Hi All, I'm trying to automate as much of DPM as possible and one of the tasks is to clear up old laptops. 

I currently have a script that will return a list of laptops that no longer exist in AD and want to remove them en mass from DPM. As far as I'm aware I need to remove them from the PG and then remove them from the DPM server but I'm having trouble working out how to do this. The TechNet Article here talks about using Remove-ChildDataSource so I set about trying to figure out what that by using Get-ChildDataSource but that's where I've come unstuck. I can't seem to get the command to work or figure out what the ChildDataSource item refers to at a code level.

Is there a way to cleanly remove a laptop from DPM via the CLI?

We back up "computername.domain.com\User Data"

Hi,

Instead of using PowerShell, can you simply stop the protection group, choose Retain Protected Data and recreate it with remain/existing computers?

If we have a PG with several hundred laptops that seems a pretty drastic approach just to remove a couple of decommissioned ones. Surely it is possible to script the removal.

As above I'm wanting to write a script for automation so I can schedule it or run it on demand, not have to use the gui to remove multiple machines from the PG.

• Edited by [Malco] 10 hours 21 minutes ago

If we have a PG with several hundred laptops that seems a pretty drastic approach just to remove a couple of decommissioned ones. Surely it is possible to script the removal.

As above I'm wanting to write a script for automation so I can schedule it or run it on demand, not have to use the gui to remove multiple machines from the PG.

• Edited by [Malco] Tuesday, May 26, 2015 8:48 PM

If we have a PG with several hundred laptops that seems a pretty drastic approach just to remove a couple of decommissioned ones. Surely it is possible to script the removal.

As above I'm wanting to write a script for automation so I can schedule it or run it on demand, not have to use the gui to remove multiple machines from the PG.

• Edited by [Malco] Tuesday, May 26, 2015 8:48 PM

Hi Malco,

I've posted an example on how to use the Remove-ChildDataSource. Modify and combine it with your list of removed laptops to only remove the correct DataSources.

# Get all your protection groups
$Pg = Get-ProtectionGroup -DPMServerName "DPMServer01"

# The Get-DPMModifiableProtectionGroup cmdlet retrieves the first protection group listed in $Pg in an editable mode.
$Mpg = Get-ModifiableProtectionGroup $Pg[0]

# Get all Datasources from the first protection group listed in $Pg
$Ds = Get-Datasource -ProtectionGroup $Pg[0]

# Remove the first datasource listed in $Ds from protection group in $Mpg
Remove-DPMChildDatasource -ProtectionGroup $Mpg -ChildDatasource $Ds[0] 

#Run the Set-DPMProtectionGroup cmdlet to save the changed protection group.
Set-DPMProtectionGroup -ProtectionGroup $Mpg

Hope it helps!

Kind Regards
Markus

Hi Malco,

I've posted an example on how to use the Remove-ChildDataSource. Modify and combine it with your list of removed laptops to only remove the correct DataSources.

# Get all your protection groups
$Pg = Get-ProtectionGroup -DPMServerName "DPMServer01"

# The Get-DPMModifiableProtectionGroup cmdlet retrieves the first protection group listed in $Pg in an editable mode.
$Mpg = Get-ModifiableProtectionGroup $Pg[0]

# Get all Datasources from the first protection group listed in $Pg
$Ds = Get-Datasource -ProtectionGroup $Pg[0]

# Remove the first datasource listed in $Ds from protection group in $Mpg
Remove-DPMChildDatasource -ProtectionGroup $Mpg -ChildDatasource $Ds[0] 

#Run the Set-DPMProtectionGroup cmdlet to save the changed protection group.
Set-DPMProtectionGroup -ProtectionGroup $Mpg

Hope it helps!

Kind Regards
Markus

• Marked as answer by [Malco] 5 hours 25 minutes ago

Hi Malco,

I've posted an example on how to use the Remove-ChildDataSource. Modify and combine it with your list of removed laptops to only remove the correct DataSources.

# Get all your protection groups
$Pg = Get-ProtectionGroup -DPMServerName "DPMServer01"

# The Get-DPMModifiableProtectionGroup cmdlet retrieves the first protection group listed in $Pg in an editable mode.
$Mpg = Get-ModifiableProtectionGroup $Pg[0]

# Get all Datasources from the first protection group listed in $Pg
$Ds = Get-Datasource -ProtectionGroup $Pg[0]

# Remove the first datasource listed in $Ds from protection group in $Mpg
Remove-DPMChildDatasource -ProtectionGroup $Mpg -ChildDatasource $Ds[0] 

#Run the Set-DPMProtectionGroup cmdlet to save the changed protection group.
Set-DPMProtectionGroup -ProtectionGroup $Mpg

Hope it helps!

Kind Regards
Markus

• Marked as answer by [Malco] Friday, May 29, 2015 1:44 AM

Hi Markus

That's great, works perfectly and give me a base to build out on.

Thanks!