On Tue, May 23, 2006 at 04:28:31PM -0400, Jon LaBadie wrote:
> But running out of disk space caused me to look more
> closely at the situation and I realized that the failed
> taping is left on the disk.  This of course mimics what
> happens on physical tape.  However with the file:driver
> if this failed, and useless "tape file" were deleted,
> it would free up space for other data.

Our setups avoid this situation by having a dedicated chunk of holding
space.  I cut out 150-200GiB on each Amanda server just for holding
space.  That way, no dump ever fails because the data in holding was
using space in the vtape filesystem.

I know throwing more hardware/disk space at the problem isn't a
particularly interesting or clever solution, but I can vouch for the
fact that it works!

-- 
Ross Vandegrift
ross AT kallisti DOT us

"The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who
make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians
have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine
man in the bonds of Hell."
        --St. Augustine, De Genesi ad Litteram, Book II, xviii, 37