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AMANDA.CONF(5) | File formats and conventions | AMANDA.CONF(5) |
NAME¶
amanda.conf - Main configuration file for Amanda, the Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk ArchiverDESCRIPTION¶
amanda.conf(5) is the main configuration file for Amanda. This manpage lists the relevant sections and parameters of this file for quick reference. The file <CONFIG_DIR>/<config>/amanda.conf is loaded.SYNTAX¶
There are a number of configuration parameters that control the behavior of the Amanda programs. All have default values, so you need not specify the parameter in amanda.conf if the default is suitable.COMMENTS¶
Lines starting with # are ignored, as are blank lines. Comments may be placed on a line with a directive by starting the comment with a #. The remainder of the line is ignored.KEYWORDS AND IDENTIFIERS¶
Keywords are case insensitive, i.e. mailto and MailTo are treated the same. Also, the characters ' -' and '_' are interchangeable in all predefined Amanda keywords: device_property and device-property have the same meaning. This manpage uses the dashed versions, but the underscored versions will be accepted for backward compatibility Identifiers are names which are defined in the configuration itself, such as dumptypes or interfaces. Identifiers are are case-insensitive, but sensitive to ' -' vs. '_'. Identifiers should be quoted in the configuration file, although For historical reasons, the quotes are optional. Strings are always quoted with double quotes ("), and any double quotes or backslashes within the string are escaped with a backslash:tapelist "/path/to/tapelist" property "escaped-string" "escaping: \\ (backslash) and \" (double-quote)"To summarize, then:
# QUOTES CASE -/_ logdir "logs" # required sensitive sensitive send-amreport-on strange # prohibited insensitive insensitive tapetype "EXABYTE" # optional insensitive sensitive define dumptype "dt" { # optional insensitive sensitive "dumptype-common" # optional insensitive sensitive strategy noinc # prohibited insensitive insensitive }
VALUE SUFFIXES¶
Integer arguments may have one of the following (case insensitive) suffixes, some of which have a multiplier effect: b byte bytesSome number of bytes.
bps
Some number of bytes per second.
k kb kbyte kbytes kilobyte kilobytes
Some number of kilobytes (bytes*1024).
kps kbps
Some number of kilobytes per second
(bytes*1024).
It is the default multiplier for all size options.
m mb meg mbyte mbytes megabyte megabytes
Some number of megabytes
(bytes*1024*1024).
mps mbps
Some number of megabytes per second
(bytes*1024*1024).
g gb gbyte gbytes gigabyte gigabytes
Some number of gigabytes
(bytes*1024*1024*1024).
t tb tbyte tbytes terabyte terabytes
Some number of terabytes
(bytes*1024*1024*1024*1024).
tape tapes
Some number of tapes.
day days
Some number of days.
week weeks
Some number of weeks (days*7).
Note
The value inf may be used in most places where an integer is expected to
mean an infinite amount.
Boolean arguments may have any of the values 1, y, yes,
t, true or on to indicate a true state, or 0,
n, no, f, false or off to indicate a false
state. If no argument is given, true is assumed.
PARAMETER ORDER¶
In general, the order in which parameters occur in the configuration file does not matter, with the exception of subsection inheritance. For example, if dumptype "normal-encrypt" which inherits from dumptype "normal", then "normal" must appear first in the configuration file.STRINGS¶
Quoted strings in Amanda follow a common, C-like syntax. Printable characters and whitespace are kept as-is, except that the backslash character (\) is used as an escape character, and a double-quote ends the string. The allowed escape sequences areESCAPE SEQUENCE BECOMES \\ \ \" " \n (newline) \t (tab) \r (carriage return) \f (form-feed) \1 - \7 \01 - \77 \001 - \377 (character specified in octal)Illegally quoted strings are handled on a "best-effort" basis, which may lead to unexpected results. Examples:
finserver "/data/finance/XYZ Corp's \"real\" finances" finance-high eth0 -1 property "syspath" "C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM"
SUBSECTIONS AND INHERITANCE¶
Amanda configuration files may include various subsections, each defining a set of configuration directives. Each type of subsection is described below. Note that all types of subsections can inherit from other subsections of the same type by naming the "parent" section in the "child" subsection. For example:define dumptype global { record yes index yes } define dumptype nocomp { global # inherit the parameters in dumptype 'global' compress none }Note that multiple inheritance is also supported by simply naming multiple parent sections in a child. Parents are implicitly expanded in place in a child, and the last occurrence of each parameter takes precedence. For example,
define tapetype par1 { comment "Parent 1" filemark 8k speed 300bps length 200M } define tapetype par2 { comment "Parent 2" filemark 16k speed 400bps } define tapetype child { par1 par2 filemark 32k }In this example, 'child' will have a filemark of 32k, a speed of 400bps, and a length of 200M.
GLOBAL PARAMETERS¶
org stringDefault: "daily". A
descriptive name for the configuration. This string appears in the Subject
line of mail reports. Each Amanda configuration should have a different string
to keep mail reports distinct.
mailer string
Default found by configure. A mail program
that can send mail with ' MAILER -s "subject" user <
message_file'.
mailto string
Default: none. A space separated list of
recipients for mail reports. If not specified, amdump will not send any
mail.
send-amreport-on [ all | strange | error |
never ]
Default: all. Specify which types of
messages will trigger an email from amreport. amreport is used by amdump and
amflush.
all
max-dle-by-volume int
Send an email on any message.
strange
Send an email on strange or error message. A
strange message occurs when the dump succeeded, but returned one or more
errors unknown to Amanda.
error
Send an email only on error messages.
never
Never send an email.
Default: 1000000000. The maximum number
of dle written to a single volume.
dumpcycle int
Default: 10 days. The number of days in
the backup cycle. Each disk will get a full backup at least this often.
Setting this to zero tries to do a full backup each run.
Note
This parameter may also be set in a specific dumptype (see below). This
value sets the default for all dumptypes so must appear in
amanda.conf before any dumptypes are defined.
runspercycle int
Default: same as dumpcycle. The number
of amdump runs in dumpcycle days. A value of 0 means the same value as
dumpcycle. A value of -1 means guess the number of runs from the
tapelist(5) file, which is the number of tapes used in the last
dumpcycle days / runtapes.
tapecycle int
Default: 15 tapes. Specifies the number
of "active" volumes - volumes that Amanda will not overwrite. While
Amanda is always willing to write to a new volume, it refuses to overwrite a
volume unless at least ' tapecycle -1' volumes have been written since.
It is considered good administrative practice to set the tapecycle
parameter slightly lower than the actual number of tapes in use. This allows
the administrator to more easily cope with damaged or misplaced tapes or
schedule adjustments that call for slight adjustments in the rotation order.
Note: Amanda is commonly misconfigured with tapecycle equal to the number
of tapes per dumpcycle. In this misconfiguration, amanda may erase a
full dump before a new one is completed. Recovery is then impossible. The
tapecycle must be at least one tape larger than the number of tapes per
dumpcycle.
