Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM)

DPM is used by our company as a primary backup solution for virtual machines, bare metal backups, file shares and some SQL databases. We have used it for more than 4 years for short-term backups. We got it as a part of Microsoft System Center Suite.

Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager is well suited for Windows domain environments where you need to make backups of Hyper-V virtual machines or bare metal servers. It is possible to backup SQL databases, works pretty well, but sometimes needs consistency checks on backups to properly continue to backup databases. Easy to restore anything to production or to another location.

We use DPM to backup our entire network, for both physical and virtual servers. We have over 50 servers. This provides for quick in-house Disaster Recovery. We also utilize a dedicated backup network to enable fast and efficient backup/restore without ever affecting the production network. It is wonderful to be able to manage your entire network backups with a single pane of glass.

Well suited for domain disaster recovery. I would avoid considering it for remote or non-domain disaster recovery. While it claims to have the ability, and we have used it this way for years, it often loses it's connection to the DPM server for no apparent reason, and has to be reconfigured. It doesn't always seem to work.

It was used by our IT to protect Virtual Machine and File Server data. Also, to speed up the recovery process of the entire company. It helped us with fast recovery of lots of data every time we needed it. Other areas of the company don't use it but gain the benefit of the tool in our IT, and recognize it, as we reduced the time it takes to get back online after a failure.

For people that already use Microsoft products, and need to add a protection option to their environment, this is a great tool. It'll help, maybe even with a lower price, compared to other tools. Usually, the price is higher, but if you already have a contract with Microsoft, the price is usually is lower in that scenario.