Deploy the DPM protection agent
The System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) protection agent is the software you install on each computer that contains data you want to back up with DPM. It consists of two components: the protection agent itself and an agent coordinator. Here's what it does:
Identifies the data that DPM can protect and recover.
Allows the DPM server to browse the shares, volumes, and folders on the protected computer.
Creates a change journal for each protected volume and stores the journal in a hidden file on that volume. It records any changes to the protected data in the change journal and transfers the journal from the protected computer to the DPM server so that DPM can synchronize the primary data with the replica.
You'll set up the agent as follows:
If the computer containing the data you want to back up is behind a firewall, you'll need to set up firewall exceptions.
If the computer isn't behind a firewall or you've configured firewall exceptions to allow access, you can install the agent from the DPM console.
If you don't have access through the firewall, the computer you want to protect is in a workgroup or untrusted domain, or you need to use a different installation method, you can Install the agent manually and then Attach the agent.
Set up firewall exceptions
For a protection agent to communicate with the DPM server through a firewall, firewall exceptions are required.
Configure an incoming exception for sqlservr.exe for the DPM instance of the SQL Server to allow TCP on port 80. The report server listens for HTTP requests on port 80. The following table lists the protocols and ports required for communication between the DPM server and protected servers and clients.
| Protocol | Port | Details |
|---|---|---|
| DCOM | 135/TCP Dynamic |
The DPM control protocol uses DCOM. DPM issues commands to the protection agent by invoking DCOM calls on the agent. The protection agent responds by invoking DCOM calls on the DPM server. TCP port 135 is the DCE endpoint resolution point used by DCOM. By default, DCOM assigns ports dynamically from the TCP port range of 49152 through 65535. However, you can configure this range by using Component Services. For DPM agent communication, you must open the upper ports 49152-65535. To open the ports, perform the following steps: 1. In IIS 7.0 Manager, in the Connections pane, select the server-level node in the tree. 2. Double-click the FTP Firewall Support icon in the list of features. 3. Enter a range of values for the Data Channel Port Range. 4. After you enter the port range for your FTP service, in the Actions pane, select Apply to save your configuration settings. |
| TCP | 5718/TCP 5719/TCP |
The DPM data channel is based on TCP. Both DPM and the protected computer initiate connections to enable DPM operations, such as synchronization and recovery. DPM communicates with the agent coordinator on port 5718 and with the protection agent on port 5719. |
| DNS | 53/UDP | Used between DPM and the domain controller and between the protected computer and the domain controller for host name resolution. |
| Kerberos | 88/UDP 88/TCP | Used between DPM and the domain controller and between the protected computer and the domain controller for authentication of the connection endpoint. |
| LDAP | 389/TCP 389/UDP |
Used between DPM and the domain controller for queries. |
| NetBIOS | 137/UDP 138/UDP 139/TCP 445/TCP |
Used between DPM and the protected computer, between DPM and the domain controller, and between the protected computer and the domain controller for miscellaneous operations. Used for SMB directly hosted on TCP/IP for DPM functions. |
Install the agent from the DPM console
In DPM Administrator Console, select Management > Agents. Select Install on the tool ribbon to open the Protection Agent Installation Wizard.
On the Select Agent Deployment Method page, select Install agents > Next.
On the Select Computers page, DPM displays a list of available computers that are in the same domain as the DPM server. Add the required computer.
The first time you use the wizard, DPM queries Active Directory to get a list of available computers. After the first installation, DPM stores the list of computers in its database, which is updated once every day by the auto-discovery process.
To find a computer in another domain that has a two-way trust relationship with the domain that the DPM server is located in, you must type the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the computer that you want to protect. For example, <Computer1>.Domain1.contoso.com, where Computer1 is the name of the computer that you want to protect and Domain1.contoso.com is the domain to which the target computer belongs.
The Advanced button page is enabled only when there's more than one version of a protection agent available for installation on the computers. You can use this option to install a previous version of the protection agent that was installed before you upgraded DPM server to a more recent version.
On the Enter Credentials page, type the username and password for a domain account that is a member of the local Administrators group on all selected computers.
In the Domain box, accept or type the domain name of the user account that you're using to install the protection agent on the target computer. This account may belong to the domain that the DPM server is located in or to a domain that has a two-way trust relationship with the domain that the DPM server is located in.
