Microsoft Releases Beta of File-Server Backup

In a continuing bid to capture some of the tape-backup market, Microsoft on Wednesday released a beta version of the upgrade to its file-and-application server recovery software, which includes support for a wider range of the company’s server products.

The product, System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2006 version 2, builds upon a previous version of DPM released last year that marked the company’s first move into the data-protection software market.

Version 2 employs a patent-pending technology that constantly monitors data changes and can recover the data with zero loss, Microsoft said. During recovery, the new version can also draw data from tape, a new capability, as well as from disks, Microsoft said.

DPM version 2 now supports Microsoft’s Exchange Server, SQL Server and Office SharePoint Portal Server, plus the already-supported Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 servers.

DPM is a candidate to replace low-end tape products with centralized disk-to-disk backup, the research analyst company Gartner wrote in a November 2005 report.

Gartner wrote that Microsoft is expected to make gains in the field because of the wide use of Windows file servers and typically low use of file-protection software among small- to medium-size businesses.

DPM Version 2 also employs new replication technology that reduces the input and output necessary to keep large data sets synchronized, Microsoft said.

The beta can be downloaded here.

-Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service (London Bureau)

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