AMANDA USERS LIST:     anybody else want to jump in here with better ideas??   
I’m open to better suggestions …..     I’m probably making a real hash of this, 
and
not necessarily making suggestions in the best order…..
Deb

> On Nov 11, 2015, at 2:55 PM, David Simpson <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> Thanks for the help so far. This has saved me a lot of time.
> 
> I have a fair amount of data I'm looking to copy (potentially ~30TB) - that 
> is data from multiple file-servers to multiple tapes and without LEOM. Am I 
> correct in saying this is the implication(?) - Amanda will get so far through 
> the disklist then realize it can't fit a DLE onto a tape then load the next 
> [correctly labeled] tape?
> 
> 
> I will be loading 8 LTO6  tapes into the tape changer (currently max 
> capacity). I only have this one tape changer at my disposal.
> 
> I'm looking to do two things with the same data:
> 
> 1) perform a one-off archive and remove the tapes for safe storage off-site
> 2) load a new set of tapes and use amanda as a near-line storage solution 
> (quick backup/restore over network)
> 
> Both of these can be achieved with the identical config I think? I just need 
> to specify the exact days for 1) then remove the tapes... before doing so, 
> will i need to use amadmin to say do not re-use these tapes? (incase I 
> retrieve from safe storage to do a restore from)
> 
> Does this sound sensible?
> 
> dumpcycle 1 week
> runspercycle 5 
> tapecycle 8         ?
> 
> cronjob to invoke amdump once sun-thur inclusive at night ... any new DLE 
> configured fri, meaning full backup of new DLE performed sunday
> 
> 
> thanks
> David
> 
> --------------------
> David Simpson - Computing Support Officer
> IBME - Institute of Biomedical Engineering 
> Old Road Campus Research Building
> Oxford, OX3 7DQ
> Tel: 01865 617697 ext: 17697


Let me start again, then,  and re-analyze your initial  requirements here.  :D  

(1)  Have you seen this page,  for starters?
https://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/Amanda_chapter_in_Backup_and_Recovery
It has a section in the middle about “Holding Disk” ,   and another about  
“Backup Scheduling”  that look worthwhile.     Particularly the scheduling 
section.

Even your non-archive backup configuration is going to require a level 0 of ALL 
the data,  to start out.   If that takes 13 tapes and cannot be done at once,   
then
either we have several configurations,   OR   you’ll have to add nodes and DLEs 
in a little at a time,   until a level 0 has been achieved for all of them.

(2)   For an initial ARCHIVE backup:
Did you say you can only run this at night?   Or can you leave it running all 
day and night?

If you can only run it at night,  and you have to stop it during the day,  then 
I think you are going to have to do this in sections.       If you can leave it 
running,
then you can tell amanda  “this is going to take up to 13-14 tapes”.

(2A)RUN FOREVER TILL DONE  configuration:

Here’s a sample archive configuration.   You can then RUN it as often as you 
like.   There is no periodicity built into it;   
that depends upon a crontab file and how often you tell it to run.

dumpcycle 0    # the number of days in the normal ARCHIVE cycle
runspercycle 1   
tapecycle  9000 tapes   # some infinite number; always fresh tape for archives
runtapes 14    

define dumptype   archive {
   strategy noinc
   skip-inc yet
   ….. other params …
}

Create DLEs about 1/4 of the size of a tape,  or smaller.  You’ll appreciate it 
when you need to restore a file.
Have a good sized holding disk , big enough to hold at least two.  hopefully a 
lot more,  of your DLEs (huge is good),   and start:

amdump  MyArchiveConfig

Amanda will chug through all the tapes in your changer,    and then will wait 
until you put some more new tapes in there
(note to self:  no it won’t,  it will fail cuz it can’t find tapes.   How can 
we tell it to WAIT ON THE OPERATOR to change tapes?)



(2B)   YOU CAN ONLY RUN IT AT NIGHT  and must stop during the day:
Specify which DLEs to do each night,  and then start on the next set the next 
night.     If you run the whole
     amdump   MyArchiveConfg
at once,   it will try to touch  ALL the DLEs  at once.     So,   specify which 
DLEs to do each night.

    amdump   MyArchiveConfig      node1,   node2       #if you can do all of 
node1’s  and node2’s  DLEs  in one night
or     
    amdump   MyArchiveConfig     node1,   DLE1, DLE2, DLE3,  node2,  DLE4
Do   some subset of the DLE’s  on these nodes,   if the data breaks up better 
that way.

Till you get it all backed up once.

Can you set   runtapes 8, and let amanda use as many tapes each night as it 
needs,  till you learn how
many can be done in one night,  time-wise?  Try to allow more than 1 tape each 
night,  if there is time.
Or   runtapes 1    if you already know that the timing is such that you need it 
to stop after 1 tape because the next day is already started.
Maybe   runtapes 2   can be fit into one day — that’s at least an improvement!


Were you planning regular backups afterwards,  with incrementals?    I’ll do 
that in another email,   if I haven’t lost you already.
I may have!     Holler if I haven’t been very clear about something.
Deb Baddorf
Fermilab



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