This page provides more information for Amanda operators. It is intended to be a reference manual for Amanda. Many changes and additions to this page; Amanda index database; erasing a tape; system reboot; data recovery; building Amanda client ...

Back-up schedule

Back-up are run 5 nights a week, on Tuesday to Saturday, and start at 0:45. This schedule allows to load a tape during the previous working day.

Back-up reminders

The command:

sudo -u amanda amrotate -r normal

(where normal is the name of Amanda configuration) is used to check that the correct tape cartridge is loaded in the tape drive and to send a reminder to Amanda operators.

Reminders are sent on Monday to Friday, starting at 11:00, to inform the operators about the tape to load. Email received will looks like:

Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 11:01:56 +0700 (ICT)
From: Amanda user <amanda@cs.ait.ac.th>
To: adul@cs.ait.ac.th, dipak@cs.ait.ac.th, on@cs.ait.ac.th
Subject: Amanda check tape: MOUNT CSIM-set-1-03

Please mount the tape CSIM-set-1-03.

The line Mount the tape CSIM-set-1-03 shows the name of the tape that should be inserted. Note that on the tape itself, the label will say 1-03 or 103.

If the option -r is used, email will be repeated every hour, then every half hour until the correct tape is loaded into the tape drive. No reminder email is sent if the correct tape is already found in the drive.

If the tape drive is busy, the email will only inform of the tape that is expected, and messages will be repeated until the tape can be ckecked.

If the tape could be checked and it is not the expected tape, it will be ejected from the drive.

Back-up of servers

Amanda is planning the full and incremental back-up to share the load along one week. Disks holding system data are backed-up only once a week. Disks holding users data, including email, database, etc. are backed-up every day.

Back-up of PC's

PC's under windows (95, 98, NT, 2000) can be back-up too. Up to 2 shares can be saved daily and up to 3 shares can be saved weekly. The limit on the number of shares may change depending on the load on Amanda. (A share is a windows directory that is shared for others to use.)

Users can decide what they want to back-up on their PC by accessing the configuration page. They are responsible to stick to the rules regarding the name of shares, users and passwords.

In Amanda logs, the Windows shares will be called like:

amanda     //multimedia/temp

Where it represents the share temp on the Windows 98 machine multimedia.

Handling tapes

Inserting tapes

The tape should be piled up in order on the side of the Amanda server. Remove the tape from the drive, put it in a box and place it at the bottom of the pile.

In case the tape is not automatically ejected from the drive, push on the eject button, in red, located on the right of the drive.

Take the tape from the top and insert it in the drive. When inserting the tape in the drive, make sure that the label is on the top. On the top of the cartridge, 3 elements will show the right direction:

• an arrow is engraved that show the end that should go first;
• the shutter to access the tape should be at the right;
• the tape should be hold by the end that has a large semi-circle engraved.

Push the tape gently in the drive, the drive will automatically insert the tape. Make sure you push the cartridge straight, not to the right or to the left, else it will not be taken by the mechanism.

Never open the shutter, it protects the tape from dust.

Drive cleaning

Every time a new tape set is used, the drive must be cleaned. Cleaning should occur before tape 1-00, 2-00 and 3-00. Cleaning tape is recognizable by the different label.

The drive must be cleaned every week to ensure a reliable back-up. Just insert the cleaning cartridge in the drive. After 20 seconds it will be automatically ejected. Record the date on the cleaning cartridge label, and proceed to insert the proper tape for the next back-up.

The orange LED on the drive indicates that cleaning must be performed. In any case, preventive cleaning should be conducted every week.

Reading logs

While Amanda is running

It is possible to check the status of a back-up, while Amanda is still running:

bazooka<on>45: amstatus normal
Using /amanda/CSIM-set-1/amdump from Tue Jun 19 00:45:01 ICT 2001

amanda:/                                 0   11712k finished (1:25:07)
amanda://amy/mydocuments                 0 no estimate
ufo:/usr                                 0  274435k wait for dumping 
ufo:/web                                 0  651190k dumping   538144k ( 82.64%) (8:56:36)

This first section indicates that the disk / from machine amanda was backep-up properly. The file system //amy/mydocuments could not be checked, it will produce an error in Amanda report later on. For the machine ufo, one disk is being dumped while another one is waiting.

