Hi Richard!

How does your shop deal with departmental server admins-- do they have any 
access to the TSM server?  If they do, do you allow them to use their own ids 
for backup and restore, ISC/Admin Center, TSM Operational Reports,  SQL 
queries, etc.?

I used to be on the other side of the TSM "fence." I adminned the TSM servers & 
the clients (TSM-wise); but I have changed jobs and state agencies.  Now part 
of my duties are adminning TSM clients, but I have NO access to the TSM server. 
 I have to submit a trouble ticket to obtain information about standard 
management classes, enhancements to client backup reports (from TOR) and node 
queries (among other things).  

I have been to other public sites for users on TSM (off the top of my head-- U 
Florida; Berkeley; Oxford; BU) where policies, standards, client code, option 
sets, charges--- information, simply, is given to the TSM user community.

I have requested a "view-only" admin id and/or a policy-limited id-- No go. 
Some of my "trouble tickets" are still open/suspended.

How DO most TSM shops run their service for the TSM client admins that are not 
TSM server admins?  When I was a TSM admin, I was THRILLED if one of the client 
admins even took an interest in whether backups were failing, so this cold 
shoulder is frustrating. 

If others are willing to share their experiences, please chime in!!

thanks!
lisa 


-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf Of 
Richard Sims
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 1:20 PM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] TSM server scaling/sizing for lots (>20000) nodes

My first thought would be: How much unique data is there?  This is to say, if 
the PC disk was lost, would most of it actually be rebuilt from a central 
reinstall image of some kind, rather than representing unique data?  If so, a 
lot of stuff could be excluded as unnecessary.

I would then look into whether all these PCs actually store generated data, as 
opposed to having all data worth having actually residing on central file 
servers, where a single point of backup/restore would prevail.

If all these PCs are unique and individually storing data, a better approach to 
PC implementation needs to be looked at, as backup/ restore, network loading, 
and the overhead of fielding possibly thousands of phone calls could be 
untenable...  As in, who the heck came up with such a rag-tag deployment, 
anyway?

This is all going to make for an "interesting" service agreement...
one which will have to say that unless some kind of real-time backup is put 
into place, data will inevitably be subject to unrecoverability due to standard 
backup intervals.  Assure that those served aren't expecting miracles, to avoid 
political calamities.

   Richard Sims