Having used both products and using the TSM version extensively, I would say
that three days recovery for a mail message or mail box is inexperience with
the product or not having a proper DR/recovery system in place. It is
recommended to have multiple standby servers for just these types of issues,
even with single infostores up to 30 - 40 GB, we have recovery time down to
5 hours for even as granular as single mail messages or calendar entries.

For me the IS method of backups is the lesser of two evils, Shorter backup
longer individual restore, also very handy in the event of a total failure.

Duane

-----Original Message-----
From: Remco Post [mailto:r.post AT SARA DOT NL]
Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 11:49 AM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Re: veritas backup exec client and TSM server


On Mon, 15 Mar 2004 12:09:54 -0500
Richard Sims <rbs AT BU DOT EDU> wrote:

> >The ability to perform a mailbox backup or restore using backup exec
> >has been around since version 7.0 or earlier, that is at least 5 years.
> ...
>
> Indeed.  IBM periodically gets darts when another vendor implements a
> database backup/restore capability not in TSM.  As you'll find in the
> List archives, IBM explains that they adhere to the standards and
> facilities provided by the db providers, which is the safe approach.

Which may be true, but then let IBM come over here and explain to us why our
users should wait for approx 3 days for simply restoring one mail-message,
while other products achieve this in several minutes. I know IBM hides
behind published interfaces, IBM should be able to push MS to publish the
required interface descriptions.

> Another vendor may implement something which departs from such
> standards and facilities, at some cost and risk.  Those vendors may
> not fully describe the details of their approach for you to evaluate
> the long-term suitability of the approach, which a customer would
> bet their data on.  Always keep in mind that such approaches are
> subject to disruption as the third party who engineers the database
> system changes things over time.
>

Another vendor apperantly has better connections with Microsoft to be able
to provide the restore requirements that meet common-sense standards. The
overhead of having to restore an entire mail database for just one
mailmessage is to big to be justified. Using exmerge as a backup tool sucks
big time, and requires more than 2 times the diskspace occupied by the mail
db, just to be able to back it up. Currently TSM just lacks in options and
is expensive to use in an exchange environment.

>    Richard Sims

But still, I have no answer to my experiences question, which is more
important to me than IBM politics.

--
Met vriendelijke groeten,

Remco Post

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