Gill, Geoffrey L. wrote:

I am wondering if there is still a link out there that will allow us to
figure out licensing costs. Sure it's changed a half million times and
Tivoli has been consolidated into IBM but maybe someone knows where it is. I
am assuming it would not be advisable to just bring up another server
without a server license just because we don't want to punch a hole in the
firewall for backups.

Geoff Gill
TSM Administrator
NT Systems Support Engineer
SAIC
E-Mail:    <mailto:gillg AT saic DOT com> gillg AT saic DOT com
Phone:  (858) 826-4062
Pager:   (877) 905-7154

Geoff,

I don't solicit business from this list.  However, I am the owner of MDR
Consulting, Inc. and we are an IBM Advanced Business Partner.  We resell
all of IBM's product lines, but we specialize in storage.  If your BP is
not getting you clear and accurate quotes within 24 hours than you need
to switch to a different BP.  We give same day quotes all the time!
This of course assumes that the customer has the proper information
available for us, i.e. number of processors, do they want or are they
required to have the EE (extended edition), will they be using any of
the TDP's, etc.  I would be glad to offer you any assistance with your
SW concerns.  In particular converting your old licenses to the new per
processor license can be quite confusing.  As a BP I believe my job is
to protect you the customer from the bureaucracy of IBM.  Then of course
there is "Passport Advantage" that you must sign up for in order to
purchase SW at the best possible price.  I would be glad to explain this
whole system to anyone on this list if they like or if there is enough
interest I would post to the list an overview of the entire system.

In addition, someone posed the question of why IBM charge per processor
the question was; "Can anyone explain how having more than one processor
in a server has anything to do with how much it costs to back it up?"
IBM assumes that a 2 processor machine manages more data than a single
processor, but not as much as a 4 processor machine.  It actually works
out to be a very simple (and I think fair) method of charging for the
product.  Also, keep ion mind that if you have a 16 way machine and for
some reason you no longer are going to manage it with ITSM you could
then transfer those licenses to 4 different 4-way machines or any other
combination that totaled 16 processors and this is regardless of the
platform type.  This is a great improvement over the old system.

As I stated before, I would be glad to discuss any of these licensing
questions with anyone who would like a clearer explanation.  I can be
reached toll free in the USA at 866-CALL-MDR (225-5637) or outside the
USA at 512-282-6180 (sorry I don't no the US international access code).

P.S. I want to make it clear this is not an attempt to solicit business,
I am merely trying to help explain what can be a very confusing issue.

--
Regards,
Mark D. Rodriguez
President MDR Consulting, Inc.

===============================================================================
MDR Consulting
The very best in Technical Training and Consulting.
IBM Advanced Business Partner
SAIR Linux and GNU Authorized Center for Education
IBM Certified Advanced Technical Expert, CATE
AIX Support and Performance Tuning, RS6000 SP, TSM/ADSM and Linux
Red Hat Certified Engineer, RHCE
===============================================================================