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Install Protection AgentNow that we have DPM installed, it doesn’t protect our environment if there are no Agents installed. Start by launching the DPM console and navigating to the Management space. Next click on the Agents link. In the toolbar, click Install. On the Agent Installation Wizard, Agent Deployment Method page, there are 2 options to choose from. Since we are starting new, we will choose ‘Install Agents’. Then click Next. On the Select Computers page, select the computer(s) that you want to protect from the list on the left, and press ‘Add’. Once you have added all the computers you want to install the Agent on, click Next. Next you need to provide credentials for the account to install the Agent. Then click Next. On the Restart Method page, chose whether to restart the computer after installing the agent or not. Your decision may be based on the location/use of the system (i.e. Production vs. Development). Make your choice and click Next. On the Summary page, click Install. Once the installation is complete, the Installation page will show ‘Success’. Click Close. Back in the DPM console, you will see your newly added system with an Agent Status of ‘OK’. You will notice that the Agents section (on the left) that it shows 0 Protected, 1 Unprotected Agents. We have to create Protection Groups.

Install DPM Self Service RecoveryThe Self-Service Recovery Tool (SSRT) for System Center 2012 – Data Protection Manager (DPM) enables end users to recover SQL Server databases that are backed up by the DPM server, without any intervention from the DPM administrator. Start by mounting/extracting the ISO (just like when we installed DPM). On the splash screen, click the DPM Self Service Recovery link. Read and agree to the License Terms, and then click OK. On the DPM Self Service Recovery Tool page, click Install. The installation will be very quick. Then click Finish. That’s it! The Self Service Recovery Tool has now been installed. We will need to do some configuration within DPM to make it work, but that will be covered in a Configuration Guide.

Installing SQL Server first is not required, as DPM will automatically install SQL Server for you as part of the application installation process. Since I install SQL on the local System Center server for each product, my example will allow DPM to install SQL on its own. If anyone is looking for instructions on installing SQL Server, please see my personal blog: http://adinermie.wordpress.com/lab-environment/system-center-2012-sp1-in-a-lab-installation-part-d-install-sql-server/

As per a reader's request, here is an updated guide for installing SCDPM 2012 R2. Install Prerequisites To start, before we will actually be able to install SCDPM, we have to install a few prerequisites. .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 SQL Server IMPORTANT: This guide assumes that you have already installed SQL Server, and the DPM Support Files, as per the following TechNet article: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn581867.aspx. Install SCDPM Start by either extracting the DVD contents, or mounting the ISO (the TechNet ISO is currently labelled as mu_system_center_2012_r2_data_protection_manager_x86_and_x64_dvd_2945939.iso). Start by running the Setup.exe. On the splash screen click the Data Protection manager link. Read and agree to the License Terms, and then click OK. Data Protection Manager will prepare to install. On the Welcome page, click Next. On the Prerequisites Check page, choose what type of database DPM will use; either a stand-alone SQL Server, or a Clustered SQL Server. Also provide the SQL Server name and instance. Since I am doing this in my lab, I will choose the ‘Use stand-alone SQL Server’ option. Make your choice and then click Check and Install. The Prerequisites Check will check the system for any issues preventing installation. If there are issue, you will need to resolve them prior to being able to continue with the installation. Once you are able to continue, click Next. On the Product Registration page, enter a User Name, Company, and a Product Key, then click Next. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any way to install an evaluation version of the application, although all other System Center products provide this option. On the Installation Settings page, you can specify the location to install DPM. Make any changes required and then click Next. On the Microsoft Update Opt-In page, choose if you want to include the product in Microsoft Updates, then click Next. On the Customer Experience Improvement Program page, you can choose if you want to join the CEIP program or not. Make your choice and then click Next. On the Summary of Settings page, review the selections/choices made, and then click Install. The installation will begin, and will take a while to complete. Once the installation is complete, click Close. Once the Data Protection Manager Setup wizard is closed, it will automatically launch Windows Update and check for updates. Now you can launch the Data Protection Manager console. If you ever are unsure of the SQL Server that hosts the DPM database, or the SQL Reporting used, you can look at the "About DPM" dialog. And that's the installation of System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager. If you compare it with my installation guide on System Center 2012 SP1 Data Protection Manager, you will see that there are some differences.

