-Amanda, The Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver
+Amanda (The Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver) Backup
+Software
+
Copyright (c) 1991-1998 University of Maryland at College Park
All Rights Reserved.
-See the files COPYRIGHT, COPYRIGHT-REGEX and COPYRIGHT-APACHE for
-distribution conditions and official warranty disclaimer.
-
-PLEASE NOTE: THIS SOFTWARE IS BEING MADE AVAILABLE ``AS-IS''. UMD is making
-this work available so that other people can use it. This software is in
-production use at our home site - the UMCP Department of Computer Science -
-but we make no warranties that it will work for you. Amanda development is
-unfunded - the development team maintains the code in their spare time. As a
-result, there is no support available other than users helping each other on
-the Amanda mailing lists. See below for information on the mailing lists.
+PLEASE NOTE: THIS SOFTWARE IS BEING MADE AVAILABLE "AS-IS". We make
+no warranties that it will work for you. As such there is no support
+available other than users helping each other on the Amanda mailing
+lists or forums. Formal support may be available through vendors.
WHAT IS AMANDA?
---------------
-This is a release of Amanda, the Advanced Maryland Automatic
-Network Disk Archiver. Amanda is a backup system designed to archive many
-computers on a network to a single large-capacity tape drive.
+Amanda is a backup system designed to backup and archive many
+computers on a network to disk, tape changer/drive or cloud storage.
Here are some features of Amanda:
- * written in C, freely distributable.
- * built on top of standard backup software: Unix dump/restore, GNU Tar
- and others.
- * will back up multiple machines in parallel to a holding disk, blasting
- finished dumps one by one to tape as fast as we can write files to
- tape. For example, a ~2 Gb 8mm tape on a ~240K/s interface to a host
- with a large holding disk can be filled by Amanda in under 4 hours.
- * does simple tape management: will not overwrite the wrong tape.
- * supports tape changers via a generic interface. Easily customizable to
- any type of tape carousel, robot, or stacker that can be controlled via
- the unix command line.
- * supports Kerberos 4 security, including encrypted dumps. The Kerberos
- support is available as a separate add-on package, see the file
- KERBEROS.HOW-TO-GET on the sourceforge site, and the file docs/KERBEROS
- in this package, for more details.
- * Supports secure communication between server and client using OpenSSH.
- * Can encrypt dumps on Amanda client or on Amanda client using GPG or any
- encryption program.
- * for a restore, tells you what tapes you need, and finds the proper
+ * Written in C and Perl.
+
+ * Freely distributable source and executable. University of Maryland
+ (BSD style) license and GPL.
+
+ * Built on top of standard backup software: Unix dump/restore, GNU
+ Tar and other archival tools. It is extensible to support new
+ archival applications.
+
+ * Open file and tape formats. If necessary, you can use standard
+ tools like mt and GNU Tar to recover data.
+
+ * Backs up 32 and 64 bit Windows machines.
+
+ * Will back up multiple machines in parallel to a holding disk. Once
+ a dump is complete, Amanda will copy finished dumps one by one to
+ virtual tape on a disk or tape as fast as it can. For example:
+
+ * A 30 GB backup to virtual tape on disk may take less than 75
+ minutes.
+
+ * A 41GB backup to AIT5 (25MB/s transfer) may take 40 minutes of
+ tape time.
+
+ * Maintains a catalog of files being backed up and their location on
+ the media.
+
+ * Does tape management: e.g. Amanda will not overwrite the wrong
+ tape.
+
+ * For a restore, tells you what tapes you need, and finds the proper
backup image on the tape for you.
- * recovers gracefully from errors, including down or hung machines.
- * reports results, including all errors in detail, in email.
- * will dynamically adjust backup schedule to keep within constraints: no
- more juggling by hand when adding disks and computers to network.
- * includes a pre-run checker program, that conducts sanity checks on both
- the tape server host and all the client hosts (in parallel), and will
- send an e-mail report of any problems that could cause the backups to
- fail.
- * can compress dumps before sending or after sending over the net, with
- either compress or gzip or custom program.
- * can optionally synchronize with external backups, for those large
- timesharing computers where you want to do full dumps when the system
- is down in single-user mode (since BSD dump is not reliable on active
- filesystems): Amanda will still do your daily dumps.
- * lots of other options; Amanda is very configurable.
+ * Supports tape changers via a generic interface. Easily
+ customizable to any type of tape library, carousel, robot,
+ stacker, or virtual tape that can be controlled via the unix
+ command line.
+
+ * Device API provides a pluggable interface to storage
+ devices. Bundled drivers support tapes and virtual tapes on disk,
+ DVD-RW, RAIT, and Amazon S3. The bundled amvault can then copy to
+ removable media for off-site (D2D2T) or cloud storage (D2D2C).
+
+ * Supports secure communication between server and client using
+ OpenSSH, allowing secure backup of machines in a DMZ or out in the
+ Internet.
