On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 at 6:17pm, James Marcinek wrote

> I've been supporting Amanda for a customer for about a year now. I currently
> have only used a single tape device as the client was leary about leaving any
> media onsite as well as the fact that it would require more involvment than 
> just
> switching out tapes as most are not too technical.
> 
> The current environment consists of 3 linux server which mainly consists of 
> file
> servers.
> 
> I am looking recommendations for a tape library device that works well with
> amanda. Right now the client is using 8mm tapes, so I'd be interested in other
> feedback in regards to other types of media (LTO, DLT, etc.) and pros and cons
> of each.

You don't give us much to go on here in terms of the actual requirements.  
How much data are you going to be backing up per night?  What's the backup 
window?  What's the total amount of data on disk?  Room for growth?  
Budget?

In general, one must remember that amanda is really "just" a (very smart) 
backup scheduler.  All communication with the tape drive(s) and loader is 
done via standard *nix tools.  So, if mtx (e.g.) will play nice with your 
loader, then amanda will.

Just to throw a couple of example systems out there, I've had very good 
luck with my Overland PowerLoader AIT3 library, and I'm in the midst of 
buying an Overland Neo2000 LTO3 library.

> If anyone has any links where I can get equipment for a reasonable cost I'd be
> interested in those too!

I've used Zzyzx (www.zzyzx.com) for years for this sort of thing, with 
good luck.

-- 
Joshua Baker-LePain
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Duke University