What Is a Consistency Check?

Applies To: System Center Data Protection Manager 2007

Data Protection Manager (DPM) provides two methods for synchronizing a replica: incremental synchronization and synchronization with consistency check. Synchronization with consistency check, also referred to simply as a consistency check, is the process by which DPM checks for and corrects inconsistencies between a protected data source and its replica. As part of the synchronization process, a consistency check performs block-by-block verification to ensure that all the data on the replica is consistent with the protected data. This process is slower than incremental synchronization because all the data on the replica is compared rather than just applying the data changes to the replica.

DPM automatically performs a consistency check as a daily task if you have scheduled a daily consistency check for a protection group.

You may need to perform synchronization with consistency check to repair inconsistencies between the data on the protected computer and the replica on the DPM server. You can schedule a daily consistency check during off-peak hours to ensure that the replica remains consistent with the protected data. A scheduled consistency check will only run if inconsistencies are detected during synchronization. Keep in mind that the performance of the protected computer may be affected while the consistency check is running.

If a replica becomes inconsistent because of a change journal overflow or an unexpected shutdown of the protected computer, a consistency check must be performed. You can perform a one-time manual consistency check or, if a daily consistency check is scheduled, you can wait until DPM performs the consistency check. When a consistency check is performed and inconsistencies between the protected volume and the replica volume are found, DPM makes the replica consistent.

Note

The performance of the protected computer and the DPM server will be affected while a consistency check is running. It is best to schedule consistency checks and perform one-time consistency checks during off-peak hours.

See Also

Tasks

How to Modify Protection Options
How to Synchronize a Replica

Concepts

Replica inconsistent
What Is Synchronization?