SUMMARY          part     real estimated
                          size      size
partition       :   4
estimated       :   3           11885333k
failed          :   1                  0k           (  0.00%)
wait for dumping:   1                  0k           (  0.00%)
dumping to tape :   0                  0k           (  0.00%)
dumping         :   1   538144k   651190k ( 82.64%) (  4.53%)
dumped          :   1 11209280k 11234143k ( 99.78%) ( 94.31%)
wait for writing:   0        0k        0k (  0.00%) (  0.00%)
writing to tape :   0        0k        0k (  0.00%) (  0.00%)
failed to tape  :   0        0k        0k (  0.00%) (  0.00%)
taped           :   1 11209280k 11234143k ( 99.78%) ( 94.31%)

This section summarize what have been dumped and what is left waiting. One disk has been dumped and written to tape, one disk is dumping, and one is waiting. It also summarize the data size.

11 dumpers idle  : not-idle
taper idle
network free kps:   496344
holding space   : 11891273k ( 94.81%)
 dumper0 busy   :  2:22:55  ( 31.48%)
 dumper1 busy   :  1:47:15  ( 23.62%)
 dumper2 busy   :  1:12:06  ( 15.88%)
 dumper3 busy   :  7:01:36  ( 92.86%)
 dumper4 busy   :  0:44:09  (  9.73%)
 dumper5 busy   :  0:27:21  (  6.02%)
   taper busy   :  0:42:51  (  9.44%)
 0 dumpers busy :  0:00:00  (  0.00%)
 1 dumper busy  :  5:39:17  ( 74.73%)  client-constrained:  5:37:31  ( 99.48%)
                                                 not-idle:  0:01:00  (  0.29%)
                                               start-wait:  0:00:46  (  0.23%)
 2 dumpers busy :  0:07:15  (  1.60%)  client-constrained:  0:07:15  (100.00%)
 3 dumpers busy :  0:38:47  (  8.55%)  client-constrained:  0:38:40  ( 99.68%)
                                               start-wait:  0:00:07  (  0.32%)
 4 dumpers busy :  0:24:39  (  5.43%)  client-constrained:  0:24:36  ( 99.80%)
                                               start-wait:  0:00:02  (  0.20%)
 5 dumpers busy :  0:17:19  (  3.82%)  client-constrained:  0:17:16  ( 99.67%)
                                               start-wait:  0:00:03  (  0.33%)
 6 dumpers busy :  0:26:40  (  5.88%)  client-constrained:  0:24:28  ( 91.74%)
                                             no-bandwidth:  0:02:10  (  8.14%)
                                               start-wait:  0:00:01  (  0.12%)
bazooka<on>46: 

This last section indicates the use of parallel dumpers, as well as the usage of the holding disk to store data temporarilly on the back-up server.

In case Amanda is not doing a back-up, the command will give the following error:

bazooka<on>49: amstatus normal   
/amanda/CSIM-set-1/amdump: No such file or directory at /usr/local/sbin/amstatus line 103.
bazooka<on>50:  

Report at the end of Amanda dump

Amanda logs look like the following example:

Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 15:19:03 +0700 (ICT)
From: Amanda user <amanda@cs.ait.ac.th>
To: adul@cs.ait.ac.th, dipak@cs.ait.ac.th, on@cs.ait.ac.th
Subject: CSIM AMANDA MAIL REPORT FOR June 5, 2001

These dumps were to tape CSIM-set-1-02.
The next tape Amanda expects to use is: CSIM-set-1-03.

FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY:
  amanda     //dolphin/mssql7 lev 0 STRANGE

STATISTICS:
                          Total       Full      Daily
                        --------   --------   --------
Estimate Time (hrs:min)    0:27
Run Time (hrs:min)         1:40
Dump Time (hrs:min)        1:09       0:59       0:11
Output Size (meg)        1510.2     1381.3      128.9
Original Size (meg)      4150.7     3923.7      227.0
Avg Compressed Size (%)    36.4       35.2       56.8   (level:#disks ...)
Filesystems Dumped           11          3          8   (1:7 2:1)
Avg Dump Rate (k/s)       372.1      401.9      207.6

Tape Time (hrs:min)        0:05       0:05       0:01
Tape Size (meg)          1510.6     1381.4      129.2
Tape Used (%)               3.3        3.0        0.3   (level:#disks ...)
Filesystems Taped            11          3          8   (1:7 2:1)
Avg Tp Write Rate (k/s)  4767.5     5030.3     3058.5

