On Fri, 30 Nov 2001 at 1:31pm, BRINER Cedric wrote > the idea that I had is the following > -run amdump without inserting the tape so the data will be stored in > the holding disk > -run amflsuh only if the amount of data on the holdingdisk is higher > than what the tape can store > -redo the previous step as much as you can
You *can* do this, but it can be dangerous. First, if your holding disk crashes, you lose multiple days worth of backups (a big single point of failure). Second, you need to make sure that you have a big enough holding space for full dumps of your largest partitions *as well* as incrementals. I did the above strategy for a while once (I was waiting for a new tape drive and more tapes). After a while, I realized that my biggest partitions hadn't had a full dump in a *long* time. It was a bit scary. If you do implement this, be sure to set the reserve parameter accordingly -- the default is 100%, meaning that 100% of the holding disk is reserved for incremental dumps in degraded modes, i.e. you won't get *any* full dumps. Are these all full dumps? A better way to fix the problem would be to tweak your dumpcycle such that a night's dumps can fit on one tape. -- Joshua Baker-LePain Department of Biomedical Engineering Duke University
