Setup:  all RedHat 8 shop, Amanda 2.4.4p1 locally compiled, HP DAT-4
changer on "server", some files which need to be recovered to "client". 
ambackup runs fine on "server": amverify as well as manual 'tar -tzvf'
shows that the backups are fine.  amrecover on server successfully runs
and restores files to the server.

I start amrecover on client in the usual way;  "add" and "extract". 
amrecover tells me I need tape 1.  ssh to server, use amtape to manually
load tape needed.  Tell amrecover to continue with extraction. 
amrecover gives following answer:

 Continue [?/Y/n/s/t]? y
 EOF, check amidxtaped.debug file on server.
 amrecover: short block 0 bytes

Checking amidxtaped.debug file on server shows it believes
amdump/amrecover to be running because /var/opt/amanda/daily/log
exists.  Well, of course it does, and it contains the single line

 INFO amidxtaped amidxtaped

Quitting amrecover causes the creation of an amindexd.debug file in
/tmp/amanda which contains a list of the contents of the desired backup
file on the correct tape.  So what is going on here?  

On a related topic, and one which I've searched in vain on the
FAQ-O-Matic and every place else for the answer:  what exactly do I put
in amanda.conf to have amrecover automatically change to the correct
tape?
-- 
Stephen Walton <stephen.walton AT csun DOT edu>
Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, Cal State Northridge