-
- amanda
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-
-Name
-
-amanda \14 Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver
-
-Synopsis
-
-amadmin config command [options]
-amcheck [options] config
-amcheckdb config
-amcleanup config
-amcrypt
-amdd [options]
-amdump config
-amaespipe
-amflush [-f ] config
-amgetconf [config] parameter
-amlabel config label [ slot slot ]
-ammt [options]
-amoverview config [options]
-amplot [options] amdump-files
-amrecover [config] [options]
-amreport [config] [options]
-amrestore [options] tapedevice [ hostname [diskname]]
-amfetchdump [options] config [ hostname [ diskname [ date [level]]]]
-amrmtape [options] config label
-amstatus config [options]
-amtape config command [options]
-amtapetype [options]
-amtoc [options] logfile
-amverify config
-amverifyrun config
-
-DESCRIPTION
-
-Amanda is the "Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver". This manual
-page gives an overview of the Amanda commands and configuration files for quick
-reference.
-Here are all the Amanda commands. Each one has its own manual page. See them
-for all the gory details.
-
-
- amdump
- Take care of automatic Amanda backups. This is normally executed by cron
- on a computer called the tape server host and requests backups of file
- systems located on backup clients. Amdump backs up all disks in the
- disklist file (discussed below) to tape or, if there is a problem, to a
- special holding disk. After all backups are done, amdump sends mail
- reporting failures and successes.
-
- amflush
- Flush backups from the holding disk to tape. Amflush is used after amdump
- has reported it could not write backups to tape for some reason. When
- this happens, backups stay in the holding disk. Run amflush after the
- tape problem is corrected to write backups from the holding disk to tape.
-
- amcleanup
- Clean up after an interrupted amdump. This command is only needed if
- amdump was unable to complete for some reason, usually because the tape
- server host crashed while amdump was running.
-
- amrecover
- Provides an interactive interface to browse the Amanda index files
- (backup image catalogues) and select which tapes to recover files from.
- It can also run amrestore and a restore program (e.g. tar) to actually
- recover the files.
-
- amrestore
- Read an Amanda tape, searching for requested backups. Amrestore is
- suitable for everything from interactive restores of single files to a
- full restore of all partitions on a failed disk.
-
- amfetchdump
- Performs Amanda tape restoration, similar to amrestore. Additional
- capabilities include "hands-off" searching of multiple tapes, automatic
- retrieval of specific dump files based on dump logs, and assembly of
- tape-spanning split dump files.
-
- amlabel
- Write an Amanda format label onto a tape. All Amanda tapes must be
- labeled with amlabel. Amdump and amflush will not write to an unlabeled
- tape (see TAPE MANAGEMENT below).
-
- amcheck
- Verify the correct tape is mounted and all file systems on all backup
- client systems are ready to be backed up. Often run by cron before amdump
- to generate a mail warning that backups might fail unless corrective
- action is taken.
-
- amadmin
- Take care of administrative tasks like finding out which tapes are needed
- to restore a filesystem, forcing hosts to do full backups of selected
- disks and looking at schedule balance information.
-
- amtape
- Take care of tape changer control operations like loading particular
- tapes, ejecting tapes and scanning the tape storage slots.
-
- amverify
- Check Amanda backup tapes for errors.
-
- amrmtape
- Delete a tape from the Amanda databases.
-
- amstatus
- Report the status of a running or completed amdump.
-
- amoverview
- Display a chart of hosts and file systems backed up every run.
-
- amplot
- Generate utilization plots of Amanda runs for performance tuning.
-
- amreport
- Generate an Amanda summary E-mail report.
-
- amtoc
- Generate table of content files for Amanda tapes.
-
- amcheckdb
- Verify every tape Amanda knows about is consistent in the database.
-
- amgetconf
- Look up parameters in the Amanda configuration file.
-
- amtapetype
- Generate a tapetype definition.
