Microsoft releases beta of new Data Protection Manager

Microsoft yesterday made available on its website a public beta of a new version of its System Center Data Protection Manager backup and recovery software that includes more advanced integrated support of Microsoft applications and tape backup.

The current version of the software, DPM 2006, requires users to rely on third-party vendors to back up Microsoft applications such as SQL Server, Exchange and SharePoint Server, as well as to write backups to tape, said Jason Buffington, senior product manager at Microsoft.

DPM version 2 is available for download on Microsoft's Web site, and now supports backup of applications, including the use of clusters, Buffington said. Support for Exchange and SQL Server are available in the first beta; support for SharePoint Server will be available in the second beta, due in early spring, he said.

Another new feature in the software is the ability to write directly to tape stystems, Buffington said. The software also can store up to 512 past iterations of data on disk, which lets users restore files. The software can also write the backup copies to tape asynchronously, he said.

For organizations that are already using backup software, but that would like to take advantage of the new Microsoft-specific features, DPM works with other backup applications such as BrightStor ARCserve Backup from CA; Galaxy Express from CommVault Systems and NetWorker from EMC.

Microsoft said it expects to ship the final version of the product next summer. Pricing of the new version of DPM 2006 is not available but the current version retails for US$950 for the DPM server and includes three agents for servers to be backed up. The software runs on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 and can also run on the same system as Microsoft Windows Storage Server, Buffington said.

Buffington would not say how many copies of DPM have been sold thus far.

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