> On Wednesday 09 October 2002 10:04, Toralf Lund wrote: > >I've never been quite able to figure out what value to use for > > tapecycle. > > > >I expect to run backups on first 4 days of week, so I've set > > runspercycle 4 > > > >Tapes are labelled > >Mon-1 > >Tue-1 > >... > >Mon-2 > >... > >... > >Thu-4 > > > >After the fourth "weekly set", the first one is reused, then the > > 2nd and 3rd. Set 4 is special, however - I don't want to reuse > > those tapes, but rather store them in a safe place and replace > > them with new ones. So after sets 1-4 are written, then sets 1-3 > > once more, I want to be able to do > > > >amlabel ... Mon-4 > >amlabel ... Tue-4 > > > >without being told that those tapes are already active. What > > exactly do I set "tapecycle" to in order to allow this? > > You are trying to dictate to amanda, and that tends to be a hassle. > With the inevitable, often human error generated reruns, > (forgetting to change the tapes even after amanda sends you an > email telling you too is a good example:-) that require the next > tape in the tapecycle which in turn throws your carefully crafted > schedule out the window, its easier to just let amanda do her > thing. She is very good at it. Well, no matter what I do, I need *some* way to label new tapes without too many '-f's etc. Also, I know some people are using separate configs for permanent backups, but it seems like this requires a lot of additional work, and also introduces the risk of not having the same directories backed up on "normal" and "archival" runs (which is essential.)
> Tapecycle is however many tapes you actually have in the rotation, > and should be enough that you have at least 2 consequitive fulls of > each entry in the disklist on hand at all times. Here it runs > every night, so the dumpcycle is one week or 7 days. runspercycle > is then 7, and tapecycle is 20. Well, maybe I should just use 10 or something (4 runspercycle + 1 extra tape * 2), but what tapes will be used, then? I think the real question is: How does Amanda decide what tape to use next, and what tapes are considered active, when there are more than "tapecycle" different labels? - Toralf
