductionServerController productionServerController)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.AgentManagement.ProductionServerController..ctor(DpmServer dpmServer)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.OMCommon.DpmServer.Connect(AsyncOperation asyncOperation)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING DlsException 948:ConnectionToServerFailed
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.Utils.DlsException: exception ---> System.InvalidOperationException: ExecuteReader requires an open and available Connection. The connection's current state is closed.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ValidateCommand(String method, Boolean async)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method, TaskCompletionSource`1 completion, Int32 timeout, Task& task, Boolean asyncWrite)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior behavior, String method)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior behavior)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.DB.SqlRetryCommand.InternalExecuteReader()
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.OMCommon.OMSqlRetryCommand.InternalExecuteReader()
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.AgentManagementDBReader.ReadAgentManagementAllAgentTypes(OMSqlContext context)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.AgentManagement.AMFactory.CreateAgentTypes(ProductionServerController productionServerController)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.AgentManagement.ProductionServerController..ctor(DpmServer dpmServer)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.OMCommon.DpmServ0808 0F74 01/28 15:09:31.849 34 ScopeHelper.cs(376) NORMAL Command line arguments: [C:\Windows\system32\mmc.exe] [C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2\DPM\DPM\bin\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager.msc]
./

If you encounter these symptoms then the most likely cause is that DPMDB is in SQL Server "Single User Mode".

To fix this, change the database to Multi User Mode by following the steps below.

1. From SQL Management Studio select the DPMDB

2. Right click the DPMDB select Properties

3. From Database properties select Options page

4. Scroll down to State for Restrict Access change from SINGLE_USER to MULTI_USER

5. Select OK

Once this is complete you should be able to open the console successfully.

Dwayne Jackson| Senior Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/ 
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/ 
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/ 
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/ 
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager 
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

Microsoft Intune: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoftintune/
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
The RMS blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/rms/
App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
The Surface Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/surface/
The Application Proxy blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/applicationproxyblog/

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

DPM 2012 R2

~ Rajeev Narshana | Support Escalation Engineer

Hi everyone, Rajeev Narshana here from the DPM support team at Microsoft. With the release of Update Rollup 4 for System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3009516), registering a DPM 2012 SP1 or later server to backup to Azure is much simpler. This article walks through this process which is also described in the documentation library at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn337336.aspx. For additional information on Azure backup options, pre-requisites, etc., please see https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn337332.aspx.

Note that with the release of UR5, several new features & support for more data types is introduced. Please see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3021791 for more details.

Also be aware that it is necessary to upgrade to the latest Azure agent (version 2.0.8703.0 or later). If the latest agent is not installed, online backups will fail and no Data Protection Manager to Windows Azure operation will work correctly. The latest agent can be downloaded from the Azure portal from under the Recovery Services backup vault.

STEPS

1. Create a Backup Vault

a. Sign in to MS Azure. You will be directed there if you click the "Manage subscription" button in the DPM console -> Management -> Online tab.

b. Use "Quick Create" in Data Services -> Recovery Services -> Backup Vault from the "New" button at the bottom of the Azure home page.

c. Put in an intuitive name and geographical region.

d. Your vault will be ready in just a few minutes.

2. Download Azure Agent

a. Click on the Backup Vault you created from the Quick Start page->Recovery Services.

b. Click on the link called "For Windows Server or System Center Data Protection Manager or Windows Client" under "Download Azure Backup Agent". Save the MARSAgentInstaller.exe on your server.

3. Install the Azure Backup Agent by launching the setup wizard

a. Installation settings.

b. Proxy Configuration

c. Microsoft Update Opt-In

d. Prerequisite check

e. Installation

4. Download the Vault credentials

a. From Azure Quick Start -> Recovery Services -> Vault, click the link "Download vault credentials"

b. Choose to save the file to a location on your server. The credentials are sensitive and should be deleted after use. The credentials are valid for only 48 hours.

c. That’s all you will need from Azure. You may log out now.

