Back up and restore VMM servers
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
Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) enables you to configure and manage your virtualization host, networking, and storage resources in order to create and deploy virtual machines and services to the private clouds that you created. System Center 2012 – Data Protection Manager (DPM) supports protection and recovery of System Center 2012 – Virtual Machine Manager (VMM).
Important
DPM does not protect earlier versions of VMM.
DPM protects both standalone and clustered configurations of VMM, irrespective of whether they use standalone or clustered versions of SQL Server. The following is a list of support configurations:
Standalone VMM host + standalone SQL Server (default and named, local and remote)
Standalone VMM host + clustered SQL Server (default and named, remote)
Clustered VMM host + standalone SQL Server (default and named, local and remote)
Clustered VMM host + clustered SQL Server (default and named, remote)
In case of a failover, DPM will continue protection only if the node comes back online. This allows you to perform scheduled failovers without losing protection. But if the node is lost, you have to specifically protect the new node.
Warning
DPM only protects the VMM database. Not all configuration files from the VMM library will be protected.
VMM allows you to use two types of encryption. The first type is the encryption where the key is stored on the VMM host, and the other type is where the key stored along with the Active Directory, called Distributed Key Management (DKM). You should use DKM to ensure high availability of your virtual machines. If you use the DKM method, DPM does not automatically protect the key. You have to protect the key as part of the Active Directory. If you store the key locally, it will be protected as part of the database.
Supported features
DPM supports initial replication and express full backups for VMM hosts.
DPM does not support incremental backups for VMM hosts.
DPM supports recovery to original location and the Copy As File option for VMM hosts.
DPM does not support recovery to alternate location for VMM hosts.
What is not supported
DPM does not support disaster recovery for VMM.
Known issues
If VMM is installed by specifying a static IP for the SQL Server, DPM will not be able to protect it.
If VMM is installed by specifying "localhost" for the SQL Server, DPM will not be able to protect it.