Hi,

We are currently implementing ADSM over our systems, to replace the crappy 
Novaback product we are using, and also to get away from every server having 
its own tape unit.

We have found ADSM great, but I sort of like version2 better than version3 - 
but I'm sure that over time I will like it too.

We use Arcserve also, but only on our Notes servers 'cos they are DEC Alpha 
boxes and IBM do not have a Notes Agent for the Alpha. Our network, which spans 
the country, cannot take the full backup of our Notes servers (ie one email 
change can force a whole 100M+ backup unless you got an agent), so we use an 
internal tape and Arcserve on these machines. Hopefully, in the near future, I 
can remove all our DEC boxes and get something better - prolly an Intel box 
that can run a Notes agent.

We found, one-on-one (ie non-networked) the ADSM and the Arcserve to be fairly 
similar in performance. We are running one Notes Intel machine with the Notes 
agent for NT. This remote server is about 8G capacity and we do incrementals 
backups to our primary site - 600miles away on a 256k link, with no problems 
and time to spare. Of course, your first backup is a killer and should be fired 
off on Friday night, so you got a weekend to get it all done.

Our telecom provider also can provide high speed pipes (for a price) so we can 
up the link speed for a day or two to get a large full backup done. Once we get 
that done, the incrementals are quite handable.

At our primary site, we run 16M token ring to all our systems, and, for backup 
(ADSM) we use 155Mbps ATM. So, each client machine that needs to be backed up 
will have 2 network connections -token ring for business traffic, and ATM for 
databackups and restores. We have extended the ATM a mile or two to our DRP 
site and back that up to. With this arrangment we can do backups/restores 
without affecting our business networks. Also, some of the stuff we backup and 
restore each evening would drag our token ring network into the ground, but the 
ATM handles it fine.

Regards
Shane