FAILED AND STRANGE DUMP DETAILS:

/-- amanda     //dolphin/mssql7 lev 0 STRANGE
sendbackup: start [amanda://dolphin/mssql7 level 0]
sendbackup: info BACKUP=/usr/local/bin/smbclient
sendbackup: info RECOVER_CMD=/usr/local/bin/smbclient -f... -
sendbackup: info end
| added interface ip=192.41.170.11 bcast=192.41.170.255 nmask=255.255.255.0
? ERRDOS - ERRnoaccess opening remote file \Binn\DbDgm1.sql (\Binn\)
? ERRDOS - ERRnoaccess opening remote file \Data\Inventory_Data.MDF (\Data\)
? ERRDOS - ERRnoaccess opening remote file \Data\Inventory_Log.LDF (\Data\)
| tar: dumped 2 files and directories
| Total bytes written: 0
sendbackup: size 0
sendbackup: end
\--------

NOTES:
  planner: Adding new disk amanda://dolphin/mssql7.
  planner: Adding new disk amanda://dolphin/temp.
  planner: Full dump of oak:/home/corse promoted from 2 days ahead.
  taper: tape CSIM-set-1-02 kb 1546848 fm 11 [OK]

DUMP SUMMARY:
                                     DUMPER STATS            TAPER STATS 
HOSTNAME     DISK        L ORIG-KB OUT-KB COMP% MMM:SS  KB/s MMM:SS  KB/s
-------------------------- --------------------------------- ------------
amanda       /           0 SKIPPED --------------------------------------
amanda       //csimnt1/c 0 SKIPPED --------------------------------------
amanda       //csimnt1/d 0 SKIPPED --------------------------------------
amanda       -hin/mssql7 0       0     32   --    0:00 110.6   0:02  35.9
amanda       -lphin/temp 0    3011   2336  77.6   0:03 865.7   0:011767.8
amanda       -ltimedia/d 1     190    192 101.1   0:13  14.3   0:01 283.3
.
.
.
(brought to you by Amanda version 2.4.2p2)

On a first glance, important elements are:

• the next tape that will be used: The next tape Amanda expects to use is: CSIM-set-1-03.
• indication of possible errors: it will be detailed later.

Tape verify report

After a backup has been written on a tape, the command:

sudo -u amanda amverify normal

(where normal is the name of Amanda configuration) will check that the data saved on the tape can be read properly.

Note: There is no way to check that the data are similar to the files on dick, because files on disk could have change in the mean time, but at least data on the tape are readable.

This command is run automatically after Amanda has finished backuping data every night.

Then Amanda will send the log of the tape verifying:

Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 15:43:45 +0700 (ICT)
From: Amanda user <amanda@cs.ait.ac.th>
To: adul@cs.ait.ac.th, dipak@cs.ait.ac.th, on@cs.ait.ac.th
Subject: CSIM AMANDA VERIFY REPORT FOR CSIM-set-1-02

Tapes:  CSIM-set-1-02
No errors found!

amverify normal
Tue Jun  5 15:34:50 ICT 2001

Using device /dev/nsa0
Volume CSIM-set-1-02, Date 20010605
Checked banyan._mysql.20010605.1
Checked amanda.__multimedia_temp.20010605.1
Checked amanda.__multimedia_mydocuments.20010605.1
Checked amanda.__dolphin_mssql7.20010605.0
Checked mail._var_mail.20010605.1
Checked amanda.__dolphin_temp.20010605.0
Checked oak._home_hawai.20010605.1
Checked amanda.__multimedia_d.20010605.1
Checked oak._home_java.20010605.1
Checked oak._home_fidji.20010605.2
Checked oak._home_corse.20010605.0
End-of-Tape detected.

It could contains indication about file number that is incorrect and have been reset. This is not an error.

