Manual install of DPM agent on Server 2012 core

My 2012 server core wasn't allowing a push install of the DPM agent from the DPM 2012 server. I received errors about not being able to connect, etc. It turns out the windows firewall was blocking the installation. Simple enough, you can disable the firewall and try again, or you can use the below manual method of installation, thus keeping your firewall enabled.


Find the agent installation files on your source 2012 DPM server. I found them here;
c:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012\DPM\DPM\agents\RA\4.1.3408.0\amd64\1033

Copy the files to your target server. I chose to create a new folder, c:\temp

Connect remotely to the target server, open the cmd prompt and cd into the folder with your copied files.

run the DPMAgentInstaller_KB2822782_AMD64.exe or whatever your particular .exe is named.

This will install the agent, however it'll still be disconnected from the DPM server and the firewall isn't configured yet to allow communication between the two.

On the target server, cd to the following directory;
c:\Program Files\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\DPM\bin

run the following command;

SetDpmServer.exe -dpmservername YourDPMservername and press enter

If you typed the correct server name and the target server can access the DPM server on your network, it will succeed and will also configure your firewall to allow communications between the DPM server and target server.

Once that's done, go back to your DPM server, and click "Install", instead of installing an agent, choose, "Attach agents" and specify the target server. It should succeed in attaching the target server and you should be good to go.

Enjoy!