I'm currently looking into Microsoft Data Protection Manager as somewhat of a band-aid while we evaluate our backup solution. The main reason I'm looking at DPM is the licensing came along with the rest of System Center. Since we have it, and we need something, it's gotta be better than Windows Server Backup, right?
It didn't take long for me to discover a problem with our spare hardware. The old unused Dell server with lots of storage doesn't let me create multiple LUNs, just one giant array. (PERC6i controller, six 2.5 TB drives, just over 8 TB in RAID6 or RAID50 configuration.) DPM needs an actual disk, it won't use a partition on an existing disk. Giving up a 2.5 TB drove of two for the OS isn't optimal. What options should I consider from here? This server is my only hardware option for the remainder of the year.
My current idea...