I don't have the problem but I am backing the SYSTEM OBJECTS without any 
problems on a W2K DC. My client option.dsm also has the exclude for \ntds dir.

One major known issue is the anti-virus scanning can cause logs to increment 
perpetually, see Q298551, and especially Q284947!

Also make sure your edb.chk file exists, otherwise above situation can occur. 
See Q247715.

I had similar problem previously, but it was not due to TSM; I had to do an 
offline defrag of the AD. Also I moved the AD log location from the C (boot 
partition) to another bigger drive it is recommended by MS to do so. This too 
you can only do through the ntdsutil in AD offline mode.

Khalid
-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf Of 
Bill Boyer
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2003 5:52 PM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: AD Circular Logging and TSM backups

I have a client that just forwarded me a note saying that the TSM client is
causing problems with the active directory circular logging. here's the text
he sent me:

(See Microsoft Article)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;272425&Product=win20
00

Issue:

- Buildup of Active Directory log files (total size over 2 gigabytes) on
system drive C:\.
- Circular logging is enabled but not working correctly due to an
interruption by the Tivoli Backup Client.




Corrective Action:

-  Remove the System State Backup option from Tivoli nightly backups.
-  Ensure the version of Ntbackup.exe is 5.0.2195.2104 or greater.
- Create a nightly scheduled Ntbackup.exe of the System State to a location
on the server s local drive (Tivoli will back this up).
- Check c:\winnt\ntds\ directory periodically to ensure log files are being
truncated.

Looking at the microsoft article, it is a problem with AD, not TSM and is
supposedly fixed on SP2 for Win2k. I've searched IBM and adsm.org but didn't
find any hits. I have other clients that backup Win2k AD with no problems
and have actually done BMR restores.

Anyone have problems of this sort? The client level is 5.1.0.1 (I
know..upgrade!) and the TSM server is AIX 4.3.3 TSM 5.1.7.2.
They want me to implement the -SYSTEMOBJECT and the NTBACKUP solution right
away. I don't know what SP level the Win2k server is at. There is an
Exclude.dir *:\...\NTDS in the client optionset.

Bill Boyer
DSS, Inc.