Running amcheck, all hosts on one subnet timeout

Hello all:

Problem:
Running amcheck, all hosts on one subnet timeout:
"<host> selfcheck request failed: timeout waiting for ACK"

Things I thought were odd: (common to all hosts in this subnet)
1. none of them ever created the /tmp/amanda folder or any debug info.
1a. I created them by hand and managed to get some meager output.
2. none of the amandad interaction ever announces
"amandad: time (n): got packet" rather, amandad is timing out w/ the
last statement: "amandad: time 30.066"

Compile Options:
--------------------
./configure'
'--prefix=/usr/local/amanda'
'--with-user=amanda'
'--with-group=backup'
'--with-debugging'
'--with-config=daily'
'--without-server'
'--with-index-server=amanda'
'--with-tape-server=amanda'"

- All hosts are Fedora Core -- all kernels are 2.4 & 2.6
- All versions client /server are Amanda-2.5.0p2-2006052
- All network settings / daemons seem to be set up.
- Firewalls are turned off when testing.
- Timeouts set in /proc are 7200.
- Backing up 250MB or less on each machine.
- Can ping both ways.
- Can log into Amanda Server from every hosts via 'amrecover'
- Routing tables are correct for everyone involved.
- /var/named is correct on all DNS servers
- nslookup / dig  resolve correctly.
- Compiled as 'amanda' made as 'root' - all files and directories
exist and have        correct permissions.
- "amanda" user can write to /tmp
- tape server is 2 subnets and '20 metres' of cable away.
- *Have not yet used tcpdump to track packets - but am assuming
(always a bad idea) that since I can ping and use 'amrecover' that
things are peachy.

---       SERVER CONFIGS / DEBUGS        ---

Amanda Backup Client Hosts Check
--------------------------------
WARNING: zeus.example.com: selfcheck request failed: timeout waiting for ACK
WARNING: venus.example.com: selfcheck request failed: timeout waiting for ACK
WARNING: andromeda.example.com: selfcheck request failed: timeout
waiting for ACK
WARNING: proxima.example.com: selfcheck request failed: timeout waiting for ACK
WARNING: pluto.example.com: selfcheck request failed: timeout waiting for ACK
WARNING: pollux.example.com: selfcheck request failed: timeout waiting for ACK
Client check: 21 hosts checked in 30.729 seconds, 6 problems found

(brought to you by Amanda 2.5.0p2)


---       CLIENT CONFIGS / DEBUGS        ---

=================================================================

amandad: debug 1 pid 11723 ruid 705 euid 705: start at Tue Aug 22 16:31:43 2006
amandad: version 2.5.0p2-20060525
amandad: build: VERSION="Amanda-2.5.0p2-20060525"
amandad:        BUILT_DATE="Tue Aug 22 15:50:20 BST 2006"
amandad:        BUILT_MACH="Linux proxima.example.com 2.4.20-30.9.um.1
#1 Thu Feb 19 11:44:47 JST 2004 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux"
amandad:        CC="gcc"
amandad:        CONFIGURE_COMMAND="'./configure'
'--prefix=/usr/local/amanda' '--with-user=amanda'
'--with-group=backup' '--with-debugging' '--with-config=daily'
'--without-server' '--with-index-server=amanda'
'--with-tape-server=amanda'"
amandad: paths: bindir="/usr/local/amanda/bin"
amandad:        sbindir="/usr/local/amanda/sbin"
amandad:        libexecdir="/usr/local/amanda/libexec"
amandad:        mandir="/usr/local/amanda/man" AMANDA_TMPDIR="/tmp/amanda"
amandad:        AMANDA_DBGDIR="/tmp/amanda"
amandad:        CONFIG_DIR="/usr/local/amanda/etc/amanda"
amandad:        DEV_PREFIX="/dev/" RDEV_PREFIX="/dev/" DUMP="/sbin/dump"
amandad:        RESTORE="/sbin/restore" VDUMP=UNDEF VRESTORE=UNDEF
amandad:        XFSDUMP=UNDEF XFSRESTORE=UNDEF VXDUMP=UNDEF VXRESTORE=UNDEF
amandad:        SAMBA_CLIENT="/usr/bin/smbclient" GNUTAR="/bin/gtar"
amandad:        COMPRESS_PATH="/bin/gzip" UNCOMPRESS_PATH="/bin/gzip"
amandad:        LPRCMD="/usr/bin/lpr" MAILER="/usr/bin/Mail"
amandad:        listed_incr_dir="/usr/local/amanda/var/amanda/gnutar-lists"
amandad: defs:  DEFAULT_SERVER="amanda" DEFAULT_CONFIG="daily"
amandad:        DEFAULT_TAPE_SERVER="amanda" DEFAULT_TAPE_DEVICE="null:"
amandad:        HAVE_MMAP HAVE_SYSVSHM LOCKING=POSIX_FCNTL SETPGRP_VOID
amandad:        DEBUG_CODE AMANDA_DEBUG_DAYS=4 BSD_SECURITY RSH_SECURITY
amandad:        USE_AMANDAHOSTS CLIENT_LOGIN="amanda" FORCE_USERID HAVE_GZIP
amandad:        COMPRESS_SUFFIX=".gz" COMPRESS_FAST_OPT="--fast"
amandad:        COMPRESS_BEST_OPT="--best" UNCOMPRESS_OPT="-dc"
amandad: time 30.066: pid 11723 finish time Tue Aug 22 16:32:13 2006

