One slight error concerning Litespeed, there is a ( free ) utility which allows you to restore a litespeed backup on a a non litespeed server.

If you forget the GUI , I never make use of the gui for handling production backups anyway, and use the extended procs with scripts/procs then Litespeed is a dream to use.

The reality is that Litespeed does live up to the hype - a well recommended product - I wouldn't leave home without it

I used TSM at the last place, V5.2 I think, and I never could get the Admin boys round to setting up Transaction Log backups going.   

I also found the GUI unreliable, so much so I wrote my own in Excel!  If you are interested, you down load it here:

<shameless plug>http://glossopian.co.uk/pmwiki.php?n=Main.SQLTSMRestores</shameless plug>

Dave J

At the time I tested Litespeed it had (or has) a Native Command Substitution that loads as a service and capture native SQL maintenance plans as they execute re-routing them through the Litespeed engine.

When we added up the compression (savings in disk space and tape), speed and NCS (with any other product we would have been faced with changing over 10,000 maintenance plans), it became a no-brainer.

Unfortunately, the company (a major play in the IT industry) was going through cost cutting and reorganization  again so we never got approval to purchase Litespeed.

It would have been nice to have added a pro and con for the native backup using SQL Server tools for your environment.

I was also left wondering why you didn't consider using network attached storage instead of the SAN for the backup files.

Thanks for an informative review.