Tapes:  CSIM-set-1-05
Errors found: 
CSIM-set-1-05 (amanda.__csimnt1_c.20010619.0):
amrestore: WARNING: not at start of tape, file numbers will be offset
amrestore:   0: restoring amanda.__csimnt1_c.20010619.0

gzip: stdin: decompression OK, trailing garbage ignored
/usr/bin/tar: Skipping to next header
/usr/bin/tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
64+0 records in
64+0 records out
32768 bytes transferred in 0.011484 secs (2853384 bytes/sec)

amverify normal
Tue Jun 19 09:19:42 ICT 2001

Using device /dev/nsa0
Volume CSIM-set-1-05, Date 20010619
Checked mail._var_mail.20010619.1
Checked oak._usr.20010619.0
Checked mail._.20010619.0
Checked mail._var.20010619.0
** Error detected (amanda.__csimnt1_c.20010619.0)
amrestore: WARNING: not at start of tape, file numbers will be offset
amrestore:   0: restoring amanda.__csimnt1_c.20010619.0

gzip: stdin: decompression OK, trailing garbage ignored
/usr/bin/tar: Skipping to next header
/usr/bin/tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
64+0 records in
64+0 records out
32768 bytes transferred in 0.011484 secs (2853384 bytes/sec)
Checked dns._usr.20010619.0
Checked amanda._usr.20010619.0

End-of-Tape detected.

This warning message should not influence on the reliability of the baked-up data.

Database report

The index database holds information about what tape has what backup, for what disk, on what date and on what incremental level. Amanda configuration files may be of some importance too, especially the tapelist file that should indicate what tape Amanda will use in the next backup. It is important that this information could be recovered from a secondary source in case Amanda server get corrupted. In CSIM, this information is saved into two different ways:

1. the database in /amanda and the configuration in /usr/local/etc/amanda are rsync'ed to database:/database/amanda;
2. the result of amadmin export is emailed to Amanda operators; the import command could be used to re-create thedatabase; the contents of the tapelist file is emailed to Amanda operators.

The command:

sudo -u amanda amdatabase normal

(where normal is the name of amanda configuration) is in charge of saving the index database.

Amanda operators receive an email like:

Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 10:41:11 +0700 (ICT)
From: Amanda user <amanda@cs.ait.ac.th>
To: on@cs.ait.ac.th, dipak@cs.ait.ac.th, adul@cs.ait.ac.th
Subject: AMANDA DATABASE INFO

Tapelist after the last write: /usr/local/etc/amanda/tapelist
------
20060427 CSIM-set-1-04 reuse
20060426 CSIM-set-1-03 reuse
20060423 CSIM-set-1-02 reuse
...
------
RSynchronize the amanda:/usr/local/etc/amanda to database:/database/amanda
RSynchronize the amanda:/var/amanda to database:/database/amanda
------
building file list ... done
CSIM-set-1/
CSIM-set-1/amflush.1
CSIM-set-1/amflush.2
CSIM-set-1/amflush.3
...
CSIM-set-1/curinfo/ufo1000/_usr/info

sent 69733 bytes  received 814 bytes  1205.93 bytes/sec
total size is 207378651  speedup is 2939.58
------
Copy of Amanda info database
Save the file and use "amadmin  import" when you need to recreate
the database on Amanda server   
------                   This part has been generated with amadmin export
CURINFO Version 2.4.2p2 CONF CSIM
# Generated by:
#    host: amanda.cs.ait.ac.th
#    date: Fri Mar 24 10:41:11 2006
#    command: /usr/local/sbin/amadmin normal export
# This file can be merged back in with "amadmin import".
# Edit only with care.
host: amanda
disk: /
command: 0
last_level: 0
...

This email will be needed only is Amanda server itself needs to be restored.

Trouble shooting

FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY:
  ufo        /news lev 0 STRANGE


/-- ufo        /news lev 0 STRANGE
sendbackup: start [ufo:/news level 0]
sendbackup: info BACKUP=/usr/local/bin/tar
sendbackup: info RECOVER_CMD=/usr/local/bin/tar -f... -
sendbackup: info end
? gtar: ./comp/security/17979: Warning: Cannot stat: 
        No such file or directory
| Total bytes written: 3894374400 (3.6GB, 150kB/s)
sendbackup: size 3803100
sendbackup: end
\--------

FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY:
  mail /var/mail          lev 0 STRANGE 

FAILED AND STRANGE DUMP DETAILS:
/-- mail       /var/mail lev 0 STRANGE
sendbackup: start [mail:/var/mail level 0]
sendbackup: info BACKUP=/usr/local/bin/tar
sendbackup: info RECOVER_CMD=/usr/local/bin/tar -f... -
sendbackup: info end
? gtar: ./a01600: file changed as we read it
| Total bytes written: 377610240 (360MB, 412kB/s)
sendbackup: size 368760
sendbackup: end
\--------

FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY:
  amanda     //dolphin/mssql7 lev 0 STRANGE

FAILED AND STRANGE DUMP DETAILS:
/-- amanda     //dolphin/mssql7 lev 0 STRANGE
sendbackup: start [amanda://dolphin/mssql7 level 0]
sendbackup: info BACKUP=/usr/local/bin/smbclient
sendbackup: info RECOVER_CMD=/usr/local/bin/smbclient -f
sendbackup: info end
| added interface ip=192.41.170.11 bcast=192.41.170.255 
|                                  nmask=255.255.255.0
? ERRnoaccess opening remote file \Binn\DbDgm1.sql
| tar: dumped 2 files and directories
| Total bytes written: 0
sendbackup: size 0
sendbackup: end
\--------

FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY:
  cs4        /var             RESULTS MISSING

FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY:
  banyan     /mysql lev 0 FAILED [Request to banyan 
                                  timed out.]

FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY:
  amanda     //csimnt1/d lev 0 FAILED [disk //csimnt1/d 
                                       offline on amanda?]

*** A TAPE ERROR OCCURRED: [no tape online].
Some dumps may have been left in the holding disk.
Run amflush to flush them to tape.
The next tape Amanda expects to use is: CSIM-set-1-02.

*** A TAPE ERROR OCCURRED: 
            [cannot overwrite active tape CSIM-set-1-01].
Some dumps may have been left in the holding disk.
Run amflush to flush them to tape.
The next tape Amanda expects to use is: CSIM-set-1-03.

These dumps were to tape CSIM-set-1-04.
*** A TAPE ERROR OCCURRED: 
                [[writing filemark: Input/output error]].
Some dumps may have been left in the holding disk.
Run amflush to flush them to tape.
The next tape Amanda expects to use is: CSIM-set-1-05

FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY:
  mail1000   /var lev 0 STRANGE
  sysl       /var/log lev 0 FAILED [out of tape]
  amanda     //olivier/drivec lev 0 STRANGE
...
STATISTICS:
                          Total       Full      Daily
                        --------   --------   --------
Estimate Time (hrs:min)    0:11
...
Tape Time (hrs:min)        0:03       0:02       0:02
Tape Size (meg)           574.1      308.8      265.3

These dumps were to tape CSIM-set-1-04.
*** A TAPE ERROR OCCURRED: [[writing file: short write]].
Some dumps may have been left in the holding disk.
Run amflush to flush them to tape.
The next tape Amanda expects to use is: CSIM-set-1-05

FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY:
  mail1000   /var lev 0 STRANGE
  sysl       /var/log lev 0 FAILED [out of tape]
  amanda     //olivier/drivec lev 0 STRANGE
...
STATISTICS:
                          Total       Full      Daily
                        --------   --------   --------
Estimate Time (hrs:min)    0:11
...
Tape Time (hrs:min)        0:03       0:02       0:02
Tape Size (meg)           574.1      308.8      265.3

*** THE DUMPS DID NOT FINISH PROPERLY!

These dumps were to tape CSIM-set-1-02.
*** A TAPE ERROR OCCURRED: [[writing file: short write]].
Some dumps may have been left in the holding disk.
Run amflush to flush them to tape.
The next tape Amanda expects to use is: CSIM-set-1-03.

FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY:
  amanda     /var lev 0 STRANGE
  amanda     /var lev 0 FAILED [out of tape]
  mail1000   /var RESULTS MISSING

*** A TAPE ERROR OCCURRED: [No writable valid tape found].
Some dumps may have been left in the holding disk.
Run amflush to flush them to tape.
The next 5 tapes Amanda expects to use are: CSIM-set-3-20...

amanda<on>41: ls /dev/da*
/dev/da0     /dev/da0s1d 
/dev/da1s1c  /dev/da2s1
/dev/da0s1   /dev/da1 
/dev/da1s1d  /dev/da2s1c
/dev/da0s1c  /dev/da1s1 
/dev/da2     /dev/da2s1d

Flush the holding disks

Sometime Amanda could not write all the data on a tape, either because the tape in the drive was not the expected tape, or because the tape ran full before all the data could be saved. In that case, dumps are kepts on the holding disk, in a directory called /holding/20060327 (for a run on March 27th,2006). To push these dumps onto a tape, you use the command amflush:

sudo -u amanda amflush normal

An email is sent to Amanda operators when all the dumps has been written to the tape.

