On Wed, 22 Jan 2003 at 3:05pm, hochenaw wrote

> But the backup is to slow, we should have a backup rate of 10.8 GB
> (native)/20.6 (comprimized), but we do not have :-(

GB is not a rate, it's a size.  I assume you mean GB/hour?

> In the file tapelist we have following entry (i dont know why):
> -------------------------------------------------
> define tapetype HP-DLT {
>       comment "HP SureStore DLT"
>       length 80 gbytes           # conservative estimate

Err, no, actually that's a very optimistic estimate.  Very rarely does 
hardware compression get you 2:1 as the manufacturers claim.  And, if 
you're using software compression, you need to *not* use hardware 
compression and thus tell amanda the native capacity.

>       filemark 1 byte            # should work given above
>       speed 30 mbytes            # even more, but this isn't used in
> amanda
> }
> -------------------------------------------------
> length in comprimized (80) or uncommprimized (40) modus?

Again, it depends on whether you use software or hardware compression.

> What does filemark mean?

The amount of space the tape drive uses when it writes an EOF sequence.

> speed in mbytes per minutes or ...? Does it have any consequence if i
> insert to much/less speed?

Nope.

> How can i activate software or hardware compression (cant find an
> entry in amanda.conf, just Client or Servers best in dumptypes-file)?

Hardware compression is controlled either via dip switches on the drive 
itself or software (e.g., 'mt compression 1' on Linux with some drives).  
Software compression is controlled in the dumptype.

> > I have differnt directories to backup, and i want to pack them in
> _one_  big package, so i specify a chunk size of 20GB, but Amanda
> creates for each entry in the disklist one package/file.

Yes, that's how it works.  Each disk list entry has to be a separate file.

> A hardware question: If i have many packages to flush out to tape, are
> they written at once so that the tape comes into the streaming mode or
> does the tape have to be stopped and restartet for each package newly?

Amanda does it's best to keep the tape streaming.

> What happens if i delete some files in the holding disk manually?
> Does it have consequences and the database is corrupted?

Amanda will think that those directories got backed up, but you don't have 
'em any more.

-- 
Joshua Baker-LePain
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Duke University