Configure System Center Data Protection Manager – Configure End User Recovery Configure Active DirectoryIn reference to this TechNet article, by configuring Active Directory Domain Services to support end-user recovery. Start by launching the DPM console, and click on Management. In the toolbar at the top of the screen, click on Options. On the Options dialog, on the ‘End-User Recovery’ tab, click on the ‘Configure Active Directory’ button. On the Configure Active Directory dialog, supply credentials with permissions to update Active Directory. Then press OK. You will encounter the following message, click Yes. You will also encounter this other message, press OK. NOTE: You may encounter the following error message. Press OK. We have to perform a workaround to accomplish this. Extend Active Directory SchemaSince there is an issue with using the Configure Active Directory option, we have to perform a workaround. The reason is the way the security of Windows Server is configured. The workaround is to use the DPMADSchemaExtension tool, located in C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012\DPM\DPM\End User Recovery\. In order to run this tool logon to a domain controller map to the directory above and run DPMADSchemaExtension.exe. Log onto a domain controller, and copy the DPMADSchemaExtension.exe tool from the DPM server to the domain controller. Right-click on the EXE and choose ‘Run as Administrator’. On the following prompt, click Yes. Enter Data Protection Manager Computer Name, note this is not the FQDN name of the server, but just the server name. Then press OK. Enter Data Protection Manager Server domain name, note this will be the FQDN domain name so if your domain is yourdomain.local enter yourdomain.local. Then press OK. Enter Protected Computer Domain Name. This field can be left blank if the DPM server is in the same domain as the Domain Controller that owns the Schema master role. On this information dialog, press OK. You may encounter the following prompt, especially if you are attempting this on Windows Server 2012. You will have to close this dialog, install .NET Framework 3.5 and then re-run the DPMADSchemaExtension.exe tool on the Domain Controller. After having successfully installed .NET Framework 3.5, and re-running the DPMADSchemaExtension.exe tool, when it completes you should encounter this message. Press OK. Log back into your DPM server, and open the Options window. On the End-User Recovery tab, you will notice that the ‘Configure Active Directory’ button is now disabled, and the ‘Enable End-User Recovery’ checkbox is available. Ensure that this checkbox is selected, and press OK. You will encounter the following information message, press OK.

Protection GroupsIn order for DPM to protect our data, we need to have the DPM Protection Agent installed. But that’s not enough. We also need to add the system to a Protection Group. That’s what we will document here. Start by launching the DPM console, and navigating to the Protection area. On the toolbar at the top of the console, click on New. On the Welcome page, review the information presented, and then click Next. On the Protection Group Type page, choose whether you are protecting Servers or Clients. For our lab example, we will choose Servers, and then click Next. On the Select Group Members page, expand the Server(s) and select what you want to protect. When you select what you want to protect, it will automatically be added to the Selected Members list, then click Next. On the Data Protection Method, give the Protection Group a name (like PROD Active Directory Servers), and choose either short-term and/or long-term protection, then click Next. For this lab example, since I don’t have a Tape Library to simulate long-term backups, I will only use short-term. On the Short-Term Goals page, you can set a retention range, sync frequency, recovery points, and backups; then click Next. On the Disk Allocation page, review the information modifying it in required, then click Next. On the Replica Creation Method page, choose either Automatic or Manual, and then click Next. On the Consistency Check Options page, it is recommended to perform consistency checks on the data. You may also opt-in to performing daily checks. Then click Next. On the Summary page, review the selections made, and then click Create Group. Depending on how many systems and the amount of data, it may take a little while to complete. Once the task is complete, the Results will show Success. Click Close. Back in the DPM console, you will now see the system you added, along with the items being protected.

