There are several different alternatives you may want to consider.

One would be to run the scheduler service to backup each NT machine.

The service runs under the local system account by default, which does
have the authority to backup the registry.

The scheduler service installation utility does have the capability
to install the service on a remote machine (although it doesn't
actually copy the client files), so you could install the service
on a remote machines from a central machine logged on as a domain
admin as follows:

 1. Copy scheduler service files onto the target machine
    if the NT client has not already been installed that machine.

       Assuming the name of the machine is NTMACH:

           mkdir \\NTMACH\c$\adsm
           xcopy dsmcsvc.exe  \\NTMACH\c$\adsm
           xcopy dscameng.txt \\NTMACH\c$\adsm
           xcopy adsm32.dll   \\NTMACH\c$\adsm
           xcopy blkhook.dll  \\NTMACH\c$\adsm
           xcopy dsm.opt      \\NTMACH\c$\adsm

      Note that the above is the MINIMAL set of files needed
      to install/run the scheduler service.

      Also note that the options file can be generic if you allow
      ADSM nodename to default to the NT machine name.

 2. With an ADSM admin client, do the following:

      -- Define the machine nodename and password. As
         mentioned above the nodename will probably be
         the NT machine name.

      -- Associate the above nodename with an existing schedule.


 3. Install the service on the remote machine with the scheduler
    service installation utility (dsmcsvci.exe).

      This utility will install the service and create all needed
      registry entries on the remote machine.

      It will prompt for the remote machine name, the remote client
      directory, and the ADSM node and password the service will be
      using.

      The utility contacts the ADSM server to validate the node
      and password so the previous step MUST be completed before
      installing the service.

      Note that the utility expects the client directory
      to be specified relative to the remote machine, so in the
      above example this would be c:\adsm.

      If the machine needs to backup domain resources (i.e remote
      drives), the service cannot run under the LocalSystem account
      because this account has no domain privilges. If this is the
      case the account which logs on the service should be changed
      to a domain admin account. This can be done with the SRVANY
      utility described in the next step.


 4. Use the NT SRVMGR utility to start the service on the remote
    machine.

       This utility is always installed on an NT Advanced server.

       It is also installed with the NT resource kit and may also
       be run remote from a shared drive on another machine.

 5. Check the application event log on the remote machine to
    verify that the service successfully started and that the
    schedule associated with the node has been pulled down.


With a little bit of work (and a robust command language such
as Rexx or Pearl) most of the above steps probably could be
automated.

Another alternative (to installing the service) would be to define
a schedule which passes down the BACKUPREG=NO option, but I really
would strongly suggest backing up every machine via the service
for the following reasons:

   - The service remains running regardless of whether or not
     a user is logged onto the machine.

     If the client is started as an interactive process, the process
     will terminate if the user logs off.

     The service will also automatically start when the machine is
     booted, so no conscious effort on the users part is needed to
     backup the machine.

   - No need to have to log onto a privileged account in order to
     backup the machine.

     I really do recommend backing up the registry - in the case of
     a disaster/hardware failure you will be SOL without it.

   - The scheduled backups happen automatically with no user knowledge
     or intervention required.

     The application event log (or completed schedule events on the
     server) may be viewed to verify the backup status.


Hope this helps answer your questions ....

Pete Tanenhaus
ADSM Client Development