Then you must verify that the tape is properly written and save the database of Amanda index:

sudo -u amanda amverify normal
sudo -u amanda amdatabase normal
sudo -u amanda amrotate normal

The last command is in charge of changing the set of tape when needed and sending an email to warn the operator of the next tape to load in the drive.

Erasing a tape

Sometime Amanda reports a tape to be faulty, it finds the end of the tape before the tape uses 40GB, or the label could not be read. It is time to erase the tape.

In the following example, I use the tape CSIM-set-2-05. When you are just about to use that tape for a new back-up, when email reminder asks for the tape CSIM-set-2-05, erase the tape with the command:

sudo -u amanda mt erase

Then use the newly erased tape in the procedure of replacing a tape describe below.

Replacing a tape

Sometime Amanda reports a tape to be faulty, the label could not be read on the tape, or the data could not be saved on the tape. It is time to replace the tape.

In order to keep the set of tapes consistant, the new tape should have the same label as the old tape. In the following example, I will use the label CSIM-set-2-05 as an example.

1. Connect on Amanda server, first as yourself and use sudo -u amanda, with each command to run the command with Amanda priviledges.
2. Edit the file /usr/local/etc/amanda/tapelist and remove the line containing the label. Usually the line is the last one of the file.
   

   20021115 CSIM-set-2-04 reuse 20021114 CSIM-set-2-03 reuse 20021113 CSIM-set-2-02 reuse 20021112 CSIM-set-2-01 reuse 20021109 CSIM-set-2-00 reuse 20021108 CSIM-set-1-05 no-reuse 20021107 CSIM-set-1-04 no-reuse 20021106 CSIM-set-1-03 no-reuse 20021105 CSIM-set-1-02 no-reuse 20021102 CSIM-set-1-01 no-reuse 20021101 CSIM-set-1-00 no-reuse 20021031 CSIM-set-3-05 no-reuse 20021030 CSIM-set-3-04 no-reuse 20021030 CSIM-set-3-03 no-reuse 20021028 CSIM-set-3-02 no-reuse 20021023 CSIM-set-3-01 no-reuse 20021022 CSIM-set-3-00 no-reuse 20021019 CSIM-set-2-05 reuse

3. Edit the file /usr/local/etc/amanda/tapelist.yesterday in the same way. Usually the line is the one before the last.
4. Prepare a new tape and write the label on it with the command: amlabel normal CSIM-set-2-05.
5. Edit the file /usr/local/etc/amanda/tapelist again, note that the line with the label is back, but it is now at the top of the file, and the number at the begining is 0. Just move that line to the bottom of the file.
   

   20021115 CSIM-set-2-04 reuse 20021114 CSIM-set-2-03 reuse 20021113 CSIM-set-2-02 reuse 20021112 CSIM-set-2-01 reuse 20021109 CSIM-set-2-00 reuse 20021108 CSIM-set-1-05 no-reuse 20021107 CSIM-set-1-04 no-reuse 20021106 CSIM-set-1-03 no-reuse 20021105 CSIM-set-1-02 no-reuse 20021102 CSIM-set-1-01 no-reuse 20021101 CSIM-set-1-00 no-reuse 20021031 CSIM-set-3-05 no-reuse 20021030 CSIM-set-3-04 no-reuse 20021030 CSIM-set-3-03 no-reuse 20021028 CSIM-set-3-02 no-reuse 20021023 CSIM-set-3-01 no-reuse 20021022 CSIM-set-3-00 no-reuse 0 CSIM-set-2-05 reuse

And that's it.

If you replace a tape, it means Amanda has failed somewhere, you may have to run amflush to same temporary back-up from disk to tape.

Recovering data

This paragraph has to be written according to the experience we will gain.

Restoring some files

1. Connect on Amanda server, first as yourself and go to the directory /holding/recover.
2. use the command sudo amrecover normal to run the recovering tool of Amanda (normal is the name of Amanda configuration).
3. Choose the client that need recovery with sethost host.
4. Choose the disk on the client that need recovery with setdisk disk.
5. Choose the date of the backup to use with setdate date in the format YYYY-MM-DD.
6. Browse the index and add the files you want to restore.
7. Extract the files from the tapewith the command extract.
8. You will have to mount some of the cartridges, follow the instructions.
9. When it is done, you will find the files in /holding/recover/some/directory; push the file back on the original host and clean the directory /holding/recover.