Configure System Center Data Protection Manager – Add Disks Adding a Physical Disk to a Hyper-V Virtual Machine NOTE: Some of these steps will need to be completed on the physical Hyper-V host, and others will be completed in the DPM VM after you have installed the Operating System. In order for DPM to be able to use a hard drive for backups, it needs to be attached to the DPM system only. For example, even though we have virtual machine running DPM, we cannot use .VDHX hard drives. That means we need a physical disk from the Hyper-V host to be made available to the DPM VM. It is important to note that if you have a hard drive that is present and visible to the physical Hyper-V host, you won’t be able to connect it to the VM. Here’s a screenshot of the Disk Management console on my physical host machine. You will note that there are 2 disks that are Offline. I am going to use one of these for my DPM backup storage. In looking at my DPM VM settings, I have added another IDE Hard Drive. I have set the drive to Physical Hard Disk, and as you can see in the screenshot, I can choose one of the 2 drives that were Offline in my physical host. If any of those drivers were Online on the host, although Unallocated, they would not appear in the selection. Now on my DPM VM system in File Explorer, you can see that although we added that physical disk in the Hyper-V settings, it is not appearing in the system. We need to launch the Disk Management console. When it opens, you will see the physical disk that we attached, but notice that it is also ‘Offline’. We need to right-click on the Offline disk, and choose ‘Online’. You will notice that even though the disk is now Online, that the space is still Unallocated. This is fine as DPM will prepare the disk when we add it to the tool. Add Disks to DPM Now that we have a physical disk available to the VM, we need to add disk(s) to the DPM tool. Start by launching the DPM console. Within the console, click on Management. In the Management space, click on Disks. In the toolbar at the top, click on Add. In the Add Disks to Storage Pool dialog, locate the disk(s) you want to include, and click the Add button. When you have added all the disks you want, click OK. You may encounter the following Warning message. Click Yes. Once the disk(s) have been added, they will appear in the DPM console, ready for use.

Install System Center Data Protection ManagerWe are now finally ready to install DPM. Install PrerequisitesTo start, before we will actually be able to install SCDPM, we have to install a few prerequisites. § .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 Install SCDPMStart by either extracting the DVD contents, or mounting the ISO (the TechNet ISO is currently labelled as mu_system_center_2012_data_protection_manager_with_sp1_x64_dvd_1359086.iso). Start by running the Setup.exe. On the splash screen click the Data Protection manager link. Read and agree to the License Terms, and then click OK. Data Protection Manager will prepare to install. On the Welcome page, click Next. On the Prerequisites Check page, choose what type of database DPM will use; either a dedicated instance, or an existing instance. Basically, will it use a local SQL install or a remote install. Since we are doing this in a lab, I will choose the ‘Use the dedicated instance of SQL Server’ option, to install a local instance on the DPM server. Make your choice and then click Check and Install. The Prerequisites Check will check the system for any issues preventing installation. If there are issue, you will need to resolve them prior to being able to continue with the installation. Once you are able to continue, click Next. On the Product Registration page, enter a User Name, Company, and a Product Key, then click Next. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any way to install an evaluation version of the application, although all other System Center products provide this option. On the Installation Settings page, you can specify the location to install DPM, along with the Database files. Make any changes required and then click Next. On the Security Settings page, provide a password for the DPM SQL service account, then click Next. On the Microsoft Update Opt-In page, choose if you want to include the product in Microsoft Updates, then click Next. On the Customer Experience Improvement Program page, you can choose if you want to join the CEIP program or not. Make your choice and then click Next. On the Summary of Settings page, review the selections/choices made, and then click Install. The installation will begin, and will take a while since DPM will also install SQL Server for you automatically. Once the installation is complete, click Close. Once the Data Protection Manager Setup wizard is closed, it will automatically launch Windows Update and check for updates.