+
+ * Can encrypt backup archives on Amanda client or on Amanda server
+ using GPG or any encryption program.
+
+ * Can compress backup archives before sending or after sending over
+ the network, with compress, gzip or a custom program.
+
+ * Supports Kerberos 5 security, including encrypted dumps.
+
+ * Recovers gracefully from errors, including down or hung machines.
+
+ * Reports results in detail, including all errors, via email.
+
+ * Dynamically adjusts the backup schedule to keep within
+ constraints: no more juggling by hand when adding disks and
+ computers to your network.
+
+ * Backup normalization: Amanda schedules full and incremental
+ backups so you don't have to, and so as to spread the load across
+ the backup cycle. Amanda will intelligently promote a backup level
+ in case it is determines that is optimal for resources.
+
+ * Includes a pre-run checker program, that conducts sanity checks on
+ both the tape server host and all the client hosts (in parallel),
+ and will send an e-mail report of any problems that could cause
+ the backups to fail.
+
+ * IPv6 friendly.
+
+ * Runs transparently from cron as needed.
+
+ * Span tapes, i.e. if a single backup is too large for one tape,
+ Amanda will split it and put the pieces on multiple tapes
+ automatically.
+
+ * Application API allows custom backups for applications such as
+ relational databases, or for special file systems.
+
+ * Executes user-provided pre- and post-backup scripts, for,
+ e.g. enforcing database referential integrity.
+
+ * Award-winning! Including: Linux Journal Readers' Choice Award.
+
+ * Lots of other options; Amanda is very configurable.
WHAT ARE THE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR AMANDA?
--------------------------------------------
-Amanda requires a host that is mostly idle during the time backups are
-done, with a large capacity tape drive (e.g. an EXABYTE, DAT or DLT tape).
-This becomes the "tape server host". All the computers you are going to dump
-are the "backup client hosts". The server host can also be a client host.
-
-Amanda works best with one or more large "holding disk" partitions on the
-server host available to it for buffering dumps before writing to tape.
-The holding disk allows Amanda to run backups in parallel to the disk, only
-writing them to tape when the backup is finished. Note that the holding
-disk is not required: without it Amanda will run backups sequentially to
-the tape drive. Running it this way kills the great performance, but still
-allows you to take advantage of Amanda's other features.
-
-As a rule of thumb, for best performance the holding disk should be larger
-than the dump output from your largest disk partitions. For example, if
-you are backing up some full gigabyte disks that compress down to 500 MB,
-then you'll want 500 MB on your holding disk. On the other hand, if those
-gigabyte drives are partitioned into 500 MB filesystems, they'll probably
-compress down to 250 MB and you'll only need that much on your holding
-disk. Amanda will perform better with larger holding disks.
-
-Actually, Amanda will still work if you have full dumps that are larger
-than the holding disk: Amanda will send those dumps directly to tape one at
-a time. If you have many such dumps you will be limited by the dump speed
-of those machines.
+Amanda requires a host that has access to disks (local, NAS or SAN) or
+a large capacity tape drive or library. All modern tape formats,
+e.g. LTO, EXABYTE, DAT or DLT are supported. This becomes the "backup
+server host". All the computers you are going to backup are the
+"backup client hosts". The server host can also be a client host.
+
+Amanda works best with one or more large "holding disk" partitions on
+the server host available to it for buffering dumps before writing to
+tape. The holding disk allows Amanda to run backups in parallel to
+the disk, only writing them to tape when the backup is finished. Note
+that the holding disk is not required: without it Amanda will run
+backups sequentially to the tape drive. Running it this way may not
+be optimal for performance, but still allows you to take advantage of
+Amanda's other features.
+
+As a rule of thumb, for best performance the holding disk should be
+larger than the dump output from your largest disk partitions. For
+example, if you are backing up some terabyte disks that compress down
+to 500 GB, then you'll want at least 500 GB on your holding disk. On
+the other hand, if those terabyte drives are partitioned into 50 GB
+filesystems, they'll probably compress down to 25 GB and you'll only
+need that much on your holding disk. Amanda will perform better with
+larger holding disks.
+
+Actually, Amanda will still work if you have full dumps that are
+larger than the holding disk: Amanda will send those dumps directly to
+tape one at a time. If you have many such dumps you will be limited
+by the dump speed of those machines.
WHAT SYSTEMS DOES AMANDA RUN ON?
--------------------------------
Amanda should run on any modern Unix system that supports dump or GNU
-tar, has sockets and inetd, and either system V shared memory, or BSD
-mmap implemented.
-
-In particular, Amanda has been compiled, and the client side tested
-on the following systems:
- AIX 3.2 and 4.1
- BSDI BSD/OS 2.1 and 3.1
- DEC OSF/1 3.2 and 4.0
- FreeBSD 2.2.5
- IRIX 5.2 and 6.3
- GNU/Linux on x86, m68k, alpha, sparc, arm and powerpc
+tar, has sockets and inetd (or a replacement such as xinetd), and
+either system V shared memory, or BSD mmap implemented.
