HP DPX 4.00 SP1 Proper Getting Started Guide

I recently inherited HP DPX as a backupsolution for the office im setting up.

Really not a fan due to what seems like dreadful getting started guide, and lack of detail on how remote servers and agent work.

As someone who is used to Backupexec, Arcserve, Commvault,, this is a royal pain.

So I'm looking to clarify a few things:

1>. In regard to backing up Exchange 2010 :
Brick Level : where should i see this ? does it exist in DPX?

2>. Is there away to push the agent software to remote servers or must i manually install and join Backup Domain.

3>. Do i really need to pay for D2DAny just so i can have Backups to Disk? Its a mortal sin imo for anyone to charge for it.!

Firstly please note that HP has the Data Protector and Data Protector Express backup and recovery products. These are different products. This thread concerns Data Protector Express, which is the product for smaller installations.

There are really no excuses for the Getting Started Guide and other documentation. It is a known area that needs improvement and we are working on these as I write this. That will not help you now but it will soon be much better.

What you have inherited here looks like a Data Protector Express 4.x installation. My advice is to move to Data Protector Express as soon as you can. This was releaed in Sep10. If you are under support this is a free of charge version upgrade.

Exchange 2010 is not supported in Data Protector Express 4.x. You need to move to Data Protector Express 5.0 for Exchange 2010 backup and recovery support. However, this does not include 'brick level' backup and recovery. That is being investigated for a future release.

There is no 'push server' in Data Protector Express for installation. For the install Data Protector Express must be loaded onto each machine to be protected and joined to the Backup Domain. Updates can be applied to the Data Protector Express Backup Server and then automatically applied to the other members of Backup Domain. So upgrading to Data Protector Express 5.0 is much easier than the initial install.

Data Protector Express has never required payment/licensing for backups to disk. The Disk2Any2Any option is a cost option/license for Data Protector Express 4.x. What it enables is the automated copy of a backup (typically to disk) to other media (typically tape). It is how Data Protector Express automates D2D2T backup and enables recovery from either media.

In Data Protector Express 5.0 we have moved the software to an all-inclusive licensing scheme. What that means is you simply buy licenses for the number of server class (defined by OS) machines you which to protect (no licenses needed for Windows desktop OS) and all the functionality previously enables by licenses is included in each per-server licenense. i.e. the online application backup and the D2Any2Any functionality is available for all licensed machines.

More at: [url]www.hp.com/go/dataprotectorexpress[/url]

Just to add to this. The latest and improved user docs are now posted here: [url]http://www.hp.com/go/dataprotectorexpress/manuals[/url]