Monday, July 19, 2010

TSM to DPM transition

I am currently working a contract transitioning a companies old TSM environment to Microsoft DPM and am discovering once again how Microsoft operates. Just like many of their software products when they were first released, Microsoft's product lacks certain features that others have had for years. As they revise the product they slowly reach a close parity, but it's never quite equal to older more mature products. The clincher is that it's a Microsoft tool and Windows shops don't know any better. As I learn more about DPM I'm convinced it's not going to supplant TSM or Netbackup by features, but shear lack of backup expertise from the administrators. Their MS rep will come in and tout the product with the limited information he has, show them a decent bundle price, sell them DPM, and not be heard of until the next licensing cycle. (Does The Music Man ring a bell?) The reporting capabilities alone are awful! You can't easily create your own and DPM runs on MS SQL. Go figure! And what's with Microsoft pushing their PowerShell?? You can script reports but have to know how to script within MS PowerShell. I thought the whole purpose of Windows was to eliminate the command line? (Not that I mind, I just find it ironic) So as I learn more I'll post what I find, but so far I'm shocked they thought DPM was a better tool than TSM...what they really needed was a good TSM admin not new software.

No comments:

Post a Comment