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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____________________________________________|


CONFIGURATION OVERWRITE

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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