Install Active Directory Domain Services Now that we have the VMs created, and the OS installed on both, we need to first install/setup Active Directory (AD). When you log into a new installation of Server 2012, Server Manager will auto launch. From Server Manager, click on Manage, and choose ‘Add Roles and Features’. On the Add Roles and Features Wizard, read the information on the Before You Begin dialog, and then click Next. On the Installation Type screen, select ‘Role-based on feature-based installation’ and then click Next. On the ‘Server Selection’ screen, since we are installed Active Directory on this local system, ensure that it is selected, and click Next. Side note: Windows Server 2012 has a new feature that allows you to remotely install Roles and Features on other systems. On the Server Roles screen, select ‘Active Directory Domain Services’. When you select ‘Active Directory Domain Services’, immediately you will be presented with the following dialog. Click Add Features. On the Features screen, accept what has already been selected by default, and click Next. On the AD DS screen, read the information presented, and click Next. On the Confirmation screen, check the ‘Restart the destination server automatically if required’ checkbox, and then click Install. Note: You are not required to check the ‘restart’ checkbox, however, you’re going to have to restart the system anyways after the installation, so you might as well let the system do it for you. Note: When you check off the ‘Restart the destination server automatically if required’ checkbox, you will immediately be prompted with the following dialog. Click Yes. On the Results screen, click Close. After the system restarts, and Server Manager launches, you will have to promote the server as a domain controller. This is because Active Directory has been installed, but that process does not automatically promote the server. Click on the ‘Promote this server to a domain controller’ link. On the Deployment Configuration screen, select ‘Add a new forest’ since this is the first domain controller in our lab. Then enter a root domain name, and click Next. In my example I am using “SC.LAB” for System Center Lab (since I will be installing all other System Center products in my lab eventually). For the Domain Controller Options, select the appropriate Forest functional level, and Domain functional level. This is more applicable if you already have an existing domain and are adding a new domain controller. But since this is the first domain controller in our new domain, then we’ll use the highest level, that of Windows Server 2012. Also, don’t forget to create the Directory Service Restore Mode password. Then press Next. On the DNS Options screen, you can ignore this warning message and click Next. On the Additional Options screen, click Next. On the Paths screen, normally you would change the location for the database, log files, and SYSVOL, but since we are just in a lab environment, we’ll leave it at the defaults and click Next. On the Review Options scree, review what you have entered/selected, and click Next. The Prerequisites Check screen will check and confirm that everything passes before promoting the system as a domain controller. You will notice in my screenshot, that I have 1 warning because I didn’t set a static IP for the server yet. After installation completes, the system will automatically restart. You will then be presented with the login screen. Something to note here, that because we were originally logged in with a local account, the first time you want to log on using a domain account you will have to type the domain\username; in my example SC\Administrator. When you login, you will then see in the Server Manager, that AD DS is now listed, along with DNS. Now all that you need to do is assign a static IP to your domain controller. To do this, in Server Manager, select Local Server from the panel on the left. From there, click on the Ethernet link labelled ‘IPv4 address assigned by DHCP, IPv6 enabled’. This will cause the Networks Connections explorer to open. From here, right click on the Ethernet network that is displayed. This is in fact the network connection that we configured when we first created the VM. On the Ethernet Properties dialog, select ‘Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)’ and click the Properties button. Within the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties dialog, enter a static IP, gateway, and DNS that is applicable to your network. Once all the items have been entered, click OK. You will also have to click Close on the Ethernet Properties dialog as well. Congratulations, you now have a domain setup in your lab environment. Add Systems to Your Domain Now that you have your domain setup, you need to add your other VM (the one that we will use for DPM) to the domain before being able to install DPM. Log into the system you want to add to the domain. To do this in Server 2012, launch Server Manager, and click on Local Server. Then click on the computer name. This will launch the System Properties dialog. From this dialog, click the Change button. From this dialog, select the Domain option for ‘Member of’, and enter the domain name you want to join and press OK. After pressing OK, you are immediately presented with a Windows Security dialog, in which you need to enter the credentials of an account that has Domain Admin rights. Enter the credentials and click OK. Once the system is successfully joined to the domain, you will receive the following Welcome message. Press OK. After you press OK to the Welcome message, you will receive a second prompt, indicating that you need to restart the system for the changes to take effect. You will be back on the System Properties dialog. Press Close. When you press Close, you will receive yet another prompt about restarting the system. You can choose to Restart Now or Restart Later, but you won’t be able to install DPM without the VM being added to the domain. After the system restarts, you will then be presented with the login screen. Something to note here, that because we were originally logged in with a local account, the first time you want to log on using a domain account you will have to type the domain\username; in my example SC\Administrator. Now we have our Active Directory server setup and ready, and the VM we will be installing DPM on is joined to the domain.

Install the Operating System Now that we have created the VMs for our lab, we can install the Operating System (OS). Start by connecting to one of the VMs, either by double clicking on the VM in Hyper-V Manager, right click the VM and choose Connect, or click on Connect from the Action pane/menu. When you have the VM connection up, and an ISO mounted, power the VM on. On the Windows Setup screen, select the Language, Time/Currency Format, and Keyboard Method appropriate, and click Next. All you have to do now is click Install Now. Next you have to choose the Operating System and version you want to install. In our lab example, I will choose Windows Server 2012 Standard (Server with a GUI). Make your selection and then click Next. You will have to accept the license terms, and then click Next. For the Installation Type, since we don’t already have an OS installed, we will choose the ‘Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)’ option. Now select the hard drive that you want to install the OS to. Since we only created one hard drive when setting up the VM, we only have one to choose from. Select it, and click Next. Now all you have to do is wait for the installation to finish. Once the installation is complete, you will be prompted to enter a password for the local administrator account. This is different from a domain-based local administrator account. Enter a password and click Finish. After some final quick configuration, you will then be presented with the login screen. Now repeat these steps for the other VMs in the lab. NOTE: After you install an OS, you will need to rename the computer within the OS. To do this in Server 2012, launch Server Manager, and click on Local Server. Then click on the computer name. This will launch the System Properties dialog. From this dialog, click the Change button. From this dialog, enter the name you want to call the computer. In my lab, I called the Active Directory computer “AD”, and the Data Protection Manager computer “SCDPM”. Press OK after entering the name. You will encounter the following prompt. Click OK. Then click Close on the System Properties dialog. You can choose to either Restart Now or Restart Later, but the name change will not take effect until you do so.