The number of tapes per dumpcycle is calculated by multiplying the number of
amdump runs per dump cycle runspercycle (the number of
amdump runs per dump cycle) and runtapes (the number of tapes
used per run). Typically tapecycle is set to two or four times the
tapes per dumpcycle.
usetimestamps bool
Default: Yes. This option allows Amanda
to track multiple runs per calendar day. The only reason one might disable it
is that Amanda versions before 2.5.1 can't read logfiles written when this
option was enabled.
label-new-tapes string
Deprecated, use autolabel option with
options volume-error empty to get equivalent behavior.
Default: not set. When set, this directive will cause Amanda to automatically
write an Amanda tape label to any blank tape she encounters.
autolabel string [any] [other-config]
[non-amanda] [ volume-error] [empty]
Default: not set. When set, this directive
will cause Amanda to automatically write an Amanda tape label to most volume
she encounters. This option is DANGEROUS because when set, Amanda may erase
near-failing tapes or tapes accidentally loaded in the wrong slot.
When using this directive, specify the template for new tape labels. The
template can contains many variables that are substituted by their values:
The template can contain some number of contiguous '%' characters, which will be
replaced with a generated number. Be sure to specify enough '%' characters
that you do not run out of tape labels. Example:
"DailySet1-%%%", "$c-%%%",
"$m-%%%", "$m-$b"
The generared label can be used only if it match the labelstr setting.
The volume will not be used if the generated label doesn't match the
labelstr setting.
Note that many devices cannot distinguish an empty tape from an error condition,
so it may is often necessary to include volume-error as an autolabel
condition.
any
meta-autolabel string
$c : config name $o : org configuration $b : barcode of the volume $s : slot number, can specify a minimun number of digit: $3s to get '001' $m : meta label
equivalent to 'other-config non-amanda
volume-error empty'
other-config
Label volumes with a valid Amanda label that
do not match our labelstr. Danger: this may erase volumes from other
Amanda configurations without warning!
non-amanda
Label volumes which do not start with data
that resembles an Amanda header. Danger: this may erase volumes from other
backup applications without warning!
volume-error
Label volumes where an error occurs while
trying to read the label. Danger: this may erase arbitrary volumes due to
transient errors.
empty
Label volumes where a read returns 0
bytes.
Default: not set. When set and if the changer
support meta-label, this directive will cause Amanda to automatically add a
meta-label to a meta-volume.
A meta-volume is a containers that contains many volumes, eg. a removable
hard-disk for use with chg-disk, each hard disk have many slots (volume). The
meta-label is the label to put on the meta-volume.
When using this directive, specify the template for new meta labels. The
template can contains many variables that are substituted by their values:
The template should contain some number of contiguous '%' characters, which will
be replaced with a generated number. Be sure to specify enough '%' characters
that you do not run out of meta labels. Example:
"DailySet1-%%%", "$o-%%%",
dumpuser string
$c : config name $o : org configuration
Default: "amanda". The login
name Amanda uses to run the backups. The backup client hosts must allow access
from the tape server host as this user via .rhosts or
.amandahosts, depending on how the Amanda software was built.
printer string
Printer to use when doing tape labels. See the
lbl-templ tapetype option.
tapedev string
Default: "null:". This
parameter can either specify a device (explicitly or by referencing a device
definition - see amanda-devices(7)) or a tape changer (explicitly or by
referencing a device definition - see amanda-changers(7)).
device-property string string
These options can set various device
properties. See amanda-devices(7) for more information on device
properties and their syntax. Both strings are always quoted; the first string
contains the name of the property to set, and the second contains its value.
For example, to set a fixed block size of 128k, write:
property [append] string string+
device-property "BLOCK_SIZE" "128k"
These options can set various properties, they
can be used by third party software to store information in the configuration
file. Both strings are quoted; the first string contains the name of the
property to set, and the others contains its values. append keyword
append the values to the list of values for that property.
tpchanger string
Default: not set. The tape changer to use. In
most cases, only one of tpchanger or tapedev is specified,
although for backward compatibility both may be specified if tpchanger
gives the name of an old changer script. See amanda-changers(7) for
more information on configuring changers.
interactivity string
Default: not set. The interactivity module
Amanda should use to interact with the user. See
amanda-interactivity(7) for a list of modules.
taperscan string
Default: traditional. The taperscan module
amanda should use to find a tape to write to. See amanda-taperscan(7)
for a list of modules.
changerdev string
Default: "dev/null". A tape
changer configuration parameter. Usage depends on the particular changer
defined with the tpchanger option.
changerfile string
Default:
"/usr/adm/amanda/log/changer-status". A tape changer
configuration parameter. Usage depends on the particular changer defined with
the tpchanger option.
runtapes int
Default: 1. The maximum number of tapes
used in a single run. If a tape changer is not configured, this option is not
used and should be commented out of the configuration file.
If a tape changer is configured, this may be set larger than one to let Amanda
write to more than one tape.
Note that this is an upper bound on the number of tapes, and Amanda may use
less.
maxdumpsize int
Default:
runtapes*tape-length. Maximum number of
bytes the planner will schedule for a run.
The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.
taperalgo [ first | firstfit | largest |
largestfit | smallest | last ]
Default: first. The algorithm used to
choose which dump image to send to the taper.
first
taper-parallel-write int
First in, first out.
firstfit
The first dump image that will fit on the
current tape.
largest
The largest dump image.
largestfit
The largest dump image that will fit on the
current tape.
smallest
The smallest dump image.
last
Last in, first out.
Default: 1. Amanda can write
simultaneously up to that number of volume at any given time. The changer must
have as many drives.
eject-volume int
Default: no. Set to yes if you
want the volume to be ejected after Amanda wrote data to it. It works only
with some changer and device.
labelstr string
Default: ".*". The tape label
constraint regular expression. All tape labels generated (see
amlabel(8)) and used by this configuration must match the regular
expression. If multiple configurations are run from the same tape server host,
it is helpful to set their labels to different strings (for example,
"DAILY[0-9][0-9]*" vs. "ARCHIVE[0-9][0-9]*") to avoid
overwriting each other's tapes.
tapetype string
Default: no default. The type of tape
drive associated with tapedev or tpchanger. This refers to one
of the defined tapetypes in the config file (see below), which specify
various tape parameters, like the length, filemark size, and
speed of the tape media and device.
ctimeout int
Default: 30 seconds. Maximum amount of
time that amcheck will wait for each client host.
dtimeout int
Default: 1800 seconds. Amount of idle
time per disk on a given client that a dumper running from within
amdump will wait before it fails with a data timeout error.
etimeout int
Default: 300 seconds. Amount of time
per estimate on a given client that the planner step of amdump
will wait to get the dump size estimates (note: Amanda runs up to 3 estimates
for each DLE). For instance, with the default of 300 seconds and four DLE's,
each estimating level 0 and level 1 on client A, planner will wait up
to 40 minutes for that machine. A negative value will be interpreted as a
total amount of time to wait per client instead of per disk.
