Galen Johnson wrote:

around it) and 4) using tar doesn't allow you to span multiple tapes. Let's focus on 4 as to me that is the biggest issue.

That's not the reason.  Besides you can use dump too.
The reason is that the backup program is not not talking to
the tapedrive.  The dump/tar program runs on the client, and
sends it's output stream to the server.  There is no way that a
client dump/tar or even star can talk to the hardware on the server.
It is amanda on the server that writes the bytestream to tape.

But the good news is that "it is being worked on".
(There are still some issues, it's not yet for next week.)
Have a look on the amanda-hackers list.

Even then, the current production release has a mature and
stable way to break up a large disk in smaller "disk list entries",
so that each fit easily on tape.  (One of my configs backs up
a 30 Gbyte disk to a 4 Gbyte DDS-2 drive.)
See the last example in the examples/disklist file from the
distribution.

--
Paul Bijnens, Xplanation                            Tel  +32 16 397.511
Technologielaan 21 bus 2, B-3001 Leuven, BELGIUM    Fax  +32 16 397.512
http://www.xplanation.com/          email:  Paul.Bijnens AT xplanation DOT com
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