Pre/Post backup commands?

[Patrick_Scannell]

I'm using Amanda 2.4.2.p2 on RedHat 7.1 & 6.2, and it is great!  Thanks to
everyone that contributed to it.

I'd like client hosts to do things like shut down database servers before
backup, and then restart them after backup.
Is there a facility to do this in Amanda that I've missed, or has anyone
found a good way to do this in Linux?
I've used the cron-job to do this on the server, but I'm not sure of the
best approach on the clients.

Thanks!

Patrick