5. Register the DPM server in Azure backup vault

a. Once you have the Azure agent installed, the DPM console -> Management -> Online tab shows a new "Register" button

b. Once you click on the "Register" button the "Register Server Wizard" starts. Enter your proxy settings in the first window.

c. Next, put in your vault credentials. Click "Browse" and then browse to the location where you saved the vault credential file from Azure. Click on the file and click "Open".

d. The wizard is now populated with the vault details.

e. Next you can put in your throttling settings.

f. In the next window, provide a location for staging during recovery. The space required will depend on the amount of data you might want to recover simultaneously.

g. Next, enter a passphrase for encryption. This passphrase must be kept safe. If this is lost, data cannot be decrypted.

h. That’s all!

i. Note that the DPM console now shows the availability of Azure Backup.

6. Create or modify a protection group to include online protection

a. A new "I want online protection" option is available

b. This option is available only if disk based protection is opted for.

c. From the list of data sources, you may chose the ones for which you need online protection. For a list of supported data sources, please see: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn337337.aspx. With the release of UR5, support for backup of more data types to Azure is introduced (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3021791/en-us).

d. Specify the Backup Schedule for online protection. For more information on the retention goals and its restrictions, please see: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn337332.aspx

e. Specify the Retention Goals:

f. With System Center 2012 R2 UR5, you now have the option for offline replica creation. See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn337341.aspx#BKMK_Offline for more details.

g. Your protection group is now ready to be created!

7. More information about the Azure backup vault for DPM

a. On the backup vault page, click on "Servers" to see your registered servers using that vault. In case you need to re-register the same server to the same vault (maybe you had to rebuild your DPM server with a new OS or a new hardware), then you can use the "Allow Re-registration" link at the bottom. In case you wish to remove this server from backup vault, use the "Delete" button.

b. Click on "Protected Items" to see a quick summary of data sources backed up to Azure.

c. The "Dashboard" gives you a usage summary.

Note:

1. The Azure agent installer logs are in C:\Windows\Temp and include the following:

OBInstaller0Curr.errlog
OBManagedlog.LOGCurr.errlog
OBMsi.txt
OBPatch.txt

2. The Azure agent logs are: "%installation directory of agent%\Temp\CBEngine*.errlog (default - C:\Program Files\Microsoft Azure Recovery Services Agent\Temp\CBEngine*.errlog")

But more on that later…

Thanks to the DPM & Azure product group folks for making Azure backups simpler yet secure with this release!

Rajeev Narshana | Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/ 
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/ 
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/ 
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/ 
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager 
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

Just a quick note to let you know that we have a new Guided Walkthrough troubleshooter available that helps identify and resolve some of the more common issues related to Exchange Protection and Recovery issues in System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager (DPM 2012 and DPM 2012 R2).

You can find the troubleshooter here:

3041370 - Troubleshooting Exchange Protection and Recovery Issues in Data Protection Manager (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3041370)

J.C. Hornbeck| Solution Asset PM | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

Main System Center blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
Orchestrator Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

Microsoft Intune: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoftintune/
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
RMS blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/rms/
App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv

Forefront Endpoint Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
Forefront Identity Manager blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/
Application Proxy blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/applicationproxyblog/
The Surface Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/surface/

After installing Update Rollup 5 for System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager (DPM 2012 R2), when an inquiry is run on the local DPM server or on another attached DPM server for secondary protection, the console may crash. After restarting the server, the DPM UI freezes at one of the following windows and DPM cmdlets are unresponsive.

For additional details as well as a download link for a hotfix that resolves this problem, please see the following:

KB3040326 - Console crashes when you run an inquiry on a DPM server after you install Update Rollup 5 for System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3040326)

J.C. Hornbeck| Solution Asset PM | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

Main System Center blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
Orchestrator Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

Microsoft Intune: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoftintune/
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
RMS blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/rms/
App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv

Forefront Endpoint Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
Forefront Identity Manager blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/
Application Proxy blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/applicationproxyblog/
The Surface Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/surface/

ConfigMgr 2012 R2