connect-tries int
Default: 3. How many times the server
will try a connection.
req-tries int
Default: 3. How many times the server
will resend a REQ packet if it doesn't get the ACK packet.
netusage int
Default: 80000 Kbps. The maximum
network bandwidth allocated to Amanda, in Kbytes per second. See also the
interface section.
inparallel int
Default: 10. The maximum number of
backups that Amanda will attempt to run in parallel. Amanda will stay within
the constraints of network bandwidth and holding disk space available, so it
doesn't hurt to set this number a bit high. Some contention can occur with
larger numbers of backups, but this effect is relatively small on most
systems.
displayunit "k|m|g|t"
Default: "k". The unit used
to print many numbers, k=kilo, m=mega, g=giga, t=tera.
dumporder string
Default: "tttTTTTTTT". The
priority order of each dumper:
maxdumps int
s: smallest size S: largest size t: smallest time T: largest time b: smallest bandwidth B: largest bandwidth
Default: 1. The maximum number of
backups from a single host that Amanda will attempt to run in parallel. See
also the inparallel option.
Note that this parameter may also be set in a specific dumptype (see
below). This value sets the default for all dumptypes so must appear in
amanda.conf before any dumptypes are defined.
bumpsize int
Default: 10 Mbytes. The minimum savings
required to trigger an automatic bump from one incremental level to the next,
expressed as size. If Amanda determines that the next higher backup level will
be this much smaller than the current level, it will do the next level. The
value of this parameter is used only if the parameter bumppercent is
set to 0.
The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.
The global setting of this parameter can be overwritten inside of a
dumptype-definition.
See also the options bumppercent, bumpmult and
bumpdays.
bumppercent int
Default: 0. The minimum savings
required to trigger an automatic bump from one incremental level to the next,
expressed as percentage of the current size of the DLE (size of current level
0). If Amanda determines that the next higher backup level will be this much
smaller than the current level, it will do the next level.
If this parameter is set to 0, the value of the parameter bumpsize is
used to trigger bumping.
The global setting of this parameter can be overwritten inside of a
dumptype-definition.
See also the options bumpsize, bumpmult and bumpdays.
bumpmult float
Default: 1.5. The bump size multiplier.
Amanda multiplies bumpsize by this factor for each level. This prevents
active filesystems from bumping too much by making it harder to bump to the
next level. For example, with the default bumpsize and bumpmult
set to 2.0, the bump threshold will be 10 Mbytes for level one, 20 Mbytes for
level two, 40 Mbytes for level three, and so on.
The global setting of this parameter can be overwritten inside of a
dumptype-definition.
bumpdays int
Default: 2 days. To insure redundancy
in the dumps, Amanda keeps filesystems at the same incremental level for at
least bumpdays days, even if the other bump threshold criteria are met.
The global setting of this parameter can be overwritten inside of a
dumptype-definition.
diskfile string
Default: "disklist". The file
name for the disklist file holding client hosts, disks and other client
dumping information.
infofile string
Default:
"/usr/adm/amanda/curinfo". The file or directory name for the
historical information database. If Amanda was configured to use DBM
databases, this is the base file name for them. If it was configured to use
text formated databases (the default), this is the base directory and within
here will be a directory per client, then a directory per disk, then a text
file of data.
logdir string
Default: "/usr/adm/amanda".
The directory for the amdump and log files.
indexdir string
Default
"/usr/adm/amanda/index". The directory where index files
(backup image catalogues) are stored. Index files are only generated for
filesystems whose dumptype has the index option enabled.
tapelist string
Default: "tapelist". The file
name for the active tapelist(5). Amanda maintains this file with
information about the active set of tapes.
device-output-buffer-size int
Default: 1280k. Controls the amount of
memory used by Amanda to hold data as it is read from the network or disk
before it is written to the output device. Higher values may be useful on fast
tape drives and optical media.
The default unit is bytes if it is not specified.
tapebufs int
Default: 20. This option is deprecated;
use the device-output-buffer-size directive instead. tapebufs
works the same way, but the number specified is multiplied by the device
blocksize prior to use.
reserve int
Default: 100. The part of holding-disk
space that should be reserved for incremental backups if no tape is available,
expressed as a percentage of the available holding-disk space (0-100). By
default, when there is no tape to write to, degraded mode (incremental)
backups will be performed to the holding disk. If full backups should also be
allowed in this case, the amount of holding disk space reserved for
incrementals should be lowered.
autoflush no|yes|all
Default: no. Whether an amdump run will
flush the dumps from holding disk to tape. With yes, only dump matching
the command line argument are flushed. With all, all dump are
flushed.
amrecover-do-fsf bool
Deprecated; amrecover always uses fsf, and
does not invoke amrestore.
Default: on. Amrecover will call amrestore with the -f flag for faster
positioning of the tape.
amrecover-check-label bool
Deprecated; amrecover always checks the label,
and does not invoke amrestore.
Default: on. Amrecover will call amrestore with the -l flag to check the
label.
amrecover-changer string
Default: not set. Amrecover will use the
changer if you use 'settape <string>' and that string is the same as the
amrecover-changer setting.
columnspec string
default:
"HostName=0:12:12,Disk=1:11:11,Level=1:1:1,OrigKB=1:-7:0,OutKB=1:-7:0,Compress=1:-6:1,DumpTime=1:-7:7,Dumprate=1:-6:1,TapeTime=1:-6:6,TapeRate=1:-6:1"
Defines the width of columns amreport should use. String is a
comma (',') separated list of triples. Each triple consists of three parts
which are separated by a equal sign ('=') and a colon (':') (see the example).
These four parts specify:
Here is an example:
The above will display the disk information in 18 characters and put one space
before it. The hostname column will be 10 characters wide with no space to the
left. The Original KBytes print 2 decimal digit. The output KBytes column is
seven characters wide with one space before it.
includefile string
1.the name of the column, which may be:
Compress (compression ratio) Disk (client disk name) DumpRate (dump rate in KBytes/sec) DumpTime (total dump time in hours:minutes) HostName (client host name) Level (dump level) OrigKB (original image size in KBytes) OutKB (output image size in KBytes) TapeRate (tape writing rate in KBytes/sec) TapeTime (total tape time in hours:minutes)
2.the amount of space to display before the
column (used to get whitespace between columns).
3.the width of the column itself. If set to a
negative value, the width will be calculated on demand to fit the largest
entry in this column.
