Monday, October 13, 2014

Problem / Error: BMR / system State Backups failing -MSDPM 2012 R2


Cause: BMR was failing with the following error as there was no permission on the shared folders.
Windows Backup encountered an error when accessing the remote shared folder. Please retry the operation after making sure that the remote shared folder is available and accessible. ID 517
Resolution:
Recreated the Protection Group which resolved the issue for some time but then it again reoccurred. So followed the following steps.
         Disabled chimney offload and other SNP features on the DPM server's NIC.
         Following are the commands to disable chimney offload and other required features:
         netsh int tcp set global rss=disable 
         netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disable 
         netsh int tcp set global chimney=disable
         From the Network Adapter properties disabled the following:
         Disabled the IPv4 Checksum OFFload
         Disabled Large Send Offload Version 2 (IPv4)
         Disabled Large Send Offload Version 2 (IPv6)
         Disabled TCP Checksum Offload (IPv4)
         Disabled TCP Checksum Offload (IPv6)
         Disabled UDP Checksum Offload (IPv4)

         Disabled UDP Checksum Offload (IPv6)

Saturday, September 27, 2014

System Center 2012 – Data Protection Manager (DPM) SP1 – Part 4: Backup to Azure

In my LAB I use two computers:
- DC2012: Domain Controller (domain mcthub.local) running Windows Server 2012.
- DPMSERVER: Domain Member running Windows Server 2012, this computer has been installed DPM 2012 SP1
 
Steps to Implementing DPM and Azure:
- Sign up to use Backup Service and create Backup Vault
- Install SDK via create Self-signed certificate
- Upload certificate
- Update Data Protection Manager
- Download and install Windows Azure Agent
- Register DPM server to Windows Azure
- Update Protection Agent
- Add Protection Group to Windows Azure
- Backup data
- Recover data
 
Sign up to use Backup Service and create Backup Vault
To benefit from Azure, you must first register for the trial  http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us
Next, use must register to use Backup Services of Windows Azure by visiting the link https://account.windowsazure.com/PreviewFeatures
 
 
Find Backup feature and click try it now
Click Complete. Windows Azure will send you an E-mail to announce the successful registration
Open the mail account, you will receive a new E-Mail with the following content
 
Switch back to your Portal browser tab
To backup your files and data to Windows Azure, you must create a backup vault in the geographic region where you want to store the data.  Click New in the bottom left corner
Select DATA SERVICES – RECOVERY SERVICES
Select BACKUP VAULT – QUICK CREATE – Enter the name that you want and select your region
Wait until STATUS displayed Active
Refresh and you should now see the Recovery Services icon in the left navigation sidebar
 

To successfully complete this tutorial you must have an X.509 v3 certificate to register your servers with backup vaults. The certificate must have a key length of at least 2048 bits and should reside in the Personal certificate store of your Local Computer. When the certificate is installed on your server, it should contain the private key of the certificate. To upload to the certificate to the Windows Azure Management Portal, you must export the public key as a .cer format file. You also can create a self-signed certificate to upload to Windows Azure.

 

To create self-signed certificate, you must use makercert.exe utility, makecert.exe is not part of the installation of Windows Server 2012 and R2. You will need to download the Windows 8 Software Development Kit (SDK) to obtain the makecert.exe utility  at the link http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/hh852363.aspx

 
Install SDK and create sefl-signed certificate

Run the file sdksetup to start SDK installation

 
Select only Windows Software Development Kit, unless you wish to install the entire SDK. Click Next.
 
After the installation process is complete, you can see makecert.exe in C:\Program Files (X86)\Windows Kits\8.0\bin\x64 folder. You must copy or cut  this file to another folder for more easily accessible (I copied this file to root folder C:\)
 
Open Command Propmt, change current folder for makecert.exe (C:\) and type following command:
makecert.exe -r -pe -n CN=CertificateName -ss my -sr localmachine -eku 1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.2 -len 2048 -e 01/01/2016 CertificateName.cer
 
Verify a .CER file created in the same folder
 
Upload Certificate
You now have successfully created a self-signed certificate, meeting the requirements defined by Windows Azure. Next you must upload your certificate to backup vault. Open Portal browser – SelectRECOVERY SERVCIES – Select backup vault – Click MANAGE CERTIFICATE
Click BROWSE FOR FILE
Select.CER file that you created earlier– Click Open
Click OK
 
To verify, and click the circled checkmark 
You will get this type of notification for a successful upload
 
Update Data Protection Manager
For compatibility with Windows Azure, you must update DPM. Open Control Panel, Select Windows Update. Select Update Rollup 3 for DPM
Wait for Update process
 
After updating, verify by click the “About DPM” button
Verify DPM's version: Service Pack 1 – Version 4.1.3417.0 – Click OK
 
Download and install Windows Azure Agent
Next, to DPM can back up your files and data to Windows Azure,  you must download and install Windows Azure Agent for DPM
Switch back to Portal – Select RECOVERY SERVICES – Select backup vault – Select Download  Agent
Select Download Agent  (version for System Center – Data Protection Manager)
 
After successful download, run the WABInstaller.exe file
 
 
Choose the Installation Folder and Cache Location for Windows Azure Backup. Click Install
Click Finish
 
Register DPM server with Windows Azure
To register a DPM server with Windows Azure Backup, open the DPM Management Console, in the Management pane, click Register Server to open the Register Server Wizard.
Click Browse to select certificate
 
Select the Certificate that you are going to use
 
 
If you want, select Enable internet bandwidth usage throttling for backup operations to configure how the Windows Azure Backup Agent uses the network bandwidth when backing up or restoring information. Click Next
 
Select Backup Vault  previously created- Click Next
 
If you want Windows Azure Backup Agent to use a proxy server to connect to the Internet, click Use a proxy server for Windows Azure Backup,  and then configure the necessary options. Click Next
Select a folder location for temporary staging location of the information being recovered - click Next.
Type a 16 characters or greater passphrase to encrypt the backups from the server. To have a random passphrase created, click Generate passphrase. Click Register
After registration process completed successfully – Click Close
Verify by open DPM Administrator Console, you will see Online subscriptions Windows Azure Backup
Switch back to portal browser: Select RECOVERY SERVICES – Select backup Vault – Select SERVERS, verify DPMSERVER.mcthub.local server has been registered
 
Update Protection Agent
To back up data from DC2012, you must have previously installed protection agent (See part 2). Open DPM Administrator Console. Select Management -Agent, Select DC2012, Click Update
Click Yes to confirm
Wait for the  update process
 
Add online Protect Group
To back up C:\Data folder to Windows Azure, you can modify the protection groups to include online backup. Right click a protection group that includes file protection and select Add online protection
Select the files and folders to protect and click Next
Configure the Retention range in days and the Synchronization Schedule. Click Next.
Click Close when completed successfully
 
Backup data
To immediately start online protection, right click a protected folder and select Create recovery point 
Select Create recovery point for Online protection and click OK 
Wait for back up process, this process can take a long time depending on your data size and  speed of your Internet connection
When the process is successfully - Click Close
 
Recover
Switch to DC2012, to simulate the complete loss of the data on DC2012,  I deleted all files in C:\Data folder
You now can recover from Windows Azure, Select Recovery - Select C: in All Protection Volumes - Select a time when you have backed up (Notice Recover from is Online) - Double click on Datafolder
Select files to recover and click Recover
Click Next
Select Recover to the original location để recover  - Click Next
Accept default values and click Next
Click nút Recover
This action will take a few moments to complete.  Please wait
Click Close when finished
Switch back to DC2012, verify that the files has been restored
 

Thank you for reading my article