Good questions all...

[root@mssarc etc]# more redhat-release
Red Hat Linux release 7.2 (Enigma)

An upgrade really isn't an option - this is a turn-key OCR system.

We are moving to amanda here since we've been unable to move enough
data to the local tape drive to backup the system, it is currently
using a simple dump script and it fails when the 2nd tape volume is
required. Amanda to a server with a larger drive should resolve the
issue handily.

The file system we are trying to dump /iarc/vol is a local partition,
not NFS and not a directory.

[root@mssarc etc]# df -kl /iarc/vol
Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda12            57230108  37611092  16711856  70% /iarc/vol

[root@mssarc etc]# mount | grep iarc
/dev/sda12 on /iarc/vol type ext2 (rw)

***   Now I'm wondering if we could somehow be invoking a dump that
      does not handle ext2 file structure.

Our (failing) dump script uses /sbin/dump for partition /iarc/vol

>From the debug file - we are defining DUMP="/sbin/dump"

amandad: paths: bindir="/usr/local/bin" sbindir="/usr/local/sbin"
amandad:        libexecdir="/usr/local/libexec" mandir="/usr/local/man"
amandad:        AMANDA_TMPDIR="/tmp/amanda" AMANDA_DBGDIR="/tmp/amanda"
amandad:        CONFIG_DIR="/usr/local/etc/amanda" DEV_PREFIX="/dev/"
amandad:        RDEV_PREFIX="/dev/" DUMP="/sbin/dump"
amandad:        RESTORE="/sbin/restore" VDUMP=UNDEF VRESTORE=UNDEF
amandad:        XFSDUMP=UNDEF XFSRESTORE=UNDEF VXDUMP=UNDEF VXRESTORE=UNDEF
amandad:        SAMBA_CLIENT="/usr/bin/smbclient" GNUTAR="/bin/gtar"


It 'looks' like we are invoking the right executable.

amandad: time 0.002: bsd security: remote host nnewton.wadsworth.org user 
amanda  local user amanda
amandad: time 0.002: amandahosts security check passed
amandad: time 0.002: running service "/usr/local/libexec/selfcheck"
amandad: time 0.008: sending REP packet:
----
Amanda 2.4 REP HANDLE 009-00098E80 SEQ 1096907538
OPTIONS features=fffffeff9ffe0f;
ERROR [could not access /dev/sda12 (/iarc/vol): Permission denied]
OK /sbin/dump executable
OK /etc/dumpdates read/writable
OK /dev/null read/writable



I have tried changing the group for the amanda user in /etc/passwd,
group root (0), sys (3) and disk (6). To no avail. We have also tried
both sys and disk in the inetd configuration file [reluctant to set
it to root (0) there].

The only error in the debug file is pretty much the one you would expect
given the amcheck output.

ERROR [could not access /dev/sda12 (/iarc/vol): Permission denied]
OK /sbin/dump executable


---
   Brian R Cuttler                 brian.cuttler AT wadsworth DOT org
   Computer Systems Support        (v) 518 486-1697
   Wadsworth Center                (f) 518 473-6384
   NYS Department of Health        Help Desk 518 473-0773