i am using the 2.4.3 method, and i find it to be the most efficient. The only relevant line in the amanda.conf is the following:
tapedev="file:/var/spool/whateveryourbackupdirectoryis" After that, configure the rest as you would anything else, making a tape definition according to how much space you would need for the night's backups. To rotate 'tapes', i recommend creating sub-directories and symbolically linking them to a 'data' subdirectory, which amlabel et al will look for. The directories are labelled like tapes. I name the subdirectories according to date, then i have a shell script which creates a new directory every night, makes the symlink, labels the tape then runs the backup. works great! Amanda is wonderfull!! cheers, john. Steve Follmer wrote: > > Anyone have a .conf for using the new tapeless backup techniques > introduced in 2.4.3? I too am stuck; my best guess is this: > > There are 2 ways to do tapeless backup: > (a) The 2.4.2 and below way (just uses holding disk) > (b) the 2.4.3 way (if anyone has this working please post your .conf!) > (no holding disk needed I guess; uses new file driver, somehow) > > Way (a) seems to be well described, and oughta works with 2.4.3 and up > The FAQ http://amanda.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/fom? > _highlightWords=tapeless&file=191 states... > > ...I've set up a system using 2.4.2p2 to backup to nfs mounted drive > space just recently. If you are able to use 2.4.3, there is a > setting to save to disk. Check the docs or the mail archives... > > I have checked the docs and the mail archives and have had no joy. > I'd would love to use the whiz-bang new 2.4.3 technique but > despite the optimistic language in the FAQ, the docs and the mail > archives do not adequately describe technique (b). Following are > 2 long posts. The first is the somewhat sparse documentation in > the 2.4.3 docs. It may soon be time to give up on (b) and surrender > to the adequately documented (a) technique. People won't use new > features if they are not documented enough. The second long posting > details one man's use of technique (a). > > We should all stop confusing the 2 different tapeless approaches. > And if anyone is successfully using the new 2.4.3 (b) technique, > could you post your .conf file? The helpful descriptions of the (a) > technique are masking the need for fuller documentation of the (b) > technique. I tried something like Mohamed in his earlier post with > the same bad results. > > -Steve > > > New in 2.4.3 man page... but hard to grok... can't make it work > (See Mohamed's posting)... > > OUTPUT DRIVERS > The normal value for the tapedev parameter, or for what a > tape changer returns, is a full path name to a non-rewind- > ing tape device, such as /dev/nst0 or /dev/rmt/0mn or > /dev/nst0.1 or whatever conventions the operating system > uses. Amanda provides additional application level > drivers that support non-tradition tape simulatation or > features. To access a specific output driver, set tapedev > (or configure your changer to return) a string of the form > driver:driver-info where driver is one of the supported > drivers and driver-info is optional additional information > needed by the driver. > > The supported drivers are: > > tape This is the default driver. The driver-info is > the tape device name. Entering /dev/rmt/0mn is > really a short hand for tape:/dev/rmt/0mn. > > null This driver throws away anything written to it > and returns EOF for any reads except a special > case is made for reading a label, in which case > a "fake" value is returned that Amanda checks > for and allows through regardless of what you > have set in labelstr. The driver-info field is > not used and may be left blank: > > tapedev "null:" > > The length value from the associated tapetype is > used to limit the amount of data written. When > the limit is reached, the driver will simulate > end of tape. > > NOTE: this driver should only be used for debug- > ging and testing, and probably only with the > record option set to no. > > rait Redundant Array of Inexpensive (?) Tapes. > Reads and writes tapes mounted on multiple > drives by spreading the data across N-1 drives > and using the last drive for a checksum. See > docs/RAIT for more information. > > The driver-info field describes the devices to > use. Curly braces indicate multiple replace- > ments in the string. For instance: > > tapedev "rait:/dev/rmt/tps0d{4,5,6}n" > > would use the following devices: > > /dev/rmt/tps0d4n > /dev/rmt/tps0d5n > /dev/rmt/tps0d6n > > file This driver emulates a tape device with a set of > files in a directory. The driver-info field > must be the name of an existing directory. The > driver will test for a subdirectory of that > named data and return offline until it is pre- > sent. When present, the driver uses two files > in the data subdirectory for each tape file. > One contains the actual data. The other con- > tains record length information. > > The driver uses a file named status in the file > device directory to hold driver status informa- > tion, such as tape position. If not present, > the driver will create it as though the device > is rewound. > > The length value from the associated tapetype is > used to limit the amount of data written. When > the limit is reached, the driver will simulate > end of tape. > > One way to use this driver with a real device > such as a CD is to create a directory for the > file device and one or more other directories > for the actual