On Fri, 2003-05-02 at 09:17, Jim Power wrote:
> Eric,
> 
> Thanks for the info.  I  already found the Tape Types list and think I 
> have found a tape type match.  I was actually looking for a config file 
> that resembled what will become mine.  (Single tape drive, 30 Gig 
> uncompressed to back up, 10 tapes to cycle through, etc.)

Jim,
The way you want to run your backups (# of runs per cycle, tapes/run
etc) will greatly influence your config.  Everyone's configs are
different, and tend to be highly site-specific.  Rather than plugging in
someone else's config (which may or may not be right for you), it might
be more beneficial in the long run if you seek to understand what each
config parameter controls, so you can choose the best value for your
situation.  The sample config included with the software contains
copious comments and helpful hints to get you started.

The AMANDA chapter from O'Reilly's "UNIX Backup and Recovery" is online
at http://www.backupcentral.com/amanda.html.  This is a great resource
for understanding the config and figuring out what you want to
accomplish.

The most crucial options are dumpcycle (how long it takes to get through
all your tapes) and tapecycle (the total number of tapes to be used). 
AMANDA will ensure that all of your filesystems get a full backup once
per dumpcycle, and tapecycle lets AMANDA know when to cycle back around
to the first tape.  The above documentation will help you compute your
dumpcycle.

For example, I have a 24-slot changer, and I run AMANDA daily, so my
dumpcycle is 24 days.  Since I want to keep as much history as possible
(to the limit of my budget!), I choose to have a second set of 24 tapes,
so I get to keep two complete dumpcycles (48 days' worth).  This makes
my tapecycle 48 tapes.

Cheers,
Eric