Protection Groups

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

In DPM, protection groups are used to manage the protection of data sources on file servers. A protection group is a collection of data sources that share the same protection configuration and schedule. A protection group can include data sources from multiple volumes on multiple file servers, as shown in Figure 1.4. However, all protected data sources on the same volume must be protected in the same protection group. Each data source in a protection group is known as a member.

Figure 1.4   A protection group can contain data sources from multiple volumes on multiple file servers

The storage pool on the DPM server stores a separate replica for each volume that contains protected data sources, as shown in Figure 1.5. Each replica is a complete copy of the protected data on a single volume.

DPM automatically distributes replicas across disks in the storage pool to achieve the most efficient use of storage capacity. You can add disk capacity at any time.

Figure 1.5   The DPM server stores a replica for each volume that contains protected data

To help the administrator ensure that new and changing data sources are consistently protected, DPM performs a process known as auto discovery once each day to discover new servers on the network and new or changed shares and volumes on the file servers that the DPM server protects. New, removed, or remapped shares and volumes are reported as pending members. An administrator can review a list of pending members, and decide whether to add or remove the data sources from protection groups.