<refsynopsisdiv>
<cmdsynopsis>
<command>amdump</command>
+ <arg choice='opt'><option>--no-taper</option></arg>
+ &configoverride.synopsis;
<arg choice='plain'><replaceable>config</replaceable></arg>
<arg choice='opt' rep='repeat'>
<arg choice='plain'><replaceable>host</replaceable></arg>
<arg choice='opt' rep='repeat'><replaceable>disk</replaceable></arg>
</arg>
- &configoverride.synopsis;
</cmdsynopsis>
</refsynopsisdiv>
<refsect1><title>DESCRIPTION</title>
<para><emphasis remap='B'>Amdump</emphasis>
-switches to the appropriate Amanda configuration directory,
-e.g. /usr/local/etc/amanda/<emphasis remap='I'>config</emphasis>,
-then attempts to back up every disk specified by the
-<emphasis remap='I'>amanda.conf</emphasis>
-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
+&disklist;.
<emphasis remap='B'>Amdump</emphasis>
is normally run by
<emphasis remap='B'>cron</emphasis>.</para>
-<para>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.</para>
+<para>The command optionally takes a set of DLE specifications
+ (see <manref
+ name="amanda-match" vol="7"/>) to narrow the DLEs that will be dumped.
+All disks are dumped if no expressions are given.</para>
-<para>If the file /usr/local/etc/amanda/<emphasis remap='I'>config</emphasis>/hold exists,
+<para>If a file named <filename>hold</filename> exists in the configuration directory,
<command>amdump</command>
will wait until it is removed before starting the backups.
This allows scheduled backups to be delayed when circumstances warrant, for example,
<command>amdump</command>
checks for the hold file every minute.</para>
+<para>In some cases it is desirable to dump all Amanda clients to holding disk
+without writing anything to storage media. The <option>--no-taper</option>
+option instructs Amanda to not start the taper, and thus enter degraded mode
+immediately.</para>
+
<para>See the
<manref name="amanda" vol="8"/>
man page for more details about Amanda.</para>
<varlistentry>
<term><replaceable>host</replaceable> [<replaceable>disk</replaceable>]*</term>
<listitem>
-<para>Specify the host and disk on which the command will work.</para>
+<para>Specify the host and disk on which the command will work -- see
+ the description of DLE specifications in <manref name="amanda-match" vol="7"/>. </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<manref name="amrestore" vol="8"/>,
<manref name="amflush" vol="8"/>,
<manref name="cron" vol="8"/>
+<manref name="amanda-match" vol="7"/>
</seealso>
</refentry>