Hi,

> > Hey - we use snapshots on our Ultra 1 servers with about 142 MHz,
> > running Solaris 8, works like a charm! :-)
>
> Do you use the snapshots for amanda backups?
>
> If so, how similar is your procedure to what J. Briggs describes?

I don't have access to the SysAdmin magazine, so I could not read the 
article. But from what you write about it:

> Mr. Briggs describes three approaches to creating the snapshots when
> needed and eliminating them when finished.  The approaches include:
>
>   - bulk creation of all snapshots before amdump and deletion after
>   - using automount maps to create and mount snapshots as needed
>   - surrounding ufsdump with a wrapper that creates and mounts a
>     snapshot
>     during the dump phase, but not the estimate phase

I chose to create the snapshots by cron, mount them, share them and 
have amanda back them up. Then I leave them mounted and shared the 
whole next day. This way users have access to the last backup and can 
restore files by themselves. This has saved us quite a lot of work.

I also use the automounter to have the snapshots mounted anywhere 
automagically:

local filesystem:       /home, /home1
Snapshot:               /snapshot/home, /snapshot/home1

automount point:        /homes/<host>, /homes1/<host>
snapshot mount point:   /snapshots/homes/<host>, /snapshots/homes1/<host>

By naming the snapshots this way, I can easily prefix a users home 
directory with "/snapshots" and have instantly access to his home the 
day before. So creation of a personal snapshot samba share is really 
easyly done:

[homes]
        comment                 = Home Directories
        read only               = no
        browseable              = no
        inherit permissions     = no

[my_snapshot]
        comment                 = Home Directory from yesterday
        path                    = /snapshots/%H
        read only               = yes


Regards,

Christopher

-- 
======================================================
    Dipl.-Ing. Christopher Odenbach
    HNI Rechnerbetrieb
    odenbach AT uni-paderborn DOT de
    Tel.: +49 5251 60 6215
======================================================