Verifying Data Protection Manager status

Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) service only runs when it is actually running DPM jobs. In other words, most of the time it is inactive. That makes it hard for you to know whether or not the service is actually operating.

Therefore, the first step in troubleshooting most Data Protection Manager problems is to verify that DPM is actually operating. To check the Data Protection Manager service, start it using the start command under Administrative Tools>Services>Details>Properties>General on the DPM Server.

If Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager doesn't start from the start command, check the underlying services that it depends on. These are:

  • DPM File Agent
  • SQLAgent$MICROSOFT$DPM (the SQL Agent)
  • MSSQL$MICROSOFT$SPM (the SQL Server)
  • Virtual Disk Service (VDS)
  • Volume Shadow Copy (VSS)

The Windows Event Viewer can check all of these to verify they are not shut down. If any of these services are shut down, restart the service and go back to the DPM server menu to make sure that Startup type is set to Automatic. If that doesn't work, try shutting down the services and restarting them.

If you do need to shut down the services, do so in this order: 1) VDS; 2) VSS; 3) SQL Agent; 4) SQL Server. Data Protection Manager's service will shut down automatically.

Next, start the VSS service. Now try to start the Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager service. If it starts, the

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other dependent services will automatically restart. If it still doesn't start, restart Windows Server.



Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager Fast Guide

 Introduction
 Verifying Data Protection Manager status
  Server plays key role in Data Protection Manager deployment
  Why Data Protection Manager is replacing disk-to-tape backups
 Troubleshooting Data Protection Manager warning message
  Measuring the impact of Data Protection Manager 2006
  Storage pool savvy helps admins optimize Data Protection Manager
  Watch for unsupported data types in Data Protection Manager
  Protecting servers with Data Protection Manager

About the author:
Rick Cook has been writing about mass storage since the days when the term often meant an 80K floppy disk. Today he specializes in writing about issues related to storage and storage management.

This was first published in April 2006

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