What we do is
1:  In the dsm.opt file have domain c: f:      (data drives)
2:  Have a preschedcmd which runs NTBACKUP that does the system state
backup
3:  Run the TSM backups.  The NTBACKUP is in a directory that is backed
up so we have that to cover us.

Once some minor bugs were worked out we have not had a problem with
NTBACKUP running in the preschedcmd.   If NTBACKUP were to fail the
backup would not run but that has not happened so far.  We wanted to
make sure the backup was done close to the time of the data backup of
TSM so we decided to go with the "pre" instead of the "post".  We did
try to have an NT scheduled event for the machine that used NTBACKUP to
avoid a possible failure on NTBACKUP and having TSM not run but the
problem was it was occasionally delayed by other events and/or there was
not an easy way to know if that event happened without going to the
machine.

Eric

-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU]On Behalf Of
Stapleton, Mark
Sent: Friday, March 11, 2005 11:02 AM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Re: Windows 2003 systemstate backup


From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On
Behalf Of Levi, Ralph
>I know that client systemstate backups are not supported with Tivoli
>Storage Manager 5.1 but has anyone found a way around this ?
>I am stuck
>on TSM 5.1 for a few more months but need to get systemstate backups
>from my W2K3 clients.

There have been some discussions on the list concerning workarounds to
this situation. Here's one:

1. Insert the lines

  domain -systemobject
  postschedcmd c:\ssbackup.bat

in your client option file

2. Create a batch file (called ssbackup.bat for instance) at the root of
your C: drive that contains the lines

  del c:\ssbackup.bkf
  ntbackup backup systemstate /f "c:\ssbackup.bkf"

What this will do is

1) Exclude the system files from the standard backup, and
2) Run NTBACKUP to create a file that contains a backup of all the
system files. Your regular backup will then back up this file. (This
operation will take place after your client backup is complete.)

The reason to run NTBACKUP at the *end* of the client backup session
instead of the beginning is that it will occasionally hang. If this
happens before the backup starts, the backup will fail.

The beauty of using this workaround is that, if there is ever an issue
with successfully restoring the system files with this method, you can
get support from Microsoft (since NTBACKUP is their utility).

--
Mark Stapleton (stapleton AT berbee DOT com)
Office 262.521.5627