On Wed, Oct 27, 2004 at 01:47:44AM +0200, TheQL° wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'm quite new to all this tape storage stuff, so please be kind. After
> some research I came to this streamer with eight AIT-3 tapes.
> http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xPF-Sony_AIT_Library_LIB_D81_A3_LIBD81A3EU
>
> Now I wonder if amanda works fine with it. The system is currently
> runnig SuSE Linux 8.2 with Kernel 2.4.20
>
> I do not even know if the streamer is supported by the kernel.
Scsi tape drives are pretty uniform in their kernel requirements.
It matters little, if at all, which drive/changer you select as
far as the OS is concerned. You will have to ensure that the
appropriate scsi module is loaded and that your system is configured
for multi-lun scanning (rather than just lun 0) if your changer
needs it. Some will have separate scsi ids for the drive and for
the changer. Others will use a single scsi id, but multiple luns
at that id to address the drive versus the changer.
> Also I would take recommendations for other tape devices.
If I am not mistaken, AIT is strictly Sony. Some do not like a
single source approach to tape formats. And Sony in particular
has had bad experiences in trying to go it alone on a tape format,
computer data and consumer video both.
>
> By the way, I forum post got me to amanda. Is it really a full
> featured backup solution with daily incremental backups? Can they be
> made on the same set of tapes until they are full? How does it work
> when I change the tapeset weekly. What I mean is that there is always
> one backup set out of the building and one set in the streamer with
> daily backups.
Amanda is an odd duck compared to backup programs you have
experienced. First, it is not a backup 'program'. It is a
'manager of backups'. The actual backup program varies,
typically your system's dump or tar.
A description of amanda is beyond the scope of a mailing list
answer. But one unique aspect of amanda pertains to your query.
It takes some getting used to, and bending your mind and practice
around; but amanda does not do all of its full backups at the
same time. Instead, it tries to make sure each backup entity
(file system, directory tree, ... - called by amanda a DLE, a
disklist entry) is given at least on full backup during the
dumpcycle (1 week typically). But different DLE's will get
their full dumps on different days. And not always the same
day. Amanda tries to balance the amount of tape used for
each dump run. Rather than monday-friday, 1hr of dumptime
and small bits of tape, then Saturday 14hrs of dumpstime
and multiple tapes, it spreads things out.
jl
--
Jon H. LaBadie jon AT jgcomp DOT com
JG Computing
4455 Province Line Road (609) 252-0159
Princeton, NJ 08540-4322 (609) 683-7220 (fax)
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