4.the precision of the column, number of
digit after the decimal point for number.
columnspec "Disk=1:18,HostName=0:10,OrigKB=::2,OutKB=1:7"
Default: no default. The name of an
Amanda configuration file to include within the current file. Useful for
sharing dumptypes, tapetypes and interface definitions among several
configurations. Relative pathnames are relative to the configuration
directory.
debug-days int
Default: 3. The number of days the
debug files are kept.
debug-auth int
Default: 0. Debug level of the auth
module
debug-event int
Default: 0. Debug level of the event
module
debug-holding int
Default: 0. Debug level of the
holdingdisk module
debug-protocol int
Default: 0. Debug level of the protocol
module
debug-planner int
Default: 0. Debug level of the planner
process
debug-driver int
Default: 0. Debug level of the driver
process
debug-dumper int
Default: 0. Debug level of the dumper
process
debug-chunker int
Default: 0. Debug level of the chunker
process
debug-taper int
Default: 0. Debug level of the taper
process
debug-recovery int
Default: 1. Debug level of all recovery
process
flush-threshold-dumped int
Default: 0. Amanda will not begin
writing data to a new volume until the amount of data on the holding disk is
at least this percentage of the volume size. In other words, Amanda will not
begin until the amount of data on the holding disk is greater than the tape
length times this parameter. This parameter may be larger than 100%, for
example to keep more recent dumps on the holding disk for faster recovery.
Needless to say, your holding disk must be big enough that this criterion could
be satisfied. If the holding disk cannot be used for a particular dump
(because, for example, there is no remaining holding space) then Amanda will
disregard the constraint specified by this setting and start a new volume
anyway. Once writing to a volume has begun, this constraint is not applied
unless and until a new volume is needed.
The value of this parameter may not exceed than that of the
flush-threshold-scheduled parameter.
flush-threshold-scheduled int
Default: 0. Amanda will not begin
writing data to a new volume until the sum of the amount of data on the
holding disk and the estimated amount of data remaining to be dumped during
this run is at least this percentage of the volume size. In other words,
Amanda will not begin until the inequality h + s > t × d is satisfied,
where h is the amount of data on the holding disk, s is the total amount of
data scheduled for this run but not dumped yet, t is the capacity of a volume,
and d is this parameter, expressed as a percentage. This parameter may be
larger than 100%.
Needless to say, your holding disk must be big enough that this criterion could
be satisfied. If the holding disk cannot be used for a particular dump
(because, for example, there is no remaining holding space) then Amanda will
disregard the constraint specified by this setting and start a new volume
anyway. Once writing to a volume has begun, this constraint is not applied
unless and until a new volume is needed.
The value of this parameter may not be less than that of the
flush-threshold-dumped or taperflush parameters.
taperflush int
Default: 0. At the end of a run, Amanda
will start a new tape to flush remaining data if there is more data on the
holding disk at the end of a run than this setting allows; the amount is
specified as a percentage of the capacity of a single volume. In other words,
at the end of a run, Amanda will begin a new tape if the inequality h > t
× f is satisfied, where h is the amount of data remaining on the holding
disk from this or previous runs, t is the capacity of a volume, and f is this
parameter, expressed as a percentage. This parameter may be greater than 100%.
The value of this parameter may not exceed that of the
flush-threshold-scheduled parameter.; autoflush must be set to
'yes' if taperflush is greater than 0.
reserved-udp-port int,int
Default: --with-udpportrange or
512,1023. Reserved udp port that will be used (bsd, bsdudp). Range is
inclusive.
reserved-tcp-port int,int
Default: --with-low-tcpportrange or
512,1023. Reserved tcp port that will be used (bsdtcp). Range is
inclusive.
unreserved-tcp-port int,int
Default: --with-tcpportrange or
1024,65535. Unreserved tcp port that will be used (bsd, bsdudp). Range
is inclusive.
recovery-limit [ string | same-host | server]
Default: none (no limitations). This parameter
limits the hosts that may do recoveries. Hosts are identified by their
authenticated peer name, as described in amanda-auth(7); if this is not
available and the recovery-limit parameter is present, recovery will be
denied. The arguments to the parameter are strings giving host match
expressions (see amanda-match(7)) or the special keywords
same-host or server. The same-host keyword requires an
exact match to the hostname of the DLE being recovered. The server
keyword require the connection come from the fqdn of the server. Specifying no
arguments at all will disable all recoveries from any host.
Note that match expressions can be constructed to be forgiving of e.g.,
fully-qualified vs. unqualified hostnames, but same-host requires an
exact match.
The error messages that appear in amrecover are intentionally vague to avoid
information leakage. Consult the amindexd debug log for more details on the
reasons a recovery was rejected.
Recovery limits can be refined on a per-DLE basis using the dumptype parameter
of the same name. Note that the default value will apply to any dumpfiles for
disks which no longer appear in the disklist; thus leaving the global
parameter at its default value but setting it for all DLEs is not sufficient
to maintain secure backups.
HOLDINGDISK SECTION¶
The amanda.conf file may define one or more holding disks used as buffers to hold backup images before they are written to tape. The syntax is:define holdingdisk name { holdingdisk-option holdingdisk-value ... }The { must appear at the end of a line, and the } on its own line. Name is a logical name for this holding disk. The options and values are: comment string
Default: not set. A comment string describing
this holding disk.
directory string
Default: "/dumps/amanda". The
path to this holding area.
use int
Default: 0 Gb. Amount of space that can
be used in this holding disk area. If the value is zero, all available space
on the file system is used. If the value is negative, Amanda will use all
available space minus that value.
chunksize int
Default: 1 Gb. Holding disk chunk size.
Dumps larger than the specified size will be stored in multiple holding disk
files. The size of each chunk will not exceed the specified value. However,
even though dump images are split in the holding disk, they are concatenated
as they are written to tape, so each dump image still corresponds to a single
continuous tape section.
The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.
If 0 is specified, Amanda will create holding disk chunks as large as
((INT_MAX/1024)-64) Kbytes.
Each holding disk chunk includes a 32 Kbyte header, so the minimum chunk size is
64 Kbytes (but that would be really silly).
Operating systems that are limited to a maximum file size of 2 Gbytes actually
cannot handle files that large. They must be at least one byte less than 2
Gbytes. Since Amanda works with 32 Kbyte blocks, and to handle the final read
at the end of the chunk, the chunk size should be at least 64 Kbytes (2 * 32
Kbytes) smaller than the maximum file size, e.g. 2047 Mbytes.
DUMPTYPE SECTION¶
The amanda.conf(5) file may define multiple sets of backup options and refer to them by name from the disklist(5) file. For instance, one set of options might be defined for file systems that can benefit from high compression, another set that does not compress well, another set for file systems that should always get a full backup and so on. A set of backup options are entered in a dumptype section, which looks like this:define dumptype " name" { dumptype-option dumptype-value ... }The { must appear at the end of a line, and the } on its own line. Name is the name of this set of backup options. It is referenced from the disklist(5) file. Some of the options in a dumptype section are the same as those in the main part of amanda.conf(5). The main option value is used to set the default for all dumptype sections. For instance, setting dumpcycle to 50 in the main part of the config file causes all following dumptype sections to start with that value, but the value may be changed on a section by section basis. Changes to variables in the main part of the config file must be done before (earlier in the file) any dumptypes are defined. The dumptype options and values are: auth string
Default: "bsdtcp". Type of
authorization to perform between tape server and backup client hosts. See
amanda-auth(7) for more detail.
amandad-path string
Default: "$libexec/amandad".
