On Sat, May 29, 2004 at 02:07:22PM -0400, Jon LaBadie wrote:
> I see gcc 2.96 is already installed as is a libreadline (don't
> hold me to it, but I think 4.3).  Stupidly I forgot to check the
> tar version.  Any thoughts on the compiler and readline versions?

I compiled Amanda with whatever was already on each host.  On the
subset of boxes that I just checked, including the server, that's
2.95.{2,4}.  (That's on a mixture of x86/Linux, x86/FreeBSD and
Sparc/Solaris -- varying O/S versions).  I haven't seen any
problems as a result.

> Might installing newer compiler and libs upset the vendor's app?
> I must avoid that at all costs.

You could always build Amanda on some other box, with whatever
versions of stuff you like.  If you build it statically, it
shouldn't have any library dependencies at all on the machines it
runs on.  To be safe, make sure to use a kernel of the right
vintage, so that configure can make the right decisions.

> BTW I'm aware of LT's rant about dump not being safe.

Well, he'd know...  But then, he was talking about 2.4 and 2.6
kernels, IIR.  If 7.3 has a 2.2 kernel, you might be ok.

> After compiling the server version of amanda, is it feasible/easy,
> to also compile just the client version on the server and build
> an rpm to install on the other 4 workstations?

I haven't tried this, but I don't see why not.  From what I've
read here, the problem with RPMed Amanda is that the RPM builder
has to make a lot of configuration choices you might not like.
If you build the RPMs yourself, that's obviously not a problem.

> So they are talking about periodically copying a day's backup
> to a tape device, avoiding the need to do a separate archival
> backup.  Silly persons :))  Considering I would be doing normal
> amanda type scheduling and using "virtual tapes" on the big disk,
> any ideas on an archival scheme that would fit amanda's and the
> client's view of the world?

Our main Amanda configuration backs up to file: pseudo-tapes, and
runs 5 days a week.  Another configuration with "record no" does
all level 0's to tape on Friday nights; the tapecycle contains
about two months' worth of tapes.  A third configuration runs on
the first Friday of every second month.  It's just like the
second, but the tape-label regexp is different, and the tapes are
never reused, i.e. the tapecycle is huge.

The idea is that the second configuration is offsite backup, for
disaster recovery, and the third is a permanent historical
archive.  Only one of these configurations runs on any given
night.  I could have accomplished both of these goals with one
fewer configurations and judicious use of "no-reuse" once every
two months, but that would have been more susceptible to operator
error.

--

|  | /\
|-_|/  >   Eric Siegerman, Toronto, Ont.        erics AT telepres DOT com
|  |  /
It must be said that they would have sounded better if the singer
wouldn't throw his fellow band members to the ground and toss the
drum kit around during songs.
        - Patrick Lenneau