On Thu, Jun 26, 2003 at 08:20:29AM +0000, Lucio.yahoo wrote:
> > You should get an e-mail with error messages and statistics.
> 
> Here is the mail I receive (mailto "root"), but, to be honest, it doesn't 
> help 
> me very much...
> 

Yes, the mail is not very helpful for a newbie.
OTOH i cannot offer any help without error messages.


> FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY:
>   planner: ERROR Request to localhost timed out.

The server couldn't reach the client. (Doesn't matter if client and
server are the same machine. Amanda is always communicating over an
UDP and TCP)

Please start with amcheck debugging and follow these tips from the FAQ.
My personal favourite is 
clear debug files       rm -r /tmp/amanda
stop inetd              fuser -k /usr/sbin/inetd 
and starting it with -d option.         inetd -d
Then run amcheck and watch if inetd gives output.
If you cannot find the problem, please post the file under /tmp/amanda.

See also http://amanda.sourceforge.net/fom-serve/cache/13.html
FAQ: 

Q: Why does `amcheck' report `selfcheck request timed out'?

A: This can occur under several different situations.  First, make
sure this problem is repeatable; if Amanda programs are
NFS-auto-mounted, some clients may fail to mount the Amanda binaries
in time.

   If the error is repeatable, log into the client, and check whether
the directory /tmp/amanda exists, and a file named amandad.debug
exists in there: amandad will create this file whenever it starts.  If
this file does not exist, amandad is not starting properly, or it
lacks permission to create /tmp/amanda/amandad.debug.

   In the latter case, wipe out /tmp/amanda, and amandad should create
it next time it runs.  In the former case, check your inetd
configuration.  Make sure you have added the Amanda services to
/etc/services (or the NIS services map), that /etc/inetd.conf was
properly configured, and that you have signalled inetd to reread this
file (some systems may need rebooting).  Check section 2.2 from the
INSTALL file for details.  Check the inetd man-page for possible
differences between the standard inetd.conf format and the one in your
system.

   Pay special attention to typos in inetd.conf; error messages will
probably appear in /var/adm/messages or /var/log/messages if you have
typed the amandad program name incorrectly.  Make sure the same user
that you have specified at configure-time (--with-user=<USERNAME>) is
listed in inetd.conf.  Check whether this user has permission to run
amandad, as well as any shared libraries amandad depends upon, by
running the specified amandad command by hand, as the Amanda user.  It
should just time-out after 30 seconds waiting for a UDP packet.  If
you type anything, it will abort immediately, because it can't read a
UDP packet from the keyboard.

   As soon as you have properly configured inetd.conf so as to run
amandad, you should no longer get the `selfcheck request timed out'
message.  A nice tool to help make sure inetd is really listening on
the amandad port is lsof, available at
ftp://vic.cc.purdue.edu/pub/tools/unix/lsof.

-- 
 Alles Gute / best wishes  
     Dietmar Goldbeck         E-Mail: dietmar.goldbeck AT acm DOT org
Reporter (to Mahatma Gandhi): Mr Gandhi, what do you think of Western
Civilization?  Gandhi: I think it would be a good idea.