First my questions...

1 - How do I solve problem with selfcheck time out?

2 - why doesn't amandad seem to launch itself?

3 - Do I need to concern myself with the message about setuid-root from
amcheck?

Now the specifics...

RedHat 7.2 - Amanda 2.4.2p2 (RH)

as user amanda - /usr/sbin/amcheck -m DailySet1

mail output is...

Subject: DailySet1 AMANDA PROBLEM: FIX BEFORE RUN, IF POSSIBLE
 
Amanda Tape Server Host Check
-----------------------------
WARNING: program /usr/sbin/amcheck: not setuid-root
Holding disk /tmp: 950204 KB disk space available, that's plenty
ERROR: cannot overwrite active tape DailySet10
       (expecting a new tape)
NOTE: skipping tape-writable test
NOTE: info dir /var/lib/amanda/DailySet1/curinfo: does not exist
NOTE: it will be created on the next run
NOTE: index dir /var/lib/amanda/DailySet1/index/localhost: does not
exist
Server check took 4.627 seconds
 
Amanda Backup Client Hosts Check
--------------------------------
WARNING: localhost: selfcheck request timed out.  Host down?
Client check: 1 host checked in 30.001 seconds, 1 problem found
 
(brought to you by Amanda 2.4.2p2)
----

I can run amlabel and that works.

# ls -l /usr/sbin/amcheck
-rwsr-sr-x    1 amanda   disk        26772 Jul 13  2001
/usr/sbin/amcheck

so I don't understand why I am getting the message about setuid-root

I have searched the archives of this list and endlessly looked at
amanda.org FAQ & documentation. My DailySet1 amanda.conf (mucho
condensed looks like)

#
# amanda.conf - sample Amanda configuration file.
 
org "DailySet1"         # your organization name for reports
mailto "amanda"         # space separated list of operators at your site
dumpuser "amanda"       # the user to run dumps under
 
inparallel 4            # maximum dumpers that will run in parallel
netusage  600 Kbps      # maximum net bandwidth for Amanda, in KB per
sec
 
dumpcycle 4 weeks       # the number of days in the normal dump cycle
runspercycle 4 weeks    # the number of amdump runs in dumpcycle days
tapecycle 25 tapes      # the number of tapes in rotation
 
bumpsize 20 Mb          # minimum savings (threshold) to bump level 1 ->
2
bumpdays 1              # minimum days at each level
bumpmult 4              # threshold = bumpsize * bumpmult^(level-1)
 
ctimeout 5
dtimeout 1800
etimeout 600            # number of seconds per filesystem for
estimates.

runtapes 1              # number of tapes to be used in a single run of
amdump
#tpchanger "chg-manual" # the tape-changer glue script
tapedev "/dev/nst0"     # the no-rewind tape device to be used
 
tapetype DAT            # what kind of tape it is (see tapetypes below)
labelstr "^DailySet1[0-9][0-9]*$"       # label constraint regex: all
tapes must match
  
holdingdisk hd1 {
    comment "main holding disk"
    directory "/tmp"    # where the holding disk is
    use 500 Mb          # how much space can we use on it
    }
 
infofile "/var/lib/amanda/DailySet1/curinfo"    # database filename
logdir   "/var/lib/amanda/DailySet1"            # log directory
indexdir "/var/lib/amanda/DailySet1/index"      # index directory
# tapetypes
 
define tapetype DAT {
    comment "DAT tape drives"
    length 9675 mbytes          # these numbers are not accurate
    filemark 88 kbytes          # but you get the idea
    speed 762 kbytes
}
  
# dumptypes
#
 
define dumptype global {
    comment "Global definitions"
    # This is quite useful for setting global parameters, so you don't
have
    # to type them everywhere.  All dumptype definitions in this sample
file
    # do include these definitions, either directly or indirectly.
    # There's nothing special about the name `global'; if you create any
    # dumptype that does not contain the word `global' or the name of
any
    # other dumptype that contains it, these definitions won't apply.
    # Note that these definitions may be overridden in other
    # dumptypes, if the redefinitions appear *after* the `global'
    # dumptype name.
    # You may want to use this for globally enabling or disabling
    # indexing, recording, etc.  Some examples:
    # index yes
    # record no
}

define dumptype comp-root-tar {
    root-tar
    comment "Root partitions with compression"
    compress client fast
}
 
define dumptype comp-root {
    global
    comment "Root partitions with compression"
    compress client fast
    priority low
}
 
 
# network interfaces
define interface local {
    comment "a local disk"
    use 1000 kbps
}
 
define interface eth0 {
    comment "10 Mbps ethernet"
    use 400 kbps
}

-----
lastly...

disklist...

localhost md0 comp-root-tar