Re: Amanda Large dumps

On Thu, Sep 30, 2004 at 02:56:32AM -0700, pratik pujar wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I am using Overland Library with SONY SDX drive in it.
> Tape media is of 100 Gb .
> When I take dump of size 1.5 or 2 Gb that goes into
> degraded mode.
> It shows following warning in log file as well as
> SUCCESS taper
> WARNING driver going into degraded mode because of
> tape error.
> SUCCESS taper root /Users/kaushik 20040930 0 [sec
> 479.391 kb 1110656 kps 2316.8 {wr: writers 34709
> rdwait 7.593 wrwait 454.808 filemark 5.369}]
> 
> I have kept holding disk configuration as follows
> 
> holdingdisk hd1 {
>     comment "main holding disk"
>         directory "/dumps/amanda"
>     use 290 Mb     # how much space can we use on it
>                    # a non-positive value means:
>                    # use all space but that value
...
> 
> Am I having wrong holding disk configuration?

Yes.  You are telling amanda to use a maximum or 290MB
when your dump is larger than that.  Thus amanda can not
use the holding disk.  Amanda spools the dump of each
disklist entry into the holding disk before taping.
Thus each must fit into the holding disk or the spool
can not be used.

I've already deleted it, but I noted you had your
"chunksize" set to 1GB.  With only 290MB of total HD,
how could amanda ever create "chunks" of 1GB?

Perhaps you meant to use all of the HD except 290GB.
In that case the "use" parameter should be entered
as a negative value as in the comments.  I use three
holding disk areas, all of them multiple use, not
just amanda.  I set the "use" parameter to a negative,
(-1GB and -2GB) values so amanda never impacts the
other uses of the same disk space.

An additional item to check is that you have set your
"reserve" parameter.  This is what percentage of the HD
must be reserved for incrementals and can not be used
for level 0 dumps when shifted into degraded mode.
By default it is 100%, i.e. only incrementals.
If your HD is reasonably large, you may want to set
it to some lower value.  Typically this is set to
10 to 30 or even 50%.  It depends on the size of the HD,
how likely, and for how long, you might be in degraded mode.

> do I need to increase holding disk size?

Only if you want it to be used :))

-- 
Jon H. LaBadie                  jon AT jgcomp DOT com
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