Specify the amandad path of the client, only use with rsh/ssh
authentification.
client-username string
Default: CLIENT_LOGIN. Specify the
username to connect on the client, only use with rsh/ssh
authentification.
client-port [ int | string ]
Default: "amanda". Specifies
the port to connect to on the client. It can be a service name or a numeric
port number.
bumpsize int
Default: 10 Mbytes. The minimum savings
required to trigger an automatic bump from one incremental level to the next,
expressed as size. If Amanda determines that the next higher backup level will
be this much smaller than the current level, it will do the next level. The
value of this parameter is used only if the parameter bumppercent is
set to 0.
The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.
See also the options bumppercent, bumpmult and
bumpdays.
bumppercent int
Default: 0. The minimum savings
required to trigger an automatic bump from one incremental level to the next,
expressed as percentage of the current size of the DLE (size of current level
0). If Amanda determines that the next higher backup level will be this much
smaller than the current level, it will do the next level.
If this parameter is set to 0, the value of the parameter bumpsize is
used to trigger bumping.
See also the options bumpsize, bumpmult and bumpdays.
bumpmult float
Default: 1.5. The bump size multiplier.
Amanda multiplies bumpsize by this factor for each level. This prevents
active filesystems from bumping too much by making it harder to bump to the
next level. For example, with the default bumpsize and bumpmult
set to 2.0, the bump threshold will be 10 Mbytes for level one, 20 Mbytes for
level two, 40 Mbytes for level three, and so on.
bumpdays int
Default: 2 days. To insure redundancy
in the dumps, Amanda keeps filesystems at the same incremental level for at
least bumpdays days, even if the other bump threshold criteria are
met.
comment string
Default: not set. A comment string describing
this set of backup options.
comprate float [, float ]
Default: 0.50, 0.50. The expected full
and incremental compression factor for dumps. It is only used if Amanda does
not have any history information on compression rates for a filesystem, so
should not usually need to be set. However, it may be useful for the first
time a very large filesystem that compresses very little is backed up.
compress [ none | client | server ] [ best |
fast | custom ]
Default: client fast. If Amanda does
compression of the backup images, it can do so either on the backup client
host before it crosses the network or on the tape server host as it goes from
the network into the holding disk or to tape. Which place to do compression
(if at all) depends on how well the dump image usually compresses, the speed
and load on the client or server, network capacity, holding disk capacity,
availability of tape hardware compression, etc.
For either type of compression, Amanda also allows the selection of three styles
of compression. best is the best compression available, often at the
expense of CPU overhead. fast is often not as good a compression as
best, but usually less CPU overhead. Or to specify custom to use
your own compression method. (See dumptype custom-compress in
example/amanda.conf for reference)
So the compress options line may be one of:
compress none
compress client fast
compress client best
compress client custom
Note that some tape devices do compression and this option has nothing to do
with whether that is used. If hardware compression is used (usually via a
particular tape device name or mt option), Amanda (software)
compression should be disabled.
client-custom-compress string
Specify client-custom-compress
"PROG"
PROG must not contain white space and it must accept -d for uncompress.
compress server fast
compress server best
compress server custom
Specify server-custom-compress
"PROG"
PROG must not contain white space and it must accept -d for uncompress.
Default: none. The program to use to perform
compression/decompression on the client; used with "compress client
custom". Must not contain whitespace. Must accept -d to uncompress.
server-custom-compress string
Default: none. The program to use to perform
compression/decompression on the server; used with "compress server
custom". Must not contain whitespace. Must accept -d to uncompress.
dumpcycle int
Default: 10 days. The number of days in
the backup cycle. Each disk using this set of options will get a full backup
at least this of ten. Setting this to zero tries to do a full backup each
run.
encrypt [ none | client | server ]
Default: not set. To encrypt backup images, it
can do so either on the backup client host before it crosses the network or on
the tape server host as it goes from the network into the holding disk or to
tape.
So the encrypt options line may be one of:
encrypt none
encrypt client
Note that current logic assumes compression then encryption during backup(thus
decrypt then uncompress during restore). So specifying client-encryption AND
server-compression is not supported. amcrypt which is a wrapper of
aespipe is provided as a reference symmetric encryption program.
client-encrypt string
Specify client-encrypt "PROG"
PROG must not contain white space.
Specify client-decrypt-option "decryption-parameter" Default:
"-d"
decryption-parameter must not contain white space.
(See dumptype client-encrypt-nocomp in example/amanda.conf for reference)
encrypt server
Specify server-encrypt "PROG"
PROG must not contain white space.
Specify server-decrypt-option "decryption-parameter" Default:
"-d"
decryption-parameter must not contain white space.
(See dumptype server-encrypt-fast in example/amanda.conf for reference)
Default: none. The program to use to perform
encryption/decryption on the client; used with "encrypt client".
Must not contain whitespace.
client-decrypt-option string
Default: -d. The option that can be passed to
client-encrypt to make it decrypt instead. Must not contain whitespace.
server-encrypt string
Default: none. The program to use to perform
encryption/decryption on the server; used with "encrypt server".
Must not contain whitespace.
server-decrypt-option string
Default: -d. The option that can be passed to
server-encrypt to make it decrypt instead. Must not contain whitespace.
estimate [ client | calcsize | server ]+
Default: client. Determine the way
Amanda estimates the size of each DLE before beginning a backup. This is a
list of acceptable estimate methods, and Amanda applies the first method
supported by the application. The methods are:
client
exclude [ list | file ][[optional][append][
string ]+]
Use the same program as the dumping program.
This is the most accurate method to do estimates, but it can take a long
time.
calcsize
Use a faster program to do estimates, but the
result is less accurate.
server
Use only statistics from the previous few runs
to give an estimate. This very quick, but the result is not accurate if your
disk usage changes from day to day. If this method is specified, but the
server does not have enough data to make an estimate, then the option is
internally moved to the end of the list, thereby preferring 'client' or
'calcsize' in this case.
Default: file. Exclude is the opposite
of include and specifies files that will be excluded from the backup.
The format of the exclude expressions depends on the application, and some
applications do not support excluding files at all.
There are two exclude parameters, exclude file and exclude
list. With exclude file, the string is an exclude
expression. With exclude list , the string is a file name
on the client containing GNU-tar exclude expressions. The path to the
specified exclude list file, if present (see description of 'optional' below),
must be readable by the Amanda user.
All exclude expressions are concatenated in one file and passed to the
application as an --exclude-from argument.
For GNU-tar, exclude expressions must always be specified as relative to
the top-level directory of the DLE, and must start with "./". See
the manpages for individual applications for more information on supported
exclude expressions.
With the append keyword, the string is appended to the current
list, without it, the string overwrites the list.
If optional is specified for exclude list, then amcheck
will not complain if the file doesn't exist or is not readable.
