Introduction
Steve Buchanon’s book Microsoft Data Protection Manager 2010, published by Packt Publishing is a dedicated book about Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2010. Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager is a Protection and Recovery solution for Microsoft environments.
The Review
There is not much guidance about Data Protection Manager 2010 (DPM) out there. You have the TechNet documentation and some good guidance on the blogs of the Data Protection Manager MVP’s and System Center user groups but that’s about it.
Steve starts his book with an overview of Data Protection Manager and continuous throughout the book as he is implementing Data Protection Manager in a business environment. Chapter 2 is a very valuable chapter for the implementer as he poses the right questions that everybody should ask before implementing a backup solution.
The author continues the project by providing full installation guidance and upgrade guidance also when you are running the older version of DPM. He then goes further in doing the Configuration of the product and finally starts protecting different data sources. What I particularly like about this is that he thinks out of the box and provides a great example on how to protect a Microsoft service that is not included in the “out of the box” protection possibilities. With that knowledge and thinking, every administrator should be able to protect any Microsoft service.
Of course he spends quite some time on the Recovery process, a process that is forgotten a lot by many administrators and guides you through this process. Important here is that he clearly indicates that this is also a process you have to plan carefully.
More information is also found on cloud backup, 3rd party integration, PowerShell documentation (a must read) and troubleshooting the product.
This book is a very valuable add-on to the available documentation and a must have for everybody who wants to investigate the possibilities of Data Protection Manager and for those who need to implement and work with it on a daily basis. This book will provide you with additional ideas, possibilities and information that is needed when you work with DPM as your backup product of choice. What is also interesting is that he likes to use links to additional information from the field instead of using the Microsoft links. This however could be also dangerous for dead links.
If you want to give me a downside of this book, is that the author remains nicely within the borders of DPM which is enough for most of the companies out there. If you however need advanced guidance for specific backup implementations, then you are still on your own. Hopefully the author thinks about this for a follow-up of this book.
Enjoy
cheers,
Mike
