I've recently begun to have trouble with the Linux system that is my amanda server...when amdump runs, the load spikes to between 4.00 and 6.00, and the system becomes nearly unresponsive for the duration of the backup. The server is backing up several local partitions, and also two partitions on remote servers. I've tried starting amdump with nice and setting it to a low priority, but when gtar and gzip are started by amanda, the priority setting is somehow lost. The server isn't even trying to back up multiple partitions in parallel, so I'm at a loss as to how this is happening, especially on a fairly fast server (dual Athlon MP 2000).
Any suggestions? If you need to see the amanda logs or anything else that would help, just ask. -Kurt Raschke
