Yes, Tivoli has gone out of its way to make the point system confusing; they didn't publish the point counts anywhere for months after the point system was announced, and it's still very hard to get to unless you are working directly with a helpful VAR.
But FINALLY, they past summer they set up a "Point calculator" on the web site, where you can build sample configurations, and it will give you a point count. It's hard to find, and harder to use: http://www.tivoli.com/support/documents/configurator.html But the idea is you type in how many things you want - 1 TSM Tier 1 server, 10 tier 1 clients, 4 tier 2 clients, for example, and it gives you the point count. And by typing "1" as the number you want, you can obviously figure out how many points an individual component requires. Desktop machines are just called "clients", rather than Tier 0, BTW. They also (finally) put a configurator on IBMLINK; IF your contract gives you access to the IBMLINK ESD section, you download it, install it, and run it on your PC. It is easier to use, in my opinion, than the website. It works no matter whether you plan to run your TSM server on an RS6000, Windows, or OS/390. (BTW, if you have never used IBMLINK but your company owns a mainframe, call your mainframe sysprogs and ask them; they may have access.) · Log in to IBMLINK · Go to the ESD section · Select RS6000CONFIGS · Select RS6000Win95 · Download all the parts to a directory on your desktop and follow the install instructions (you just click on self-extracting files, it's very fast) Fill in the blanks for your planned configuration, and it will give you a point count. It works better than the web version, in my opinion. Re your question; a "desktop" (Linux, Wintel, Mac) workstation is just called a "CLIENT", instead of "Tier 0". Windows servers less than 5 processors are Tier 1; windows > 4 processors and UNIX <= 4 processors are Tier 2. In the configurator, if you say you want 1 TSM server on a Tier 2 processor, the configurator will tell you how many points that costs. Also, the TDP agents cost more points depending on which Tier the machine is in: TDP for Oracle on UNIX costs 5 times as many points as TDP for Oracle on Windows. To use the configurator, it will help if you have the original announcement letter that gives the part numbers for the TSM components - that is announcement letter 200-245. You can get that from the free section of IBMLINK. It also helps to know that when selecting TSM clients in the configurator, they are now called "Managed System for Lan" , or "managed System for San", not client licenses. HOpe that helps... -----Original Message----- From: Jeff Rogers To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 12/7/2001 8:13 PM Subject: Point system has me very confused Can somebody help me to understand this point/tier system. It understand that sharing Tivoli pricing information is some kind of no-no, so please feel free to reply off-list. What I think I understand so far. Workstation Clients ??? Tier 1 - 1 ~ 4 processors on Intel 32bit hardware. Tier 2 - RISC or Intel 64bit - I assume 5 ~ 8 processor 32bit Intel boxes as well. Tier 3 - Greater than 8 processor?? In Tivoli pricing land, what is considered a "server". For example, I don't think an RS/6000 Model B50 (piece of junk) with a 9GB drive used for development work should be a Tier 2 machine. I don't even consider it a Tier 1 machine. Even though it runs DB2, it is basically a workstation. How many points is each tier worth, and where do normal workstation machines fit in? How many points is the TSM server itself? on a tier 1 (NT) server? on a tier 2 (AIX) server? How many points are the Data Protection products, specifically Domino? What about DB2, do you just buy enough points to cover the tier of the machine? Even if there is no plan to backup "files"