If you're installing a protection agent on a computer across a trusted domain, enter your current domain user credentials. You can be a member of any domain that has a two-way trust relationship with the domain that the DPM server is located in, and you must be member of the local Administrators group on all selected computers on which you want to install an agent.
If you select a node in a cluster, DPM detects all additional nodes in the cluster and displays the Select Cluster Nodes page.
On the Select Cluster Nodes page, select an option that you want DPM to use for installing agents on additional nodes in the cluster and then select Next.
On the Choose Restart Method page, select the method to use to restart the selected computers after the protection agent is installed. The computer must be restarted before you can start protecting data. A restart is necessary to load the volume filter that DPM uses to track and transfer block-level changes between the DPM server and the protected computers.
If you select to restart the computers later, the protection agent installation status isn't refreshed automatically on the Agents tab in the Management task area after the computer restarts, and you'll need to select Refresh Information.
You don't need to restart the computer if you're installing a protection agent on another DPM server.
If any of the computers that you selected are nodes in a cluster, an additional Choose Restart Method page appears, which you can use to select the method to restart the clustered computers. You'll need to install a protection agent on all the nodes in a cluster to successfully protect the clustered data. The computers must be restarted before you can start protecting data. As time is required to start services, it might take a few minutes after a restart before DPM can contact the agent on the cluster.
DPM won't automatically restart a computer that belongs to a Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) cluster. You must manually restart computers in an MSCS cluster.
On the Summary page, select Install to begin the installation. If the EULA appears, accept it for the installation to start. On the Task tab of the installation page, you can see whether the installation is successful. You can select Close before the wizard is finished and monitor the installation progress in the Agents tab in the Management task area. If the installation is unsuccessful, you can view the alerts in the Monitoring task area on the Alerts tab.
Note
After you install a protection agent on a computer that is part of a Windows SharePoint Services farm, each of the computers in the farm won't appear as protected computers on the Agents tab in the Management task area, only the computer that you selected. However, if the Windows SharePoint Services farm has data on the selected computer, DPM protects the data on all of the computers in the farm, provided all of them have the protection agent installed.
Install the agent manually
If you install the agent on a computer behind a firewall, you need to ensure that the agent can be pushed out through the firewall.
For example, you can run the following command on the computer to configure Windows Firewall: netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Allow DPM Remote Agent Push" dir=in action=allow service=any enable=yes profile=any remoteip=<IPAddress>, where IPAddress is the address of the DPM server.
To configure the ports exception on the firewall, see Configure firewall exceptions for the agent.
On the computer that you want to protect, open an elevated Command Prompt window and then run the following commands:
To assign a drive letter, type: net use Z: \<DPMServerName>\c$ where Z is the local drive letter that you want to assign and <DPMServerName> is the name of the DPM server that will protect the computer.
To change the directory, do the following:
For a 64-bit computer, type: cd /d <assigned drive letter>:\Program Files\Microsoft DPM\DPM\ProtectionAgents\RA\5.0.<build number>.0\amd64 where <assigned drive letter> is the drive letter that you assigned in the previous step and <build number> is the latest DPM build number. For example: cd /d X:\Program Files\Microsoft DPM\DPM\ProtectionAgents\RA\3.0.7696.0\amd64
For a 32-bit computer, type: cd /d <assigned drive letter>:\Program Files\Microsoft DPM\DPM\ProtectionAgents\RA\5.0.<build number>l;.0\i386 where <assigned drive letter> is the drive that you mapped in the previous step and <build number> is the latest DPM build number.
To install the protection agent, open an elevated Command Prompt window and then run one of the following commands:
For a 64-bit computer, type: DpmAgentInstaller_x64.exe <DPMServerName> where <DPMServerName> is the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the DPM server. For example: DPMAgentInstaller_x64.exe DPMserver1.contoso.com
For a 32-bit computer, type: DpmAgentInstaller_x86.exe <DPMServerName> where <DPMServerName> is the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the DPM server.
