On Wed, Jan 31, 2007 at 06:02:58PM -0700, Glenn English wrote:
> Stefan G. Weichinger wrote:
> > Jon LaBadie schrieb:
> >>  - assuming the restore is done to the server;
> >>    the tools used to create the dump may not exist on
> >>    the server or be in different locations
> 
> > An amanda-admin has to know if he wants to do these tests, and after
> > that he has to provide ressources (diskspace ...) and software (binaries
> > like tar, dump, gzip ...) on the machine he wants to perform these tests.
> 
> It'd never occurred to me there might be such a thing as a write-only
> backup server before. And I always restore to the server anyway -- it's
> in the same room as the tape drive...

All of the backup servers that I used to run were write-only.

It becomes a major issue with recent changes in RHEL4.  Some of our
Amanda servers were RHEL3.  A new version of dump was integrated into
RHEL4 which broke binary compatability from the old version.  This
split the versions and restore would give really scary errors about
"unable to find start of tape" if you attempted a bad combination.

-- 
Ross Vandegrift
ross AT kallisti DOT us

"The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who
make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians
have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine
man in the bonds of Hell."
        --St. Augustine, De Genesi ad Litteram, Book II, xviii, 37