+
+In particular, Amanda has been compiled, and the client side tested on
+the following systems:
+
+ AIX 3.2 and 4.1
+ BSDI BSD/OS 2.1 and 3.1
+ DEC OSF/1 3.2 and 4.0
+ FreeBSD 6, 7 and 8
+ GNU/Linux 2.6 on x86, m68k, alpha, sparc, arm and powerpc
+ HP-UX 9.x and 10.x (x >= 01)
+ IRIX 6.5.2 and up
+ NetBSD 1.0
+ Nextstep 3 (*)
+ OpenBSD 2.5 x86, sparc, etc (ports available)
+ Solaris 10
+ Ultrix 4.2
Mac OS X 10
- NetBSD 1.0
- Nextstep 3 (*)
- OpenBSD 2.5 x86, sparc, etc (ports available)
- SunOS 4.1.x (x >= 1) and 5.[567]
- Ultrix 4.2
- HP-UX 9.x and 10.x (x >= 01)
-
-The Amanda server side is known to run on all of the other
+ Windows: XP Pro (Server pack 2), 2003 server, Vista, 2008
+ server R2, Windows 7 (*)
+
+(*) The Amanda server side is known to run on all of the other
machines except on those marked with an asterisk.
+Backup operations can be CPU and Memory intensive (e.g. for
+compression and encryption operations). It is recommended that you
+have a server class CPU in the backup server.
+
WHERE DO I GET AMANDA?
----------------------
-Amanda is a sourceforge.net project (http://sourceforge.net/projects/amanda).
-Amanda source tree is available at the sourceforge website.
+Amanda, including its source tree, is on SourceForge:
+
+ http://sourceforge.net/projects/amanda
-Most Linux distributions include amanda rpms pre-built for various
-architectures.
+Or see
+ http://www.amanda.org/download.php
+
+Most Linux distributions include amanda rpms or debian packages
+pre-built for various architectures. Pre-built binaries are also
+available at:
+
+ http://www.zmanda.com/download-amanda.php
HOW DO I GET AMANDA UP AND RUNNING?
-----------------------------------
-Read the file docs/INSTALL. There are a variety of steps, from compiling
-Amanda to installing it on the tape server host and the client machines.
- docs/INSTALL contains general installation instructions.
- docs/NEWS details new features in each release.
+Read the file docs/INSTALL. There are a variety of steps, from
+compiling Amanda to installing it on the backup server host and the
+client machines.
-You can read Amanda documentation at the official project-site
+ docs/INSTALL contains general installation instructions.
+ docs/NEWS details new features in each release.
-http://www.amanda.org
+You can read Amanda documentation at:
-and at the AMANDA-Wiki at
+ http://www.amanda.org
-http://wiki.zmanda.com and
+and at the Amanda wiki:
+
+ http://wiki.zmanda.com
WHO DO I TALK TO IF I HAVE A PROBLEM?
-------------------------------------
==> To join a mailing list, DO NOT, EVER, send mail to that list. Send
mail to <listname>-request@amanda.org, or amanda-lists@amanda.org,
with the following line in the body of the message:
- subscribe <listname> <your-email-address>
+ subscribe <listname> <your-email-address>
+ You will receive an email acknowledging your subscription. Keep
+ it. Should you ever wish to depart our company, it has unsubscribe
+ and other useful information.
amanda-announce
The amanda-announce mailing list is for important announcements
versions, contributions, and fixes. NOTE: the amanda-users list is
itself on the amanda-announce distribution, so you only need to
subscribe to one of the two lists, not both.
- To subscribe, send a message to amanda-announce-request@amanda.org.
+ To subscribe, send a message to amanda-announce-request@amanda.org.
amanda-users
The amanda-users mailing list is for questions and general discussion
- about the Amanda Network Backup Manager. NOTE: the amanda-users list
- is itself on the amanda-announce distribution, so you only need to
+ about the Amanda Network Backup Manager. NOTE: the amanda-users list
+ is itself on the amanda-announce distribution, so you only need to
subscribe to one of the two lists, not both.
- To subscribe, send a message to amanda-users-request@amanda.org.
+ To subscribe, send a message to amanda-users-request@amanda.org.
amanda-hackers
The amanda-hackers mailing list is for discussion of the
technical details of the Amanda package, including extensions,
ports, bugs, fixes, and alpha testing of new versions.
- To subscribe, send a message to amanda-hackers-request@amanda.org.
+ To subscribe, send a message to amanda-hackers-request@amanda.org.
+
+Amanda forums: http://forums.zmanda.com
-==> Amanda forums: http://forums.zmanda.com
+Amanda Platform Experts: http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/Platform_Experts
-Share and Enjoy,
+Backup, Share and Enjoy,
The Amanda Development Team
projects / debian / amanda / blobdiff