Note
- To perform a silent installation, you can use the /q option after the DpmAgentInstaller_x64.exe command. For example: DpmAgentInstaller_x64.exe /q <DPMServerName>
- To accept the EULA manually in a silent installation, use DpmAgentInstaller_x64.exe /q <DPMServerName> /IAcceptEULA
- If you specify a DPM server name in the command line, it installs the protection agent and automatically configures the security accounts, permissions, and firewall exceptions necessary for the agent to communicate with the specified DPM server. If you didn't specify a server name, open an elevated Command Prompt on the targeted computer and do the following:
- To change the directory type: cd /d <system drive>:\Program Files\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\DPM\bin
- Type: SetDpmServer.exe -dpmServerName <DPMServerName>. This configures the security accounts, permissions, and firewall exceptions for the agent to communicate with the server.
If you added the computer to the DPM server before you installed the agent, the server begins to create backups for the protected computer. If you installed the agent before you added the computer to the DPM server, you must attach the computer before the DPM server begins to create backups.
Install the Protection Agent on a RODC
Use these steps:
Either turn off the firewall on the RODC or run the following commands on the RODC before you install the agent:
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="@FirewallAPI.dll,-29502" new enable=yesnetsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="@FirewallAPI.dll,-34251" new enable=yesnetsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=dpmra dir=in program="%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\DPM\bin\DPMRA.exe" profile=Any action=allownetsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=DPMRA_DCOM_135 dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=135 profile=Any
On the primary domain controller, create and populate the following security groups (where the protected server name is the name of the RODC on which you plan to install the protection agent):
Create a security group named DPMRADCOMTRUSTEDMACHINES$PSNAME, and then add the DPM server machine account as a member.
Create a security group named DPMRADMTRUSTEDMACHINES$PSNAME, and then add the DPM server machine account as a member.
Create a security group named DPMRATRUSTEDDPMRAS$PSNAME, and then add the DPM server machine account as a member.
Add the DPM server machine account as a member of the Builtin\Distributed Com Users security group.
Ensure that the security groups that you created earlier have replicated on the RODC. Then manually install the protection agent on the RODC.
On the RODC server, perform the following steps to grant launch and activation permissions for the DPMRA service:
Open DPM Management Shell, and then run the command dcomcnfg.exe.
The Component Services window opens.
In the Component Services window, expand Computers, expand My Computer, expand DCOM Config, right-click theDPM RA service, and then select Properties.
Select General, and then set the Authentication Level to Default.
Select Location, and then ensure that only Run application on this computer is selected.
Select Security, select Customize under Launch and Activation Permissions, select Customize, and then select Edit to open the Launch Permission dialog box.
In the Launch Permission dialog box, assign permissions for Local Launch, Remote Launch, Local Activation, and Remote Activation for the DPM server machine account.
Select OK to close the dialog box.
Navigate to Program Files\Microsoft System Center\DPM\DPM\setup on the DPM server, copy the following files to a folder on the RODC server.
setagentcfg.exe
traceprovider.dll
LKRhDPM.dll
On the RODC, from an elevated command prompt, run the command setagentcfg.exe a DPMRA domain\DPMserver from the location that you specified in the previous step.
On the RODC server, browse to the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\DPM\bin folder and run the setdpmserver command:
Setdpmserver -dpmservername DPMSERVER
Attach the protection agent to the DPM server as detailed in the following section.
Attach the agent
After you've installed the DPM agent manually, you'll need to attach the agent to the DPM server.
In the DPM Administrator Console, on the navigation bar, select Management > Agents. In the Actions pane, select Install.
On the Select Agent Deployment Method page, select Attach agents > Computer on a trusted domain > Next. The Protection Agent Installation Wizard opens.
On the Select Computers page, DPM displays a list of available computers in the same domain as the DPM server. Select one or more computers (50 maximum) from the Computer name list > Add > Next.
If this is the first time you've used the wizard, DPM queries Active Directory to get a list of potential computers. After the first installation, DPM displays the list of computers in its database, which is updated once each day by the auto-discovery process.
To add multiple computers by using a text file, select the Add From File button, and in the Add From File dialog box, type the location of the text file or select Browse to navigate to its location.
On the Enter Credentials page, type the username and password for a domain account that is a member of the local Administrators group on all selected computers. In the Domain box, accept or type the domain name of the user account that you're using to install the protection agent on the target computer. This account may belong to the domain that the DPM server is located in or to a trusted domain. If you're installing a protection agent on a computer across a trusted domain, enter your current domain user credentials. You can be a member of any trusted domain, and you must be a member of the local Administrators group on all selected computers that you want to protect.
On the Summary page, select Attach.