For exclude list, if the file name is relative, the disk name
being backed up is prepended. So if this is entered:
holdingdisk [ never | auto | required ]
exclude list ".amanda.excludes"the actual file used would be /var/.amanda.excludes for a backup of /var, /usr/local/.amanda.excludes for a backup of /usr/local, and so on.
Default: auto. Whether a holding disk
should be used for these backups or whether they should go directly to tape.
If the holding disk is a portion of another file system that Amanda is backing
up, that file system should refer to a dumptype with holdingdisk set to
never to avoid backing up the holding disk into itself.
never|no|false|off
ignore boolean
Never use a holdingdisk, the dump will always
go directly to tape. There will be no dump if you have a tape error.
auto|yes|true|on
Use the holding disk, unless there is a
problem with the holding disk, the dump won't fit there or the medium doesn't
require spooling (e.g., VFS device)
required
Always dump to holdingdisk, never directly to
tape. There will be no dump if it doesn't fit on holdingdisk
Default: no. Whether disks associated
with this backup type should be backed up or not. This option is useful when
the disklist file is shared among several configurations, some of which
should not back up all the listed file systems.
include [ list | file ][[optional][append][
string ]+]
Default: file ".". There are
two include lists, include file and include list. With
include file , the string is a glob expression. With include
list , the string is a file name on the client containing glob
expressions.
All include expressions are expanded by Amanda, concatenated in one file and
passed to GNU-tar as a --files-from argument. They must start
with "./" and contain no other "/".
Include expressions must always be specified as relative to the head directory
of the DLE.
Note
For globbing to work at all, even the limited single level, the top level
directory of the DLE must be readable by the Amanda user.
With the append keyword, the string is appended to the current
list, without it, the string overwrites the list.
If optional is specified for include list, then amcheck will not
complain if the file doesn't exist or is not readable.
For include list, If the file name is relative, the disk name being
backed up is prepended.
index boolean
Default: no. Whether an index
(catalogue) of the backup should be generated and saved in indexdir.
These catalogues are used by the amrecover utility.
kencrypt boolean
Default: no. Whether the backup image
should be encrypted by Kerberos as it is sent across the network from the
backup client host to the tape server host.
maxdumps int
Default: 1. The maximum number of
backups from a single host that Amanda will attempt to run in parallel. See
also the main section parameter inparallel.
maxpromoteday int
Default: 10000. The maximum number of
day for a promotion, set it 0 if you don't want promotion, set it to 1 or 2 if
your disks get overpromoted.
priority [ low | medium | high ]
Default: medium. When there is no tape
to write to, Amanda will do incremental backups in priority order to the
holding disk. The priority may be high (2), medium (1), low (0) or a number of
your choice.
program [ "DUMP" | "GNUTAR" |
"APPLICATION" ]
Default: "DUMP". The type of
backup to perform. Valid values are:
"DUMP"
application string
The native operating system backup
program.
"GNUTAR"
To use GNU-tar or to do PC backups using
Samba.
"APPLICATION"
To use an application, see the
application option.
No default. Must be the name of an application
if program is set to APPLICATION. See APPLICATION SECTION
below.
script string
No default. Must be the name of a script. You
can have many script. See SCRIPT SECTION below.
property [append] string string+
These options can set various properties, they
can be used by third party software to store information in the configuration
file. Both strings are quoted; the first string contains the name of the
property to set, and the others contains its values. append keyword
append the values to the list of values for that property.
record boolean
Default: yes. Whether to ask the backup
program to update its database (e.g. /var/lib/dumpdates for DUMP or
/usr/local/var/amanda/gnutar-lists for GNUTAR) of time stamps. This is
normally enabled for daily backups and turned off for periodic archival
runs.
skip-full boolean
Default: no. If true and
planner has scheduled a full backup, these disks will be skipped, and
full backups should be run off-line on these days. It was reported that Amanda
only schedules level 1 incrementals in this configuration; this is probably a
bug.
skip-incr boolean
Default: no. If true and
planner has scheduled an incremental backup, these disks will be
skipped.
ssh-keys string
Default: not set. The key file the ssh auth
will use, it must be the private key. If this parameter is not specified, then
the default ssh key will be used.
starttime int
Default: not set. Backup of these disks will
not start until after this time of day. The value should be hh*100+mm, e.g.
6:30PM (18:30) would be entered as 1830.
strategy [ standard | nofull | noinc | skip |
incronly ]
Default: standard. Strategy to use when
planning what level of backup to run next. Values are:
standard
allow-split bool
The standard Amanda schedule.
nofull
Never do full backups, only level 1
incrementals.
noinc
Never do incremental backups, only full
dumps.
skip
Treat this DLE as if it doesn't exist (useful
to disable DLEs when sharing the disklist file between multiple
configurations). Skipped DLEs will not be checked or dumped, and will not be
matched by disklist expressions.
incronly
Only do incremental dumps. amadmin
force should be used to tell Amanda that a full dump has been performed
off-line, so that it resets to level 1.
Default: true. If true, then dumps with this
dumptype can be split on the storage media. If false, then the dump will be
written in a single file on the media. See "Dump Splitting
Configuration" below.
tape-splitsize int
Deprecated. See "Dump Splitting
Configuration" below.
Default: not set. Split dump file on tape into pieces of a specified size. The
default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.
split-diskbuffer string
Deprecated. See "Dump Splitting Configuration" below. Default: not
set. When dumping a split dump in PORT-WRITE mode (usually meaning "no
holding disk"), buffer the split chunks to a file in the directory
specified by this option.
fallback-splitsize int
Deprecated. See "Dump Splitting
Configuration" below.
Default: 10M. This specifies the part size used when no
split-diskbuffer is specified, or when it is too small or does not
exist, and thus the maximum amount of memory consumed for in-memory splitting.
The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.
recovery-limit [ server | same-host | string ]*
Default: global value. This parameter
overrides the global recovery-limit parameter for DLEs of this
dumptype.
dump-limit [ server | same-host ]*
Default: server. Specify which host can
initiate a backup of the dle. With server, the server can initiate a
backup with the amdump command. With same-host, the client can
initiate a backup with the amdump_client command.
The following dumptype entries are predefined by Amanda:
define dumptype "no-compress" { compress none } define dumptype "compress-fast" { compress client fast } define dumptype "compress-best" { compress client best } define dumptype "srvcompress" { compress server fast } define dumptype "bsd-auth" { auth "bsd" } define dumptype "bsdtcp-auth" { auth "bsdtcp" } define dumptype "no-record" { record no } define dumptype "no-hold" { holdingdisk no } define dumptype "no-full" { skip-full yes }In addition to options in a dumptype section, one or more other dumptype names may be supplied as identifiers, which make this dumptype inherit options from other previously defined dumptypes. For instance, two sections might be the same except for the record option:
define dumptype "normal" { comment "Normal backup, no compression, do indexing" no-compress index yes maxdumps 2 } define dumptype "testing" { comment "Test backup, no compression, do indexing, no recording" "normal" record no }Amanda provides a dumptype named global in the sample amanda.conf file that all dumptypes should reference. This provides an easy place to make changes that will affect every dumptype, although you must be careful that every dumptype explicitly inherits from the global dumptype - Amanda does not do so automatically.