Introduction:I use Hyper-V in my LAB and that's what all these virtual machines will be running on. In my lab, I have Windows Server 2012 Datacenter installed as the server OS on the host machine. All other virtual machines will be running Windows Server 2012 Standard edition, with the graphical user interface (GUI). My hardware consists of the following: § Intel Xeon E5-2620 § Asus P90X79 WS § 64 GB G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series § 2 x 256 GB / 1 x 512 GB Samsung 840 Pro Series SSD § 1 x 150 GB HDD, and 1 x 250 GB HDD High Level PlanHere is a high level of what we are going to complete in this initial part of the series. 1. Create the Lab Environment 2. Install the Operating System 3. Install Active Directory Domain Services 4. Install SQL Server 5. Install System Center Data Protection Manager So now let’s start with the first part, system requirements and creating the lab environment. System RequirementsNote: The following page on TechNet describes the requirements for deploying Data Protection Manager. DPM server hardware requirements§ CPU: 2.33 GHz quad-core CPU § RAM: 8 GB § Pagefile: 0.2 percent of the combined size of all recovery point volumes, in addition to the minimum required size (1.5 times the amount of RAM on the computer). § Disk Space (DPM Install): DPM requires a minimum of 300 MB of free space on each protected volume for the change journal. Additionally, before archiving data to tape, DPM copies the file catalog to a DPM temporary installation location; therefore, we recommend that the volume on which DPM is installed contains 2–3 GB of free space. § Disk Space (Storage Pool): 2.5–3 times the size of the protected data § LUN: o Maximum of 17 TB for GUID partition table (GPT) dynamic disks o 2 TB for master boot record (MBR) disks Disk Requirements:The DPM storage pool disks cannot be .VHD – they must be either iSCSI attached disks or pass-through disks. The following types of disk configuration are supported as DPM storage pool: § Pass-through disk with host direct attached storage (DAS) § Pass-through iSCSI LUN which is attached to host. § Pass-through FC LUN which is attached to host. § iSCSI target LUN which is connected to DPM virtual machine directly. DPM server requirements§ You can install DPM on the same volume that the operating system is installed on, or you can install DPM on a different volume that does not include the operating system. § DPM server DPM is designed to run on a dedicated, single-purpose server. The DPM server should not be installed on any of the following: o A computer on which the Application Server role is installed. o A computer that is an Operations Manager management server o A computer on which Exchange Server is running. o A computer that is a cluster node. § DPM is not supported on the Turkish language version of any of the listed Windows Server versions. § The following prerequisites are required for installation: o Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) o Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable o Windows PowerShell 2.0 o Windows Installer 4.5 or later versions o Windows Single Instance Store (SIS) o Microsoft Application Error Reporting Setup automatically installs these if they are not already installed or enabled. If any pre-requisites cannot be installed during setup, or if you want to install them before you install DPM, you can install them manually. Create the Lab Environment: Hyper-V Configuration As mentioned, my environment uses Hyper-V. So, we’re going to start by configuring Hyper-V for our needs, and creating the Virtual Machines (VMs) required for our lab. The first thing we need to do is setup a Virtual Switch for the VMs to connect through. Launch Server Manager, click on Tools, and select Hyper-V Manager. When Hyper-V loads, it will have nothing in it. Even if we were to create a VM, it wouldn’t have a network connection to use. So we’ll start with creating a Virtual Switch. As you can from my screenshot, I have 2 LAN ports on my host. One of them has a connection to my home network and the Internet. In the Hyper-V Manager, click the Virtual Switch Manager from the Actions pane. Now, click on the Create Virtual Switch button. From here, you now need to configure the virtual switch that your VMs will use. Give it a name to clearly identify it (in my case I called it ‘External Network’), and choose the connection type. For more information about virtual networks, see the following TechNet article: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc816585(v=ws.10).aspx. Here is an excerpt from the article: External virtual networks. Use this type when you want to provide virtual machines with access to a physical network to communicate with externally located servers and clients. This type of virtual network also allows virtual machines on the same virtualization server to communicate with each other. This type of network may also be available for use by the management operating system, depending on how you