>My company has a Windows server supporting a very large SQL Server database.
>Before the last hardware upgrade, the database was backed up with the SQL
>Server Connect Agent. Since the upgrade the database has been dumped to a
>flat file which is then backed up by the backup/archive client. Either way
>the backup arrives at the TSM server as a single file containing about
>20 gigabytes of data. A single file this size causes a number of problems.
>The recovery log gets pinned for hours. Tape reclamation tends to perform
>poorly. The system administrator is now considering installing TDP for
>SQL Server. Would this software still send the backup as a single huge
>file?

Without product, level, and tape drive details, it's hard to give a lot of
advice; but it sounds like you have significant tape drive technology issues
slowing everything down.  Large files are usually the optimal type of objects
for backup systems, allowing streaming, minimal tracking updates, etc.
I would not approach TDP until you address underlying issues.  I'd begin by
getting benchmark numbers on your tape drive and other subsystem throughput
rates to isolate the bottleneck and address that.

  Richard Sims, BU