I have recently changed my Amanda config (upgraded to 2.4.4p4 and added
a second tape drive - chg-multi) and now the backups require more tapes
than before. I hate to waste the space if this is just bad configuration
on my part. I have looked at the faq but didn't see this problem
addressed even though I am sure it has been asked on the list before.
Here is my amanda.conf:

=================================
# for an explanation of the parameters refer to amanda(8)

org "Progeny01"                 # your organization name for reports
mailto "root AT progeny DOT com"       # list of operators at your site
dumpuser "backup"               # the user to run dumps under

inparallel 8            # maximum dumpers that will run in parallel
#netusage 10000         # maximum net bandwidth for Amanda, in KB/s
netusage 180 Mbps       # maximum net bandwidth for Amanda, in KB/s
dumporder "SSSSSSSS"
taperalgo largestfit

# a filesystem is due for a full backup once every <dumpcycle> days
dumpcycle 19 days       # the number of days in the normal dump cycle
tapecycle 43 tapes      # the number of tapes in rotation

# amanda will fail to back up some stuff if we don't give it enough
# time to estimate the big stuff. lets give it eight hours. i will
# specify in a negative (-) number which sets a hard limit. a
# positive number would be per disk...
etimeout -28800

# gnu tar takes a long time to get started when there are lots of
# files sitting around.  the normal data timeout is thrity
# minutes, bumped to one hour.
dtimeout 7200

bumpsize 100 MB         # minimum savings (threshold) to bump level 1 ->
2
bumpdays 2              # minimum days at each level
bumpmult 4              # threshold = bumpsize * (level-1)**bumpmult

#Added by Vicki to configure for two tape drives
runtapes 2              #number of tapes to be used in a single run
tpchanger "chg-multi"   #tape-changer glue script
changerfile
"/usr/local/src/amanda-2.4.4p4/etc/amanda/Progeny01/chg-multi.conf"

tapedev "mychanger"     # the non-rewinding device to write tapes
amrecover_changer "mychanger"
amrecover_check_label yes
amrecover_do_fsf yes

tapetype HP-C5683A      # what kind of tape it is (see tapetypes below)
# label constraint regex: all tapes must match
labelstr "Progeny01-[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]*$"
holdingdisk disk1 {
        comment "Primary holding disk"
        directory "/var/spool/amanda"
        use 35650 MB
        chunksize 1024 MB
}

infofile "/var/lib/amanda/Progeny01/curinfo"    # database filename
logfile  "/var/log/amanda/Progeny01/log"        # log filename
indexdir "/var/lib/amanda/Progeny01/index"      # index files

# our tape definition
define tapetype HP-C5683A {
        comment "DDS-4 DAT tape"
        length 16584 mbytes
        filemark 452 kbytes
        speed 2613 kbytes
}


# dumptypes
#
# These are referred to by the disklist file.  The dumptype specifies
# a number of options.

define dumptype always-full {
        comment "full dump of this filesystem always"
        options no-compress
        priority high
        dumpcycle 0
        maxcycle 0
}

define dumptype comp-low-tar {
        program "GNUTAR"
        comment "compressed low priority tar of filesystem"
        options compress-fast, index, exclude-list ".amanda-exclude"
        priority low
}

define dumptype comp-med-tar {
        program "GNUTAR"
        comment "compressed medium priority tar of filesystem"
        options compress-fast, index, exclude-list ".amanda-exclude"
        priority medium
}

define dumptype comp-high-tar {
        program "GNUTAR"
        comment "compressed high priority tar of filesystem"
        options compress-fast, index, exclude-list ".amanda-exclude"
        priority high
}

define dumptype low-tar {
        program "GNUTAR"
        comment "low priority tar of filesystem"
        options no-compress, index, exclude-list ".amanda-exclude"
        priority low
}

define dumptype med-tar {
        program "GNUTAR"
        comment "medium priority tar of filesystem"
        options no-compress, index, exclude-list ".amanda-exclude"
        priority medium
}

define dumptype high-tar {
        program "GNUTAR"
        comment "high priority tar of filesystem"
        options no-compress, index, exclude-list ".amanda-exclude"
        priority high
}

define dumptype comp-low-dump {
        comment "compressed low priority dump of filesystem"
        options compress-fast, index
        priority low
}

define dumptype comp-med-dump {
        comment "compressed medium priority dump of filesystem"
        options compress-fast, index
        priority medium
}

define dumptype comp-high-dump {
        comment "compressed high priority dump of filesystem"
        options compress-fast, index
        priority high
}

define dumptype low-dump {
        comment "low priority dump of filesystem"
        options no-compress, index
        priority low
}

define dumptype med-dump {
        comment "medium priority dump of filesystem"
        options no-compress, index
        priority medium
}

define dumptype high-dump {
        comment "high priority dump of filesystem"
        options no-compress, index
        priority high
}
==========================
Also, I understand that my holding area might need to be bigger, but it
currently takes up an entire partition. I have heard that there is a way
to use to holding disk areas. Where can I find more information about
this?

Vicki