-
- amaespipe
- Wrapper program from aespipe (data encryption utility)
-
- amcrypt
- Reference encryption program for Amanda symmetric data encryption
-
-
-CONFIGURATION
-
-There are three user-editable files that control the behavior of Amanda.
-The first is amanda.conf, the main configuration file. It contains parameters
-to customize Amanda for the site. Refer to the amanda.conf(5), manpage for
-details on Amanda configuration parameters.
-Second is the disklist file, which lists hosts and disk partitions to back up.
-Third is the tapelist file, which lists tapes that are currently active. These
-files are described in more detail in the following sections.
-All files are stored in individual configuration directories under /usr/local/
-etc/amanda/. A site will often have more than one configuration. For example,
-it might have a normal configuration for everyday backups and an archive
-configuration for infrequent full archival backups. The configuration files
-would be stored under directories /usr/local/etc/amanda/normal/ and /usr/local/
-etc/amanda/archive/, respectively. Part of the job of an Amanda administrator
-is to create, populate and maintain these directories.
-All log and database files generated by Amanda go in corresponding directories
-somewhere. The exact location is controlled by entries in amanda.conf. A
-typical location would be under /var/adm/amanda. For the above example, the
-files might go in /var/adm/amanda/normal/ and /var/adm/amanda/archive/.
-As log files are no longer needed (no longer contain relevant information),
-Amanda cycles them out in various ways, depending on the type of file.
-Detailed information about amdump runs are stored in files named amdump.NN
-where NN is a sequence number, with 1 being the most recent file. Amdump
-rotates these files each run, keeping roughly the last tapecycle (see below)
-worth of them.
-The file used by amreport to generate the mail summary is named log.YYYYMMDD.NN
-where YYYYMMDD is the datestamp of the start of the amdump run and NN is a
-sequence number started at 0. At the end of each amdump run, log files for runs
-whose tapes have been reused are renamed into a subdirectory of the main log
-directory (see the logdir parameter below) named oldlog. It is up to the Amanda
-administrator to remove them from this directory when desired.
-Index (backup image catalogue) files older than the full dump matching the
-oldest backup image for a given client and disk are removed by amdump at the
-end of each run.
-
-DISKLIST FILE
-
-The disklist file determines which disks will be backed up by Amanda. The file
-usually contains one line per disk:
-
- hostname diskname [diskdevice] dumptype [spindle [interface] ]
-
-All pairs [ hostname diskname ] must be unique.
-Lines starting with # are ignored, as are blank lines. The fields have the
-following meanings:
-
-
- hostname
- The name of the host to be backed up. If diskdevice refers to a PC share,
- this is the host Amanda will run the Samba smbclient program on to back
- up the share.
-
- diskname
- The name of the disk (a label). In most case, you set your diskname to
- the diskdevice and you don't set the diskdevice. If you want multiple
- entries with the same diskdevice, you must set a different diskname for
- each entry. It's the diskname that you use on the commandline for any
- Amanda command. Look at the example/disklist file for example.
-
- diskdevice
- Default: same as diskname. The name of the disk device to be backed up.
- It may be a full device name, a device name without the /dev/ prefix,
- e.g. sd0a, or a mount point such as /usr.
- It may also refer to a PC share by starting the name with two (forward)
- slashes, e.g. //some-pc/home. In this case, the program option in the
- associated dumptype must be entered as GNUTAR. It is the combination of
- the double slash disk name and program GNUTAR in the dumptype that
- triggers the use of Samba.
-
- dumptype
- Refers to a dumptype defined in the amanda.conf file. Dumptypes specify
- backup related parameters, such as whether to compress the backups,
- whether to record backup results in /etc/dumpdates, the disk's relative
- priority, etc.
-
- spindle
- Default: -1. A number used to balance backup load on a host. Amanda will
- not run multiple backups at the same time on the same spindle, unless the
- spindle number is -1, which means there is no spindle restriction.