TAPETYPE SECTION¶
The amanda.conf file may define multiple types of tape media and devices. The information is entered in a tapetype section, which looks like this in the config file:define tapetype " name" { tapetype-option tapetype-value ... }The { must appear at the end of a line, and the } on its own line. Name is the name of this type of tape medium/device. It is referenced from the tapetype option in the main part of the config file. The tapetype options and values are: comment string
Default: not set. A comment string describing
this set of tape information.
filemark int
Default: 1 kbytes. How large a file
mark (tape mark) is, measured in kbytes. If the size is only known in some
linear measurement (e.g. inches), convert it to kbytes using the device
density.
length int
Default: 2000 kbytes. How much data
will fit on a tape, expressed in kbytes.
Note that this value is only used by Amanda to schedule which backups will be
run. Once the backups start, Amanda will continue to write to a tape until it
gets an error, regardless of what value is entered for length (but see
amanda-devices(7) for exceptions).
blocksize int
Default: 32 kbytes. How much data will
be written in each tape record, expressed in kbytes. This is similar to the
BLOCK_SIZE device property, but if the blocksize is not a multiple of
1024 bytes, then this parameter cannot be used to specify it, and the property
must be used instead.
readblocksize int
Default: 32 kytes How much data will be
read in each tape record. This can be used to override a device's block size
for reads only. This may be useful, for example, in reading a tape written
with a 256k block size when Amanda is configured to use 128k blocks. This
unusual feature is not supported by all operating systems and tape devices.
The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.
part-size int
Default: none. This is the size (in KB if no
units are specified) of each split part written to the volume. It is reduced
to part-cache-max-size when part caching is required. If this is set to
zero, then no splitting will take place; in this case, some devices can span
dumps from volume to volume, while others will cause the entire dump to fail
if they encounter end-of-medium before the dump is complete. See "Dump
Splitting Configuration" below.
part-cache-type [ none | disk | memory ]
Default: none. When part caching is required,
this parameter specifies the type of caching that will be used. The options
include no caching ( none), in which case a failed part will cause the
entire dump to fail; on-disk caching ( disk), for which
part-cache-dir must be set properly; and in-memory caching (
memory), which on most systems severely restrains the size of the part
that can be written. See "Dump Splitting Configuration" below.
part-cache-dir string
Default: none. The directory in which
part-cache files can be written when caching on disk. See "Dump Splitting
Configuration" below.
part-cache-max-size int
Default: none. The maximum part size to use
when caching is in effect. This is used to limit the part size when disk or
memory space for caching is constrained. This value must be greater than
zero.
speed int
Default: 200 bps. How fast the drive
will accept data, in bytes per second. This parameter is NOT currently used by
Amanda.
lbl-templ string
Default: not set. A PostScript template file
used by amreport to generate labels. Several sample files are provided
with the Amanda sources in the example directory. See the
amreport(8) man page for more information.
In addition to options, another tapetype name may be supplied as an
identifier, which makes this tapetype inherit options from another
tapetype. For instance, the only difference between a DLT4000 tape
drive using Compact-III tapes and one using Compact-IV tapes is the length of
the tape. So they could be entered as:
define tapetype "DLT4000-III" { comment "DLT4000 tape drives with Compact-III tapes" length 12500 mbytes # 10 Gig tapes with some compression filemark 2000 kbytes speed 1536 kps } define tapetype "DLT4000-IV" { "DLT4000-III" comment "DLT4000 tape drives with Compact-IV tapes" length 25000 mbytes # 20 Gig tapes with some compression }
INTERFACE SECTION¶
The amanda.conf file may define multiple types of network interfaces. The information is entered in an interface section, which looks like this:define interface " name" { interface-option interface-value ... }The { must appear at the end of a line, and the } on its own line. name is the name of this type of network interface. It is referenced from the disklist file. Note that these sections define network interface characteristics, not the actual interface that will be used. Nor do they impose limits on the bandwidth that will actually be taken up by Amanda. Amanda computes the estimated bandwidth each file system backup will take based on the estimated size and time, then compares that plus any other running backups with the limit as another of the criteria when deciding whether to start the backup. Once a backup starts, Amanda will use as much of the network as it can leaving throttling up to the operating system and network hardware. The interface options and values are: comment string
Default: not set. A comment string describing
this set of network information.
use int
Default: 80000 Kbps. The speed of the
interface in Kbytes per second.
In addition to options, another interface name may be supplied as an
identifier, which makes this interface inherit options from another
interface. At the moment, this is of little use.
APPLICATION SECTION¶
The amanda.conf file may define multiple types of application. The information is entered in a application section, which looks like this:define application " name" { application-option application-value ... }The { must appear at the end of a line, and the } on its own line. name is the name of this type of application. It is referenced from the dumptype The application options and values are: client-name string
No default, specifies an application name that
is in the amanda-client.conf on the client. The setting from that application
will be merged with the current application. If client-name is set then
it is an error if that application is not defined on the client.
If client-name is not set then the merge is done with the application
that have the name equal to the plugin. eg. if the plugin is 'amgtar', then
the setting from the application 'amgtar' is used if it is defined.
comment string
Default: not set. A comment string describing
this application.
plugin string
No default. Must be set to the name of the
program. This program must be in the $libexecdir/amanda/application
directory on the client.
property [append] [priority] string string+
No default. You can set property for the
application, each application have a different set of property. Both strings
are quoted; the first string contains the name of the property to set, and the
others contains its values. append keyword append the values to the
list of values for that property. priority keyword disallow the setting
of that property on the client.
SCRIPT SECTION¶
The amanda.conf file may define multiple types of script. The information is entered in a script section, which looks like this:define script " name" { script-option script-value ... }The { must appear at the end of a line, and the } on its own line. name is the name of this type of script. It is referenced from the dumptype The script options and values are: client-name string
No default, specifies a script name that is in
the amanda-client.conf on the client. The setting from that script will be
merged with the currect script. If client-name is set then it is an
error if that script is not defined on the client.
If client-name is not set then the merge is done with the script that
have the name equal to the plugin. eg. if the plugin is 'amlog-script', then
the setting from the script 'amlog-script' is used.
comment string
Default: not set. A comment string describing
this script.
plugin string
No default. Must be set to the name of the
program. This program must be in the $libexecdir/amanda/application
directory on the client and/or server.
order int
Default: 5000. Scripts are executed in
that order, it is useful if you have many scripts and they must be executed in
a spefific order.
single-execution boolean
Default: no. The script is executed for
each dle. If yes, the script is executed one time only.
execute-where [ client | server ]
Default: client. Where the script must
be executed, on the client or server.
execute-on execute_on [,execute_on]*
No default. When the script must be executed,
you can specify many of them:
pre-amcheck
If you recover level 0 and 2 of the disk /usr with amrecover, it will execute:
property [append] [priority] string string+
Execute before the amcheck command for all
dle. Can only be run on server.
pre-dle-amcheck
Execute before the amcheck command for the
dle.
pre-host-amcheck
Execute before the amcheck command for all dle
for the client.
post-amcheck
Execute after the amcheck command for all dle.
