I recently had to reinstall Amanda onto our Tape Backup server after 
a failed hard drive resulted in a nasty crash.  I managed to salvage 
the contents of the /etc/amanda directories but it was in that 
process that I discovered the person who had set this up before me 
(and who is no longer here) never backed up the Tape Backup server in 
the first place.  SNAFU #1, eh?

In any case, I'm receiving this problem (domains & servers have been 
changed to sooth the soul of the other sysadmins in my company):

-bash-2.05b$ /usr/sbin/amcheck LinuxBackup
Amanda Tape Server Host Check
-----------------------------
Holding disk /tapedump/linux: 35329056 KB disk space available, 
that's plenty
ERROR: cannot overwrite active tape Linux_week4_day4
       (expecting tape Linux_week4_day5 or a new tape)
NOTE: skipping tape-writable test
NOTE: info dir /var/lib/amanda/LinuxBackup/curinfo: does not exist
NOTE: it will be created on the next run
NOTE: index dir /var/lib/amanda/LinuxBackup/index: does not exist
Server check took 24.467 seconds

Amanda Backup Client Hosts Check
--------------------------------
WARNING: server1.domain.net: selfcheck request timed out.  Host down?
WARNING: server2.domain.net: selfcheck request timed out.  Host down?
WARNING: server3.domain.net: selfcheck request timed out.  Host down?
WARNING: server4.domain.net: selfcheck request timed out.  Host down?
WARNING: server5.domain.net: selfcheck request timed out.  Host down?
WARNING: server6.domain.net: selfcheck request timed out.  Host down?
WARNING: server7.domain.net: selfcheck request timed out.  Host down?
WARNING: server8.domain.net: selfcheck request timed out.  Host down?
WARNING: server9.domain.net: selfcheck request timed out.  Host down?
WARNING: server10.domain.net: selfcheck request timed out.  Host down?
WARNING: server11.domain.net: selfcheck request timed out.  Host down?
WARNING: server12.domain.net: selfcheck request timed out.  Host down?
WARNING: server13.domain.net: selfcheck request timed out.  Host down?
Client check: 13 hosts checked in 30.019 seconds, 13 problems found

(brought to you by Amanda 2.4.2p2)

It's the 'Host down?' stuff that is puzzling me.  This is a Red Hat 
9.0 box that is not behind a firewall.  I installed amanda from RPMs 
(amanda-2.4.2p2-4, amanda-client-2.4.2p2-4, and amanda-server-2.4.2p2-
4).  The same version (minus amanda-server) is on all the servers 
that I am attempting to contact though they are all Red Hat 7.3 
boxes.  In /tmp/amanda, this is all I am seeing in the debug file:

[root@understudy amanda]# cat amcheck.20030428061349.debug 
amcheck: debug 1 pid 11712 ruid 33 euid 0 start time Mon Apr 28 
06:13:49 2003
amcheck: dgram_bind: socket bound to 0.0.0.0.685
amcheck: pid 11712 finish time Mon Apr 28 06:14:19 2003

The proper entries are in /etc/services and in /etc/xinetd.conf I 
have changed the 'disable=yes' to 'disable=no' on all three.  
Restarted xinetd as well.  I have also 
setup /var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts:

[root@understudy etc]# cat /var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts 
localhost amanda
localhost.localdomain amanda
understudy.domain.net amanda
understudy.domain.net root

I know it has to be something simple but what is driving me nuts.  If 
you need more information, just let me know.  Thanks in advance.

matt