===================================================================

entries from /etc/hosts:
----------------------------
192.168.2.11    amanda.example.com         amanda
192.168.2.11    capella.example.com        capella

===================================================================

routing table is fine:
------------------------
[amanda@proxima amanda]$ netstat -rn
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags   MSS Window  irtt Iface
203.148.137.0   0.0.0.0         255.255.255.224 U         0 0          0 eth0
192.168.2.0     192.168.1.3     255.255.255.0   UG        0 0          0 eth1
192.168.1.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U         0 0          0 eth1
192.168.0.0     192.168.1.3     255.255.255.0   UG        0 0          0 eth1
169.254.0.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.0.0     U         0 0          0 eth1
127.0.0.0       0.0.0.0         255.0.0.0       U         0 0          0 lo
0.0.0.0         212.140.130.1   0.0.0.0         UG        0 0          0 eth0

===================================================================

can ping tape server:
--------------------------
[amanda@proxima amanda]$ ping amanda
PING amanda.example.com (192.168.2.11) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from amanda.example.com (192.168.2.11): icmp_seq=1 ttl=63 time=2.85 ms
64 bytes from amanda.example.com (192.168.2.11): icmp_seq=2 ttl=63 time=0.277 ms

===================================================================

can 'amrecover' to the tape server:
-------------------------------------------
[root@proxima sbin]# ./amrecover
AMRECOVER Version 2.5.0p2-20060525. Contacting server on amanda ...
220 capella AMANDA index server (2.5.0p2) ready.
200 Access OK
Setting restore date to today (2006-08-22)
200 Working date set to 2006-08-22.
Scanning /data/amanda_holding_disk...
200 Config set to daily.
...
...

===================================================================

netstat shows listening of correct ports:
------------------------------------------------
[root@proxima sbin]# netstat -nlp --udp
Active Internet connections (only servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address           Foreign Address
State       PID/Program name
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:10080           0.0.0.0:*
        20343/xinetd

===================================================================

chkconfig shows amanda 'on':
-----------------------------------
[root@proxima sbin]# chkconfig --list | grep -w amanda
       amanda: on

===================================================================

xinetd looks good:
----------------------
[root@proxima sbin]# more /etc/xinetd.d/amanda
# default: on
# description:  The client for the Amanda backup system.\
#               This must be on for systems being backed up\
#               by Amanda.
service amanda
{
       disable = no
socket_type             = dgram
protocol                = udp
wait                    = yes
user                    = amanda
group                   = backup
groups                  = yes
server                  = /usr/local/amanda/libexec/amandad
}

===================================================================