configure the networking. (The management operating system runs the Hyper-V role.) For more information, see “A closer look at external virtual networks” later in this topic. Internal virtual networks. Use this type when you want to allow communication between virtual machines on the same virtualization server and between virtual machines and the management operating system. This type of virtual network is commonly used to build a test environment in which you need to connect to the virtual machines from the management operating system. An internal virtual network is not bound to a physical network adapter. As a result, an internal virtual network is isolated from all external network traffic. Private virtual networks. Use this type when you want to allow communication only between virtual machines on the same virtualization server. A private virtual network is not bound to a physical network adapter. A private virtual network is isolated from all external network traffic on the virtualization server, as well any network traffic between the management operating system and the external network. This type of network is useful when you need to create an isolated networking environment, such as an isolated test domain. For our demonstration, we are going to use an External Network so that the VMs can communicate with the Host system. Make all the appropriate selections and so forth, and then press OK. You may encounter the following warning message. This is because we are remotely connecting to the Host machine using the same network connection that we are about to setup as a Virtual Switch (hence selecting the ‘Allow management operating system to share this network adapter’ checkbox). Press ‘Yes’ to the dialog. Now that we have the virtual switch setup, we can start creating VMs for our lab. Create the Virtual Machines Let’s now create the VM’s we will need for the lab, specifically one for Active Directory, and another for DPM (since we are install all roles within the same server). In Hyper-V Manager, from the Actions pane, click on New and choose Virtual Machine. On the New Virtual Machine wizard beginning screen, click read the information presented and then click Next. Enter a name for the VM. Note that this is NOT the name the VM will have within the Operating System (unless you name it the same), but rather, used as an identifier in Hyper-V Manager. After you have entered a name, click Next. Now assign the amount of memory you want your VM to have, and then press Next. This is the screen where you connect your VM to the network that we created, then press Next. This is the screen where you configure how large a hard drive the VM will have. Make the appropriate customizations and click Next. For the Installation Options, choose if you will install an OS later, or if you want to use an ISO, then click Next. On the Summary screen, review your selections and entries, and click Finish. Once the VM is created, it will appear in the Hyper-V Manager. If you want to configure further settings, like the number of CPUs and mounting an OS ISO, right click on the VM and choose Settings or click on Settings from the Actions pane. Repeat these steps for each VM you need to create, in our case one for Active Directory and another for DPM. Here are the settings I have used for each of the VM’s: Active Directory: § Virtual Machine Name: AD § Memory: 2048 MB o NOTE: Active Directory doesn’t need 2 GB of RAM, it will run fine with 512 MB. I just increased the RAM so that the OS would install/respond faster during setup. § CPUs: 2 § OS: Windows Server 2012 SCDPM: § Virtual Machine Name: SCDPM § Memory: 8192 MB § CPUs: 4 § OS: Windows Server 2012

I've got several remote office locations with file servers containing a good amount of data, but they have very poor (3Mbps) WAN connections. I've been tasked to set up DPM to back up these locations. Due to the size of the data and the lack of bandwidth, I'm going to need to get the techs out there to copy the data portions of the servers onto USB drives and send them to me so I can import them into the DPM storage here. But I’m having some problems finding the document that instructs a tech how to copy the initial data replica to a USB drive, then docs on how I can import this data. I have found this: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj642916.aspx but it talks about server-to-server copying, which previously mentioned is not something we can not do due to bandwidth issues. We need to copy to USB drive, then ship the drive to me for import into DPM. There’s some mention of doing this to tape (then importing to DPM) as well, but I can’t find more details either… it’s sort of weird, like the documentation or help files on TechNet are incomplete. Like take a look at this link http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh757818.aspx -- it’s pretty useless! Has anyone done this yet? Can anyone please point me in the right direction?

Installing System Center Data Protection Manager on Server 2012