We are considering migrating our TSM systems from AIX to Windows 2003.

I know that the experience of the forum participants is that AIX provides
superior I/O performance, but where is that threshold?

These are our system details.  I'd like for anyone with experience with a
system of similar size to share their experiences regarding Unix vs.
Windows.

We are currently running TSM 5.1.10 on a 2-way 6H1 with 4 GB RAM.
We are considering running TSM 5.3.2 on a 2-way or 4-way 3.0 GHz Xeon with
4 GB RAM.  All non-OS I/O would be via GigE network and redundant 2 Gbs
fiber.

TSM system details:

DB:     32 GB @ 83% utilization
Log:    5 GB, roll-forward mode
Primary data:   16 TB with one copypool (another 16 TB to manage)
Nodes:    175 backing up during a 10-hour window
Average daily incoming data:   ~ 200 GB; may be reduced via deployment of
TDP Oracle
Disk:   1 TB DAS, 3 TB SAN
Tape:   LTO-1, DLT8000, 3570XL, four SCSI drives each; libraries will be
consolidated
Daily copypool updates sent to vault
Semi-annual exports in the 2-5 TB range

Does that sound like a system that could reasonably be hosted on a modern
Windows system?  Is a 2-way adequate, or should we get a 4-way?

Thanks in advance.

Tab Trepagnier
TSM Administrator
Laitram, L.L.C.