Mastering: System Center Data Protection Manager 2007

Chapter 3. Using the DPM Administration Console

There was a time when nails were high-tech. There was a time when people had to be told how to use a telephone. Technology is just a tool. People use tools to improve their lives.

—Tom Clancy

When you're learning a new application, there's a tendency to forget one of the most important rules for dealing with computers: don't assume! You may think you know how it works, but you may find that you don't. In this chapter, we're going to take you for a walk around the GUI administrative interfaces of DPM. This may seem boring, but it never hurts to know where everything is.

We've all done it. We get our hands on a new piece of hardware or software and can't wait to start playing with it. We know better; we know that we should read the manual, but our excitement overtakes us and we barge ahead. Ryan to wax nostalgic on this topic (cue the shimmery screen fade):

It was 1999, and I was a new Windows NT 4.0 admin. I was tasked with building out a base install for a large number of new servers. Being a hotshot new admin-type, I immediately shoved all of the documentation, media, and everything else that came packaged with these servers aside (it's just extra fluff, real administrators don't use the OEM defaults). These servers were top of the line for the day, dual-processor 450MHz PIII CPUs, complete with 128MB of RAM and SCSI hard disks. I was in hog heaven. So, you can imagine my frustration when I inserted the install media into the first server ...