.\" Title: amdump
.\" Author: James da Silva <jds@amanda.org>
.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets vsnapshot_8273 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
-.\" Date: 06/01/2010
+.\" Date: 12/14/2010
.\" Manual: System Administration Commands
-.\" Source: Amanda 3.1.0
+.\" Source: Amanda 3.2.1
.\" Language: English
.\"
-.TH "AMDUMP" "8" "06/01/2010" "Amanda 3\&.1\&.0" "System Administration Commands"
+.TH "AMDUMP" "8" "12/14/2010" "Amanda 3\&.2\&.1" "System Administration Commands"
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.\" * set default formatting
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
amdump \- back up all disks in an Amanda configuration
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.HP \w'\fBamdump\fR\ 'u
-\fBamdump\fR \fIconfig\fR [\fIhost\fR\ [\fIdisk\fR...]...] [{\fB\-o\fR\ \fIconfigoption\fR}...]
+\fBamdump\fR [\fB\-\-no\-taper\fR] [\fB\-o\fR\ \fIconfigoption\fR...] \fIconfig\fR [\fIhost\fR\ [\fIdisk\fR...]...]
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.PP
\fBAmdump\fR
-switches to the appropriate Amanda configuration directory, e\&.g\&. /usr/local/etc/amanda/\fIconfig\fR, then attempts to back up every disk specified by the
-\fIamanda\&.conf\fR
-file\&.
+is the main interface to the Amanda backup process\&. It loads the specified configuration and attempts to back up every disk specified by the
+\fBdisklist\fR(5)\&.
\fBAmdump\fR
is normally run by
\fBcron\fR\&.
.PP
-You can specify many host/disk expressions, only disks that match an expression will be dumped\&. All disks are dumped if no expressions are given\&.
+The command optionally takes a set of DLE specifications (see
+\fBamanda-match\fR(7)) to narrow the DLEs that will be dumped\&. All disks are dumped if no expressions are given\&.
.PP
-If the file /usr/local/etc/amanda/\fIconfig\fR/hold exists,
+If a file named
+hold
+exists in the configuration directory,
\fBamdump\fR
will wait until it is removed before starting the backups\&. This allows scheduled backups to be delayed when circumstances warrant, for example, if the tape device is being used for some other purpose\&. While waiting,
\fBamdump\fR
checks for the hold file every minute\&.
.PP
+In some cases it is desirable to dump all Amanda clients to holding disk without writing anything to storage media\&. The
+\fB\-\-no\-taper\fR
+option instructs Amanda to not start the taper, and thus enter degraded mode immediately\&.
+.PP
See the
\fBamanda\fR(8)
man page for more details about Amanda\&.
.PP
\fIhost\fR [\fIdisk\fR]*
.RS 4
-Specify the host and disk on which the command will work\&.
+Specify the host and disk on which the command will work \-\- see the description of DLE specifications in
+\fBamanda-match\fR(7)\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-o \fR\fB\fIconfigoption\fR\fR
\fBamcleanup\fR(8),
\fBamrestore\fR(8),
\fBamflush\fR(8),
-\fBcron\fR(8)
+\fBcron\fR(8),
+\fBamanda-match\fR(7)
.PP
The Amanda Wiki:
: http://wiki.zmanda.com/