All,
I've read with interest the discussion on knowledge needed to support ADSM.
I'm an MVS tech support person so when I approach someone on another
platform (ie hpux, aix, etc...) I let them know up front that I'm not a Unix
person (or whatever).  However, I have gotten to know a *little* about Unix.
I would say that knowledge of the client OS is not critical as long as the
person supporting the client OS has a stake in making ADSM work.

A coworker and I installed ADSM on a bunch of HPUX nodes.  He was initially
very skeptical but when he saw that he would need fewer people to run
backups and he could provide much higher levels of service he quickly
changed his mind.  Lesson:  Find someone early that will give ADSM a fair
hearing.

Of course the networking folks immediately informed me that ADSM will knock
down the network and that the fate of mankind will rest in my hands.  ADSM
won't knock your network down if you use it with prudence.

The MVS people told me it would use tremendous amounts of CPU and thus be
unaffordable.  ADSM in my installation uses less than 1% primetime and the
mvs staffers rushed to have adsm clients installed on their pc's.

Use TCPIP if at all possible.  This *really* simplifies installation.  If
you don't have tcpip then befriend a networking person by taking him/her to
lunch, etc.  A good relationship with networking folks will go a long way to
making ADSM a success.

I/We spend very little time managing ADSM so I feel you can probably tell
your management that your time won't be consumed with ADSM (after initial
install and deployment).

It's my impression that the PC folks (netware, etc...) are the most
prejudiced against ADSM because, as we all know, a $3,000 desktop pc is much
more sophisticated and complex than a multi-million dollar MVS legacy system
so what do we MVS'ers have to contribute anyway?   ;-)

Good Luck - Let me know if I can help,
Dave
"Certified Adsm Fan"