What I did was to write a wrapper script that takes two command line 
options:  The configuration and a number of future tapes to list.  
The script runs the backup and then sends an email message telling 
the recipients what tapes were just used,  any missing tapes 
enountered and the next N tapes to load into the changer.  For 
example:

Tape C83258 was not found in the changer.
Tape(s) used today
        C83176 in is slot 10

Next five tapes needed for backup
        Tape C83258 was not found in the changer.
        Tape C83177 is in slot 11.
        Tape C83178 is in slot 12.
        Tape C83179 is in slot 13.
        Tape C83180 was not found in the changer.
        Tape C83166 was not found in the changer.

or:

Tape(s) used today
        NT0029 in is slot 3

Next five tapes needed for backup
        Tape NT0030 is in slot 4.
        Tape NT0031 is in slot 5.
        Tape NT0032 is in slot 6.
        Tape NT0033 is in slot 7.
        Tape NT0034 is in slot 8.
        Tape NT0035 was not found in the changer.

I found this much easier than explaining to a tech, whose experience 
is often limited to XP and Xbox, how tape cycles work and how to use 
the amanda tools to determine the next tapes.

On Thursday 29 May 2003 07:02 am, Mathias Körber wrote:
> I am about to deploy Amanda for a customer, and there are
> some concerns that the end-users responsible for  inserting the
> correct tapes may not be up to the task.
> 
> In detail:
>       - users will not read the daily email telling them which
>       tape is expected and want to have a scheme as simple as
>       possible
>       - users will not understand that 18 tapes make a 3 week cycle
>       (assuming weekday backups only). Ie, the 'a few extra tapes'
>          may be confusing
>       - Amanda's way to say 'a new tape' will confuse the use if 
they 
> actually
>       read the emails. They will want to be told exactly which tape
>       to insert (or better deduct using dead simple reasoning)
>       - should a tape need to be skipped (for whatever reason) and
>       eg tape 15 follow tape 13, thsi will later confuse the users as
>       the sequence will get jumbled.
> 
> We obviously want to hold to a minimum support questions regarding 
which 
> tape
> is to be used andwhy is the sequence not like ...
> 
> My boss sugegsted a simple scheme of
>       Week 1 Monday
>       Week 1 Tuesday
> thru
>       Week 3 Thursday
>       Week 3 Friday
> 
> I understand that Amanda's way of labelling and rotating tapes in a 
non
> fixed manner is superior, but may be beyond the users' grasp. 
> From what I can see there is no real way to make a scheme like the
> above work (such that Amanda internally uses the same labels as are 
on
> the tapes themselves. I know one could have two labels on the 
stickers,
> but that defeats the purpose as the Amanda reports would not use the 
same
> as the users..)
> 
> Has anyone grappled with similar situations and found any help?
> 
> I was thinking that it would be nice if Amanda had a more flexible
> way of labelling tapes (ie a mapping between internal rotation 
labels
> and human readable ones).
> 
> I am considering:
>       dumpcycle 1 weeks
>       runspercycle 15
>       tapecycle 15 tapes
> to make it match 3 5 day weeks as near as possible.
> 
> Will that get me nearer my goal? I believe that a simple
> tapelabel -> human-label mapping
> should be easy to add, but will it be useful in the view
> that in future one may need to retire some tapes (due to
> wear, loss, archiving etc) and have to add replacement tapes
> that then exactly fit the  proper human-readable scheme?
> 
> Is it in fact possible to replace eg tape 13 when it dies
> with another tape 13 and to re-use that exactly in the
> same sequence? I suspect one will have to at least
> force a new level 0 of everything that isnot due so that
> one does not lose out?
> 
> 
> How can I make Amanda ask for a tape by name even
> if I just started the first cycle( in which case it
> always requests a 'new tape' wven though all tapes are
> already in the tapelist after beinglabelled)?
> Would it help to edit tapelist to put dummy dates against
> each one to make it thing the so far unused tapes
> have in the past been used and are up for re-use in
> the normal cycle, or will that confuse other parts of
> Amanda (eg the balancing, history etc)?
> 
> Any insight is appreciated
> 
> Mathias
> 
> 

-- 
Stephen Carville http://www.heronforge.net/~stephen/gnupgkey.txt
===========================================
You have the right to remain helpless. Should you give up this right, 
anything you do will be used against you in a court of law. You have 
the right to an assailant. If you cannot find one yourself, the court 
will release one for you.