Plan for protection group long-term and short-term protection
Updated: May 13, 2016
Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Data Protection Manager, System Center 2012 - Data Protection Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager
When you configure a protection group you specify short-term and long-term protection settings for data sources in the group.
Short-term protection
You can back up data for short-term protection to disk, to disk and Microsoft Azure, or less commonly to tape.
| Short-term backup method | Retention range | Synchronization frequency or backup schedule | Recovery points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disk | 1–448 days For file data you can store a maximum of 64 recovery points (VSS limit for client accessible shadow copies). For one recovery point per day (7 per week), you can retain 64 recovery points for a maximum of 448 days (7 * 64 = 448 days). For application data you can store a maximum of 512 recovery points. DPM reserves 64 points because it assumed file and application data could use the same volume, so you can actually select up to 448. To learn more about how file and application data is synchronized, see Synchronization for disk backup [DPM2012_Web]. |
Frequency: 15 mins-24 hours or set to Just before a recovery point. | If a synchronization frequency is set recovery points for files are created according to the schedule. Recovery points for application data are created after each synchronization. If Just before a recovery point is selected, recovery points for all protection group members are created according to the schedule you configure. |
| Disk + Azure | Disk as above For backup to Azure there’s a maximum storage retention period of 120 days with one synchronization per day. |
Disk as above Up to two synchronizations, but two synchronizations will reduce retention time to 60 days. |
Disk as above. As disk settings |
| Tape | 1–12 weeks | Select to back up: - Every day - Every week - Every two weeks |
Instead of recovery points, you configure one of the following backup types: - Full and incremental backups - Only full backup When you select weekly or every two weeks, only full backup is available. You specify the day and time. When you select daily full backups, you specify the time. When you select daily full and incremental, you specify the day and time for the full backup and for the incremental backup. If you select short-term protection on tape using both incremental and full backups (only available for Daily backups), the retention range will be longer than the one you specified (up to a maximum of 1 week longer) because of a dependency between full and incremental backups. Tapes containing full backup are recycled only after all dependent incremental tapes are recycled. Because full backup happen once a week and the incrementals daily, the weekly full backup tape must wait for the six daily incremental backup tapes to be recycled before the full backup tape is recycled. If an incremental backup fails and there is no incremental tape to recycle, the full backup tape will be recycled earlier. |
Long-term protection
You can back up data for long-term protection to tape. In addition. Update 3 for DPM 2012 R2 introduced support for the Hyper-V Virtual Fibre Channel for backup to tape. For more information see Verify tape library compatibility.
| Long-term backup method | Retention range | Synchronization frequency or backup schedule | Recovery points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tape | 1 week-99 years week 1-99 years: Select to backup daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly 1–11 months: Select to backup daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly. 1–4 weeks: Select to backup daily or weekly. |
Daily backup—Schedule time for daily, day or day of week and time for monthly; day, date, time for yearly Weekly backup—Schedule time, day of week for weekly; day or day of week and time for monthly; day or date and time for yearly Monthly—Schedule day or day of week and time for monthly; day or date and time for yearly Biweekly—Schedule time and day of week for biweekly; day or day of week and time for monthly; day or date and time for yearly. Quarterly—Schedule time and date for quarterly (January, April, July, October on specified day); day or date and time for yearly Half annually—Schedule time, day or date, and months for half annually; day or date and time for yearly Annually—Schedule day or date and time for yearly |
Daily, 1–4 weeks—Full backup daily Daily, 1–11 months—1 full backup each day for 4 weeks; 1 full backup each month after the initial 4 weeks Daily, 1–99 years—1 full backup each day for 4 weeks; 1 full backup each month after the initial 4 weeks, until the 12th month; 1 full backup each year after the initial 11 months Weekly, 1–4 weeks— Full backup weekly Weekly, 1–11 months—1 full backup each week for 4 weeks; 1 full backup each month after the initial 4 weeks Weekly, 1–99 years—1 full backup each week for 4 weeks; 1 full backup each month after the initial 4 weeks, until the 12th month; 1 full backup each year after the initial 11 months Bi-weekly, 1–11 months—1 full backup every 2 weeks for 4 weeks; 1 full backup each month after the initial 4 weeks Bi-weekly, 1–99 years—1 full backup every 2 weeks for 4 weeks; 1 full backup each month after the initial 4 weeks, until the 12th month; 1 full backup each year after the initial 11 months Monthly, 1–11 months— Full backup monthly Monthly, 1–99 years—1 full backup each month, until the 12th month; 1 full backup each year after the initial 11 months Quarterly, 1–99 years—1 full backup every 3 months until the 12th month; 1 full backup each year after the initial 11 months Half-yearly, 1–99 years—1 full backup every 6 months until the 12th month; 1 full backup each year after the initial 11 months Yearly, 1–99 years— Full backup yearly |