-
- interface
- Default: local. The name of a network interface definition in the
- amanda.conf file, used to balance network load.
-
-Instead of naming a dumptype, it is possible to define one in-line, enclosing
-dumptype options within curly braces, one per line, just like a dumptype
-definition in amanda.conf. Since pre-existing dumptypes are valid option names,
-this syntax may be used to customize dumptypes for particular disks.
-A line break must follow the left curly bracket.
-For instance, if a dumptype named normal is used for most disks, but use of the
-holding disk needs to be disabled for the file system that holds it, this would
-work instead of defining a new dumptype:
-
- hostname diskname [ diskdevice ] {
- normal
- holdingdisk never
- } [ spindle [ interface ] ]
-
-
-TAPE MANAGEMENT
-
-The tapelist file contains the list of tapes in active use. This file is
-maintained entirely by Amanda and should not be created or edited during normal
-operation. It contains lines of the form:
-
- YYYYMMDD label flags
-
-Where YYYYMMDD is the date the tape was written, label is a label for the tape
-as written by amlabel and flags tell Amanda whether the tape may be reused, etc
-(see the reuse options of amadmin).
-Amdump and amflush will refuse to write to an unlabeled tape, or to a labeled
-tape that is considered active. There must be more tapes in active rotation
-(see the tapecycle option) than there are runs in the backup cycle (see the
-dumpcycle option) to prevent overwriting a backup image that would be needed to
-do a full recovery.
-
-OUTPUT DRIVERS
-
-The normal value for the tapedev parameter, or for what a tape changer returns,
-is a full path name to a non-rewinding 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-
-traditional tape-simulations 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
-
- tapedev /dev/rmt/0mn
-
- is really a short hand for
-
- tapedev 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 debugging 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 replacements 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 present. When present, the driver uses two files in the data
- subdirectory for each tape file. One contains the actual data. The other
- contains record length information.
- The driver uses a file named status in the file device directory to hold
- driver status information, 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-writer 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 whatever 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.
-
-
-AUTHORIZATION
-
-Amanda processes on the tape server host run as the dumpuser user listed in
-amanda.conf. When they connect to a backup client, they do so with an Amanda-
-specific protocol. They do not, for instance, use rsh or ssh directly.
-On the client side, the amandad daemon validates the connection using one of
-several methods, depending on how it was compiled and on options it is passed:
-
-
- .rhosts
- Even though Amanda does not use rsh, it can use .rhosts-style
- authentication and a .rhosts file.
-
- .amandahosts
- This is essentially the same as .rhosts authentication except a different
- file, with almost the same format, is used. This is the default mechanism
- built into Amanda.
- The format of the .amandahosts file is:
- hostname [ username [ service ]*]
- If username is ommitted, it defaults to the user running amandad, i.e.
- the user listed in the inetd or xinetd configuration file.
- The service is a list of the service the client is authorized to execute:
- amdump, noop, selfcheck, sendsize, sendbackup, amindexd, amidxtaped.
- amdump is a shortcut for "noop selfcheck sendsize sendbackup"
-
- Kerberos
- Amanda may use the Kerberos authentication system. Further information is
- in the docs/KERBEROS file that comes with an Amanda distribution.
- For Samba access, Amanda needs a file on the Samba server (which may or
- may not also be the tape server) named /etc/amandapass with share names,
- (clear text) passwords and (optional) domain names, in that order, one
- per line, whitespace separated. By default, the user used to connect to
- the PC is the same for all PC's and is compiled into Amanda. It may be
- changed on a host by host basis by listing it first in the password field
- followed by a percent sign and then the password. For instance:
-
- //some-pc/home normalpw
- //another-pc/disk otheruser%otherpw
-
- With clear text passwords, this file should obviously be tightly
- protected. It only needs to be readable by the Amanda-user on the Samba
- server.
- You can find further information in the docs/SAMBA file that comes with
- an Amanda distribution.
