Backup for Bare Metal Recovery

Article
05/17/2011

Applies To: System Center Data Protection Manager 2007

The DPM System Recovery Tool (SRT) is software provided with DPM to facilitate bare metal recovery for the DPM server and the computers that DPM protects. Bare metal recovery is the process of rebuilding a computer after a catastrophic failure. DPM SRT backs up the system volume and master boot record by copying the entire volume and using VSS writers to ensure that all applications are in a consistent state for the copy.

DPM SRT protects your systems by periodically recording snapshots of your servers and workstations. These snapshots, called recovery points, work much like Windows XP restore points, but add a number of useful capabilities. After the recovery points have been created, DPM SRT can repair or roll back systems to previous stable states, even if the systems have become unbootable.

Do You Need Bare Metal Recovery Protection?

The decision to add protection for bare metal recovery by using DPM SRT depends on your business needs. Your backup needs may be met adequately by disk-based and tape-based protection using DPM and a secondary DPM server. You can restore application servers and file servers by installing the operating system and necessary applications, and then recovering the data from DPM recovery points. You can restore a DPM server by installing the operating system and necessary applications, and then recovering the DPM database from tape or the secondary DPM server.

Using DPM SRT to back up selected servers requires additional storage space. However, DPM SRT provides the ability to repair or roll back unstable systems, including unbootable systems. DPM SRT can back up a drive's master boot code, partition table, partition information, and volume information, as well as the Logical Disk Management database. This allows you to rebuild physically damaged or corrupted system drives.