PowerProtect Data Manager

This article provides curated links to Dell PowerProtect Data Manager product documentation, videos, and information including deployment, configuration, administration, and disaster recovery.

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager remediation is available for the Apache Log4j Remote Code Execution Vulnerability that may be exploited by malicious users to compromise the affected system. Dell recommends implementing this remediation as soon as possible in light of the critical severity of the vulnerability.

PowerProtect Data Manager displays an alert banner in the UI warning that a certificate is due to expire in less than 30 days. The certificate has already been renewed and shows a valid expiration date.

Log bundle creation fails in PowerProtect Data Manager version 19.22 when the appliance uses dynamic licensing. The log bundle builder encounters an IndexOutOfBoundsException because the Dynamic Licensing / Integrated License Manager (ILM) service does not populate the license index, which causes the /api/v2/licenses API to return empty content. This prevents administrators from generating the diagnostic log bundles required for troubleshooting and Dell Support engagement.

The PowerProtect Data Manager appliance is generating alert SYS0003 in the environment indicating low capacity on the /logs mount point.

SQL database assets protected through VMDirect application‑aware backups incorrectly display as "Unprotected" in the PowerProtect Data Manager Iinterface, even though backups complete successfully and backup copies remain available. This issue occurs when an administrator soft‑deletes a Host/AppServer asset source, re‑discovers the associated VMs, and re‑assigns them to a protection policy. The re‑discovery and re‑assignment process does not correctly restore the Protection Lifecycle (PLC) for the SQL assets, causing the UI to report them as unprotected.

The retention lock disable job in PowerProtect Data Manager fails with error code CPM0016 and the log message "Request entity is too large." This issue occurs when the backup targeted for retention lock removal contains a large number of files, causing the REST API request to exceed the payload size limit that the PowerProtect Data Domain system supports. The PowerProtect Data Domain system rejects the request with HTTP status 413, and PowerProtect Data Manager fails to parse the response. A permanent fix is under development; a manual workaround is available through Dell Technical Support.

PowerProtect Data Manager instant access restores for PowerMax Storage Group (PMAX SG) fails in dual home environment with virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs)

Transparent Snapshot Data Mover (TSDM) backup sessions for one or more virtual machines (VMs) fail with the error "Unable to successfully complete SDM Delta Sync operation." After the failure, vSphere Storage vMotion remains unavailable for the affected VMs until restarting the Data Protection Deamon (DPD) and TSDM services on the ESXi host.

How To Enable Or Disable External Virtual Machine Direct Engines (VMDE) to be used for Transparent Snapshot (TSDM) Backups.

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager remediation is available for multiple security vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malicious users to compromise the affected system.

The vSphere Lifecycle Management (vLCM) is being used to manage the ESXi hosts in the environment. The Transparent Snapshot Data Mover (TSDM) vSphere Installation Bundle (VIB) is removed from the ESXi hosts when they are remediated with ESXi host patches. The signed VIB must be added to the vLCM image to show it is compliant and ensure it remains installed during remediation.

An administrator cannot access the PowerProtect Data Manager appliance via SSH even though the PowerProtect Interface remains accessible. This issue occurs for one of two reasons: (1) the administrator attempts to SSH with a user account that was created in the PowerProtect Interface, which does not grant SSH access; or (2) the admin SSH account is locked due to repeated failed login attempts or the SSH password is forgotten. Unlocking the admin account or resetting the SSH password via the vSphere console resolves the issue.

PowerProtect Data Manager (PPDM) NAS backup failures present error codes such as ABNA0016 and ABNA0023. Caused by share name mismatches, permission issues, protocol settings, proxy sizing, and known issues.

The PowerProtect Data Manager backup reports display a "No data to display" error after upgrading to version 20.1. The data collector continues to use the deprecated activity_v2 Application Programming Interface (API) calls instead of the required activity_v3 calls. The upgrade process overwrites the updated application.yaml configuration file with a stale copy. This issue affects bare‑metal PowerProtect Data Manager deployments that include a reporting node.

After upgrading to PowerProtect Data Manager 20.1, Disaster Recovery (DR) backups on Windows servers fail with error code ABF0001 ("Unable to commit the metadata") when DISASTER_RECOVERY:\ and file‑system volume backups run concurrently on the same host. The PowerProtect 20.1 release removed the mutual‑exclusion conflict rules that previously prevented these backup types from executing in parallel, which causes Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) writer metadata file contention. This issue affects standalone Windows servers and can also affect Domain Controllers.