-
-
-HOST & DISK EXPRESSION
-
-All host and disk arguments to programs are special expressions. The command
-applies to all disks that match your arguments. This section describes the
-matcher.
-The matcher matches by word, each word is a glob expression, words are
-separated by the separator '.' for host and '/' for disk. You can anchor the
-expression at left with a '^'. You can anchor the expression at right with a
-'$'. The matcher is case insensitive for host but is case sensitive for disk. A
-match succeeds if all words in your expression match contiguous words in the
-host or disk.
-
-. word separator for a host
-/ word separator for a disk
-^ anchor at left
-$ anchor at right
-? match exactly one character except the separator
-* match zero or more characters except the separator
-** match zero or more characters including the separator
-
-Some examples:
-
-EXPRESSION WILL MATCH WILL NOT MATCH
-hosta hosta hostb
- hoSTA.dOMAIna.ORG
- foo.hosta.org
-host host hosta
-host? hosta host
- hostb
-ho*na hoina ho.aina.org
-ho**na hoina
- ho.aina.org
-^hosta hosta foo.hosta.org
-sda* /dev/sda1
- /dev/sda12
-/opt opt (disk) opt (host)
-.opt. opt (host) opt (disk)
-/ / any other disk
-/usr /usr
- /usr/opt
-/usr$ /usr /usr/opt
-
-
-DATESTAMP EXPRESSION
-
-A datestamp expression is a range expression where we only match the prefix.
-Leading ^ is removed. Trailing $ forces an exact match.
- _________________________________________________________________________
-|20001212-14|match_all_dates_beginning_with_20001212,_20001213_or_20001214|
-|20001212-4_|same_as_previous_____________________________________________|
-|20001212-24|match_all_dates_between_20001212_and_20001224________________|
-|2000121____|match_all_dates_that_start_with_2000121_(20001210-20001219)__|
-|2__________|match_all_dates_that_start_with_2_(20000101-29991231)________|
-|2000-10____|match_all_dates_between_20000101-20101231____________________|
-|200010$____|match_only_200010____________________________________________|
-
-
-DUMP SPECIFICATIONS
-
-A dump specification selects one or more dumps. It has the form [host][:disk]
-[@datestamp], where each component is a pattern as described above. If a
-component is missing, it is treated as a wildcard. The characters ':', '@', and
-'\' may be escaped within any component by preceding them with a '\'.
-Some examples:
-
-DUMPSPEC DESCRIPTION
-client17 all dumps of client17
-@20080615 All dumps on with datestamps matching 20080615
-webserver:/var/www All dumps of /var/www on host webserver
-webserver:/var/www@200806150317 The dump of webserver with datestamp
- 200806150317
-:/var/www All dumps of /var/www on any host
-
-
-CONFIGURATION OVERRIDE
-
-Most command allow to overwrite any configuration parameter on the command line
-with the -o option.
--o NAME=value
-eg. -o runtapes=2
-eg. -o DUMPTYPE:no-compress:compress="server fast"
-eg. -o TAPETYPE:HP-DAT:length=2000m
-eg. -o INTERFACE:local:use="2000 kbps"
-
-AUTHOR
-
-James da Silva, <jds@amanda.org> : Original text
-Stefan G. Weichinger, <sgw@amanda.org>, maintainer of the Amanda-documentation:
-XML-conversion, major update
-
-SEE ALSO
-
-amadmin(8), amanda.conf(5), amanda-client.conf(5), amcheck(8), amcheckdb(8),
-amcleanup(8), amdd(8), amdump(8), amfetchdump(8) amflush(8), amgetconf(8),
-amlabel(8), ammt(8), amoverview(8), amplot(8), amrecover(8), amreport(8),
-amrestore(8), amrmtape(8), amstatus(8), amtape(8), amtapetype(8), amtoc(8),
-amverify(8), amverifyrun(8)
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