> On Monday 25 October 2004 17:53, Joe Rhett wrote:
> >In particular, the alpha documentation for amanda indicates that
> > amanda will move on to the next tape for EOT -- this apparently
> > isn't true at all.
> >
> >11.3.2 End of tape handling
> >As in earlier versions of AMANDA, taper itself does not try to
> > restrict writing to the tape size given in the config file. It
> > relied on planner having correctly estimated backup sizes and
> > limiting itself to what would fit on one tape.
> >
> >Now, taper needs to switch to a new tape when the current tape has
> > filled up. The tape is considered full when taper gets a write
> > error. This will most likely occur in the middle of writing a
> > (potentially large) backup file, perhaps even from a direct-to-tape
> > socket, so there is no possibility of starting the backup file over
> > again on the next tape, it must start from where it left off,
> > rewriting the block that got the error on the next tape.
> >
> > To insure correct operation, the file header of the continued file
> > should contain an indication that it is a continuation, and at what
> > offset. amrestore of course needs to be aware of this scheme and
> > handle it correctly, perhaps by double-buffering internally.
> 
> If the file cannot be restarted from byte 1 on the next tape, eg the 
> system cannot back up to the start of the file being written, then 
> something is seriously wrong with the method being used.  In the case 
> of no holding disk, then it seems setting one up would be the answer.
> 
> In no event will amanda actually "continue" a file on the next tape, 
> its a basic design decision, and while there have been some patches 
> available from 3rd parties to do this, I'm certainly not privy to any 
> discussions as to the feasability of incorporating such a bug/feature 
> into an actual amanda distribution.  And the dual labeling of such a 
> method above is 100% intentional.
 
So can you please reconcile your statement and the documentation above?
Or take an action item to update the documentation if it is wrong?

-- 
Joe Rhett
Senior Geek
Meer.net