Hi,
OK, so ignoring the cut-and-paste from various technotes above, here are some real-world scenarios:
1. I'd recommend at least 8GB RAM in your server, especially since you need to run Windows Server 2008 R2 in order to take advantage of the dedupe option and backin up Exchange 2010 media server MUST be x64...the more RAM you can get into the server, the better.
2. In order to make use of LAN-free backups, you need the SAN SSO option, and all servers need to be zoned to see the library which must be SAN-attached too. If the drive/autoloader is SCSI-attached, it won't work as it is unsupported. You need a full BE media server license PER server attached to the SAN you want to backup using SAN SSO. SAN SSO is also licensed, and you need to license any agents on the server. If the library only has 1 drive, it's a waste to by SAN SSO as all the backups will be queueud.
3. For every tape drive more than the first drive in a library you need a Library Expansion Option (LEO) license. The first drive is covered by a "free" license within BE.
4. You can only have 1 dedupe folder PER media server! If you want 3 servers to run the dedupe option, you need 3 dedupe licenses.
5. I have successfully restored ARCserve 11.5 data using BE 2010 R3, but for safety's sake, rather keep the tapes from ARCserve aside and use new tapes if possible. THis means you can recover any data if need be, but start using them once their retention has expired in ARCserve.
6/ If you ever stream your dedupe data off to tape, be aware that it rehydrates itself to the original size. If you need to stream off to tape, do so over a weekend rather.
7. To phase our ARCserve (and I've done this myself), I'd simply make a final backup of ARCserve and hang on to any monthly tapes for instance, along with license keys and installation media. Make a copy of the catalog and DB if need be too. Take note of the selections and how the jobs were created in ARCserve, and uninstall it. INstall BE and configure accordingly...
8. Uninstall ARCserve completely...it will cause issues with the accessing of hardware and ports. You can a least reinstall if need be temporarily!
Let me know if you have further questions!
Cheers!