We are looking to deploy DPM to our central data center and to five of our largest locations.   Is it possible to just have a single SQL database centrally at the datacenter and all the DPM servers use it?    We would rather not have to deploy a database out to each location.   Having the remote locations use a central SQL database for DPM is less expensive and simpler.

Not sure I'd recommend it since I'm not sure how it would cope with any drop in comms / VPN failures, but yes it is possible. See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj852163.aspx for info, specifically "Use an existing instance of SQL Server: Use this option to connect to a remote instance of SQL Server that is being shared across multiple DPM servers. "

Duplicate of http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/c1ef934e-d185-4f23-a51f-690c35a80152/multiple-dpms-using-a-central-sql-database