PowerProtect Data Manager version 20.1 fails to add Hyper‑V clusters as asset sources. Hyper‑V VM backup jobs fail with HTTP 400 errors, certificate‑mismatch messages, and ZeroMQ error 11 ("Resource temporarily unavailable"). These failures result from a combination of missing or misconfigured WinRM HTTPS listeners on port 5986, incorrect SSL certificate thumbprints, absent firewall rules for required ports (TCP 5986 and TCP 5896), and the presence of Azure Arc‑enabled Azure Stack HCI clusters that PPDM 20.1 does not support.

During recovery operations in PowerProtect Data Manager, the User Interface (UI) displays inaccurate progress percentages and transitions between recovery phases prematurely while data movement is still in progress. The progress percentage resets between phases, and the UI may advance to subsequent steps (such as "Unmounting backup copy") before the data transfer completes. This code defect affects all PowerProtect versions prior to 19.20 and impacts multiple restore types, including File System (FS), Active Directory (AD), and Bare Metal Recovery (BMR). Dell addressed this issue in PowerProtect version 19.20.0-18.

After completing an Active Directory (AD) system state restore using PowerProtect Data Manager, the temporary folder C:\dbapps_temp_dir remains on the target host's C drive. This behavior is by design. The PowerProtect agent creates this folder during the restore process to stage files that cannot be written directly to their original locations because the operating system holds them in use. After a successful restore and system reboot, the folder is no longer needed and an administrator can safely delete it manually.

After upgrading PowerProtect Data Manager to version 19.18, Oracle self‑service backups that run on the last day of the month or year receive incorrect retention values. PowerProtect assigns the default retention instead of the retention defined in the protection policy schedule for the "last day" interval. This defect affects PPDM builds 19.18.0‑10 and 19.18.0‑17.

The PowerProtect Data Manager interface cannot edit or modify a protection policy and displays a 503 error indicating that vCenter discovery has not been started or is still in progress. The root cause is a stale vCenter Server instance UUID stored in the Elasticsearch database (ESDB) that no longer matches the current vCenter instance UUID. PPDM cannot reconcile the mismatched UUIDs during discovery, which blocks protection policy operations. Dell resolved this issue in PowerProtect Data Manager release 19.14.0‑20.

The PowerProtect Data Manager dashboard displays a health error with a 60‑point deduction indicating that none of the configured DNS servers are accessible. The health check uses ICMP ping to validate DNS server reachability, which causes a false‑positive failure when the DNS server blocks ICMP traffic but remains functionally available for DNS queries. Dell enhanced the DNS health check in PowerProtect version 19.14.0‑20 to resolve this issue.

In PowerProtect version 19.13 and prior, virtual machine (VM) backups protected by the Transparent Snapshot Data Mover (TSDM) solution intermittently perform a full‑level backup instead of the scheduled synthetic incremental full. A copy‑matching logic defect causes PowerProtect to report "No copies found" for the affected asset, which triggers an SDM Full Sync instead of the expected incremental operation. The unplanned full backups significantly increase backup duration and storage consumption.

The PowerProtect Data Manager appliance shows Alert SYS0004 indicating low capacity detected at the '/' mount point.

After upgrading PowerProtect Data Manager (PPDM) to version 19.18, the File Level Restore (FLR) wizard does not allow users to navigate between result pages when browsing files for restore. This prevents selection of any files that appear beyond the first page of results. Dell resolved this defect in PPDM version 19.19.

When attempting to install a Legacy Capacity or Socket license on PPDM 20.1 or 20.2 via the UI, a blank popup labeled "ERROR" occurs without any further text, error code, or diagnostic information. The license is not applied despite the file being valid. This is a known UI defect with a permanent fix in PPDM Future Releases. A CLI workaround is available.

Steps to Configuring vSphere Datastore Free Space Checks.

Replacing, reimaging, or changing credentials on a Data Domain causes PowerProtect Data Manager agent backups to fail. Errors such as ABA0002, ABA0008, ABF0005, ABG0004, or PKIX (Public-Key Infrastructure (X.509)) path building failed due to stale credentials, mismatched storage units, and certificate validation issues.

The PowerProtect Data Manager appliance was deployed with the initial environment details. The Health Check shows a component failure indicating there was a Domain name Server (DNS) configuration issue. There was a typo and the Default network settings may not be updated.

Backup jobs on PowerProtect Data Manager fail when VMware Tools have been removed from the external proxy, because vCenter MOB FindByIp returns no VM for the proxy IP address.