Can only be run on server.
post-dle-amcheck
Execute after the amcheck command for the
dle.
post-host-amcheck
Execute after the amcheck command for all dle
for the client.
pre-estimate
Execute before the estimate command for all
dle. Can only be run on server.
pre-dle-estimate
Execute before the estimate command for the
dle.
pre-host-estimate
Execute before the estimate command for all
dle for the client.
post-estimate
Execute after the estimate command for all
dle. Can only be run on server.
post-dle-estimate
Execute after the estimate command for the
dle.
post-host-estimate
Execute after the estimate command for all dle
for the client.
pre-backup
Execute before the backup command for all dle.
Can only be run on server.
pre-dle-backup
Execute before the backup command for the
dle.
pre-host-backup
Execute before the backup command for all dle
for the client. It can't be run on client, it must be run on server
post-backup
Execute after the backup command for all dle.
Can only be run on server.
post-dle-backup
Execute after the backup command for the
dle.
post-host-backup
Execute after the backup command for all dle
for the client. It can't be run on client, it must be run on server
pre-recover
Execute before any level is recovered.
post-recover
Execute after all levels are recovered.
pre-level-recover
Execute before each level recovery.
post-level-recover
Execute after each level recovery.
inter-level-recover
Execute between two levels of recovery.
script --pre-recover script --pre-level-recover --level 0 #recovering level 0 script --post-level-recover --level 0 script --inter-level-recover --level 0 --level 2 script --pre-level-recover --level 2 #recovering level 2 script --post-level-recover --level 2 script --post-recover
No default. You can set property for the
script, each script have a different set of property. Both strings are quoted;
the first string contains the name of the property to set, and the others
contains its values. append keyword append the values to the list of
values for that property. priority keyword disallow the setting of that
property on the client.
DEVICE SECTION¶
Backend storage devices are specified in amanda.conf in the form of "device" sections, which look like this:define device name { commend " comment (optional)" tapedev " device-specifier" device-property " prop-name" "prop-value" ... }The { must appear at the end of a line, and the } on its own line. name is the user-specified name of this device. It is referenced from the global tapedev parameter. The device-specifier specifies the device name to use; see amanda-devices(7). As with most sections, the comment parmeter is optional and only for the user's convenience. An arbitrary number of device-property parameters can be specified. Again, see amanda-devices(7) for information on device properties.
CHANGER SECTION¶
Changers are described in amanda.conf in the form of "changer" sections, which look like this:define changer name { comment " comment (optional)" tpchanger " changer-spec" changerdev " device-name" changerfile " state-file" ... }The { must appear at the end of a line, and the } on its own line. name is the user-specified name of this device. The remaining parameters are specific to the changer type selected. See amanda-changers(7) for more information on configuring changers.
INTERACTIVITY SECTION¶
The amanda.conf file may define multiple interactivyt methods, although only one will be used - that specified by the interactivity parameter. The information is entered in a interactivity section, which looks like this:define interactivity name { interactivity-option interactivity-value ... }The { must appear at the end of a line, and the } on its own line. name is the user-specified name of this interactivity. The remaining parameters are specific to the interactivity type selected. The interactivity options and values are: comment string
Default: not set. A comment string describing
this interactivity.
plugin string
No default. Must be set to the name of the
interactivity module, as described in amanda-interactivity(7).
property [append] string string+
No default. You can set arbitrary properties
for the interactivity. Each interactivity module has a different set of
properties. The first string contains the name of the property to set, and the
others contains its values. All strings should be quoted. The append
keyword appends the given values to an existing list of values for that
property.
See amanda-interactivity(7) for more information on configuring
interactivity methods.
TAPERSCAN SECTION¶
The amanda.conf file may define multiple taperscan methods, although only one will be used - that specified by the taperscan parameter. The information is entered in a taperscan section, which looks like this:define taperscan name { taperscan-option taperscan-value ... }The { must appear at the end of a line, and the } on its own line. name is the user-specified name of this taperscan. The remaining parameters are specific to the taperscan type selected. The taperscan options and values are: comment string
Default: not set. A comment string describing
this taperscan.
plugin string
No default. Must be set to the name of the
taperscan module. See <man></man> for a list of defined taperscan
modules.
property [append] string string+
No default. Operates just like properties for
interactivity methods, above.
See amanda-taperscan(7) for more information on configuring taperscan.
DUMP SPLITTING CONFIGURATION¶
Amanda can "split" dumps into parts while writing them to storage media. This allows Amanda to recover gracefully from a failure while writing a part to a volume, by simply selecting a new volume and re-writing the dump from the beginning of the failed part. Parts also allow Amanda to seek directly to the required data, although this functionality is not yet used. In order to support re-writing from the beginning of a failed part, Amanda must have access to the contents of the part after it has been partially written. If the dump is being read from holding disk, then the part contents are availble there. Otherwise, the part must be cached, and this can be done memory or on disk. In either of the latter cases, the cache must have enough space to hold an entire part. Because it is common for a single Amanda configuration to use both holding-disk (FILE-WRITE) and direct (known as PORT-WRITE) dumps, Amanda allows the configuration of different split sizes for the two cases. This allows, for example, for a part size appropriate to large tapes when performing FILE-WRITE dumps, with a part size limited by available disk or memory when performing PORT-WRITE dumps. Selecting a proper split size is a delicate matter. If the parts are too large, substantial storage space may be wasted in failed parts. If too small, large dumps will be split into innumerable tiny dumpfiles, adding to restoration complexity; furthermore, an excess of filemarks will cause slower tape drive operation and reduce the usable space on tape. A good rule of thumb is 1/10 of the size of a volume of storage media. In versions of Amanda through 3.1.*, splitting was controlled by the dumptype parameters tape-splitsize, split-diskbuffer, and fallback-splitsize. These keywords had confusing and non-intuitive interactions, and have since been deprecated. If the deprecated keywords are not present, subsequent versions of Amanda use the dumptype parameter allow-split to control whether a DLE can be split, and the tapetype parameters part-size, part-cache-type, part-cache-dir, and part-cache-max-size. The part-size specifies the "normal" part size, while the part-cache-* parameters describe how to behave when caching is required (on PORT-WRITE). Full details on these parameters are given above.SEE ALSO¶
amanda(8), amanda-client.conf(5), amanda-applications(7), amanda-auth(7), amanda-changers(7), amanda-devices(7), amanda-interactivity(7), amanda-scripts(7), amanda-taperscan(7) The Amanda Wiki: : http://wiki.zmanda.com/AUTHORS¶
James da Silva <jds@amanda.org> Stefan G. Weichinger <sgw@amanda.org>02/21/2012 | Amanda 3.3.1 |