File Server Requirements

Published : April 8, 2005 | Updated : August 17, 2005

The file servers that DPM protects must meet the requirements specified in the following sections.

Supported Operating Systems

DPM can protect file servers that are running one of the following operating systems:

Supported File Server Configurations

DPM can protect:

  • Dual-boot file servers. However, DPM only records changes to the file system of the operating system on which the DPM File Agent is installed. Any time that you boot into the operating system on which the file agent is not installed, DPM stops recording changes. Any time that you switch back to the operating system on which the file agent is installed, you must manually run synchronization with consistency check for each protected volume on the file server.

  • File servers running 32-bit operating systems on either 32-bit or 64-bit hardware architectures.

  • File servers running Services for UNIX or Services for Network File System. However, DPM does not support case-sensitive file naming, and automatically discontinues protection of any file that an application opens using case sensitivity. For information about unsupported data types, see “Unsupported Data Types” in the “Planning Data Protection” chapter of this guide.

  • File servers that double as domain controllers. If the file server is running Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 (SP1), the primary domain controller (the DPC Emulator) for the domain must also be running Windows Server 2003 with SP1.

Unsupported File Server Configurations

DPM cannot protect the following file server configurations:

  • Clustered file servers

  • Other DPM servers

  • File servers running 64-bit operating systems

Supported Storage Devices

DPM can protect file servers that store data on any of the following:

  • Direct attached storage (DAS)

  • Fibre Channel storage area network (SAN)

  • iSCSI storage device or SAN

Note

DPM performs all replica creation and synchronization operations over the local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN). If both the capacity for the DPM storage pool and the protected data reside on a SAN, the file server reads the data from the disk on the SAN, and DPM synchronizes the replicas on the storage pool with the protected volumes on the file server over the LAN.