Restoring the root partition on amanda server itself

Restoring the /usr partition on amanda server itself

Building Amanda

Here are a few points about the way to build Amanda client on a FreeBSD machine.

Client is build directly from the ports in /usr/ports/misc/amanda-client with the following arguments to make:

AMANDA_SERVER=amanda.cs.ait.ac.th AMANDA_GNUTAR_LISTDIR=/usr/local/var/amanda/gnutar-lists AMANDA_USER=amanda AMANDA_GROUP=amanda

Of course group and user amanda should existon the client machine.

On database and ufo, building Amanda client requires that Amanda uses the Perl script /usr/local/bin/mygtar instead of /usr/local/bin/gtar. This script will stop MySQL or Zope before the backup and restart them afterward.

To build Amanda with the script mygtar, edit /usr/poprts/misc/amanda-server/Makefile and replace

CONFIGURE_ARGS= --libexecdir=${PREFIX}/libexec/amanda \
	...
    --with-gnutar=${LOCALBASE}/bin/gtar

with

CONFIGURE_ARGS= --libexecdir=${PREFIX}/libexec/amanda \
	...
    --with-gnutar=${LOCALBASE}/bin/mygtar

You need to edit the script mygtar to specify what disk is concerned by the procedure and what services should be stopped and restarted. Only services valid are those started in /usr/local/etc/rc.d/. The script will make a diagnostic in /tmp/amanda/myruntar.dateandtime.debug.

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

# The list of services to stop before the backup and start afterward
# Those services are in /usr/local/etc/rc.d
@services=("mysql-server");

# The DLE concerned
$disk="/database";

# How long we keep the logs? (in sec.)
$old=24*3600*3; # 3 days

use Getopt::Long qw(:config pass_through);

my @saveopts = @ARGV;
GetOptions (
        'create' => \$create,
        'directory=s' => \$dir,
        'file=s' => \$file,
	'listed-incremental=s' => \$incremental,
);
@ARGV = @saveopts;

my $postproc = 0;
if ($create  &&  $dir eq $disk &&  $file ne '/dev/null') {
    $incr=0;
    $incremental=~/_(\d).new$/;
    $incr=1 if $1>0;
    &preproc($incr);
    $postproc = 1;
}

unshift(@ARGV, "/usr/local/bin/tar");
system @ARGV;

my $rc = $? >> 8;

if ($postproc) {
    &postproc($incr);
}

exit $rc;

sub postproc {
    my $incr=$_[0];

    print LOG "Tared\nStarting services\n";
    close LOG;
    foreach $service (@services) {
	system "/usr/local/etc/rc.d/$service.sh start >>$logfile 2>&1"
	    if -f "/usr/local/etc/rc.d/$service.sh";
    }
    open LOG, ">>$logfile";
    print LOG "Started\n";
    close LOG;
}

sub preproc {
    my $incr=$_[0];
    
    # find the log file
    @t=localtime;
    $time=sprintf("%04d%02d%02d%02d%02d%02d", $t[5]+1900, $t[4]+1, $t[3], 
		  $t[2], $t[1], $t[0]);
    $logfile="/tmp/amanda/myruntar.$time.debug";
    open LOG, ">$logfile";
    ($l, $p, $u, $g)=getpwnam "amanda";
    $l=$p; # remove a warning
    chown $u, $g, "/tmp/amanda/myruntar.$time.debug";

    # remove the old tmp/amanda/myruntar logs
    opendir DIR, "/tmp/amanda";
    $now=time;
    while ($dir=readdir DIR) {
	next unless $dir=~/^myruntar.*$/;
	@s=stat "/tmp/amanda/$dir";
	unlink "/tmp/amanda/$dir" if $s[10]< $now-$old;
    }
    close DIR;

    print LOG "Stopping services\n";
    close LOG;

    foreach $service (@services) {
	system "/usr/local/etc/rc.d/$service.sh stop >>$logfile 2>&1"
	    if -f "/usr/local/etc/rc.d/$service.sh";
    }
    open LOG, ">>$logfile";
    print LOG "Stopped\nRunning GNU tar... ";
}

Contact us: Olivier Nicole

Last update: Apr 2009