data. Create a symlink named > data in the file directory to one of the data > directories. Set the tapetype length to what- > ever the medium will hold. > > When Amanda fills the file device, remove the > symlink and (optionally) create a new symlink to > another data area. Use a CD writer software > package to burn the image from the first data > area. > > To read the CD, mount it and create the data > symlink in the file device directory. > > > > > > Clear Documentation of the old school (a) technique: > > > Hello, > > Per a recent request, this is my own little HOWTO on how to set up > Amanda > to backup using a hard disk instead of tape. I tried to post this to > the > FOM at <http://amanda.sourceforge.net/fom-serve/cache/191.html> but I > received a permission denied error when I tried to create a new > login. So > I'm posting it here. In addition to installation, I added a section > on > recovering with amrecover. > > Thanks especially to John R. Jackson for helping me set this up. > Also, as > noted recently, there's also a nice summary by Alex Muc at > <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg07758.html>. > > Regards, > > Clinton Hogge > Industrial Images > > > > Backing up to hard disk instead of tape > --------------------------------------- > Assumes that: > Config files are in /etc/amanda > Configuration named "DailySet1" > Local state directory is /var/lib/amanda > Amanda is configured --with-user=amanda --with-group=disk > 14 day dump cycle with an unattended "rotation" of the "tapes" For the > backup device I use a separate 4 gig hard drive mounted > at /var2 > > Installation > ------------ > 1. Obtain the tapeio source from sourceforge: > > $cvs -d:pserver:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:/cvsroot/amanda > login > $cvs -z3 - > d:pserver:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:/cvsroot/amanda > checkout -r amanda-242-tapeio amanda > $cd amanda > $./autogen > > 2. Install Amanda as usual. > > 3. Edit the following config files (all mode 644, owner amanda, > group disk): > > --------------------------------- /etc/amanda/DailySet1/amanda.conf > --------------------------------- > # These are the options that differ from examples/amanda.conf > > dumpcycle 14 days > tapecycle 14 > #runspercycle # defaults to 1 per day > > runtapes 1 > tpchanger "chg-multi" > changerfile "/etc/amanda/DailySet1/changer.conf" > # Comment out tapedev and changerdev > > tapetype HARD-DISK > labelstr "^DailySet1[0-9][0-9]*$" > > define tapetype HARD-DISK { > comment "Hard disk instead of tape" > length 4000 mbytes # Simulates end of tape on hard disk (a 4 GB > disk here) > } > > define dumptype hard-disk-dump { > global > comment "Back up to hard disk instead of tape - using dump" > holdingdisk no > index yes > priority high > } > > define dumptype hard-disk-tar { > hard-disk-dump > comment "Back up to hard disk instead of tape - using tar" > program "GNUTAR" > } > > ---------------------------------- > /etc/amanda/DailySet1/changer.conf > ---------------------------------- > multieject 0 > gravity 0 > needeject 0 > ejectdelay 0 > > statefile /var/lib/amanda/DailySet1/changer-status > > firstslot 1 > lastslot 14 > > slot 1 file:/var2/amandadumps/tape01 > slot 2 file:/var2/amandadumps/tape02 > slot 3 file:/var2/amandadumps/tape03 > slot 4 file:/var2/amandadumps/tape04 > slot 5 file:/var2/amandadumps/tape05 > slot 6 file:/var2/amandadumps/tape06 > slot 7 file:/var2/amandadumps/tape07 > slot 8 file:/var2/amandadumps/tape08 > slot 9 file:/var2/amandadumps/tape09 > slot 10 file:/var2/amandadumps/tape10 > slot 11 file:/var2/amandadumps/tape11 > slot 12 file:/var2/amandadumps/tape12 > slot 13 file:/var2/amandadumps/tape13 > slot 14 file:/var2/amandadumps/tape14 > > ------------------------------ > /etc/amanda/DailySet1/disklist > ------------------------------ > # hostname diskdev dumptype > # Replace "dumptype" with either "hard-disk-dump" or "hard-disk-tar" # > localhost /home hard-disk-dump # localhost /etc hard-disk-tar > > ------------------------------ > > 4. Create the "tapes" on the tape server hard drive with the > associated > data directories: > > $mkdir /var2/amandadumps > $mkdir /var2/amandadumps/tape01 > $mkdir /var2/amandadumps/tape01/data > ... > $mkdir /var2/amandadumps/tape14 > $mkdir /var2/amandadumps/tape14/data > > $chown -R amanda.disk /var2/amandadumps > $chmod -R 770 /var2/amandadumps > > 5. Use amlabel to label the tapes: > > $amlabel DailySet1 DailySet101 slot 1 > ... > $amlabel DailySet1 DailySet114 slot 14 > > > > Recovery with amrecover > ----------------------- > As root on the tape server: > > $mkdir /tmp/restore > $cd /tmp/restore > $amrecover DailySet1 > $setdate (Optional) > $sethost foo > $setdisk bar > $cd dir/which/contains/filetorecover > $add filetorecover > $list (note which "tape" the file is on) > $settape host:file:/var2/amandadumps/tapeXX > > In this step, replace the appropriate host and tape values. For > example to > extract a file from host "rustler" that's on tape 12: > > $settape rustler:file:/var2/amandadumps/tape12 > > $extract > $quit > > The only gotcha with amrecover is that if the files you want to > extract are > on different tapes, you need to add only the files that are on > tape01, > settape for tape01, extract, add files for tape02, settape tape02, > extract, > etc. As a work-around, you can give amrecover a "fake" name > (/tmp/whatever) > with the "-d" option and then symlink that to the appropriate "tape" > as it > asks for it. >
