Amanda-Users

Re: Problem understanding tape_splitsize and runtapes

2007-06-12 05:38:03
Subject: Re: Problem understanding tape_splitsize and runtapes
From: Marc Muehlfeld <Marc.Muehlfeld AT medizinische-genetik DOT de>
To: Sebastian Marten <sebi4711 AT gmail DOT com>
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 11:30:36 +0200
Hi,

Sebastian Marten schrieb:
Hello list,
I have a problem understanding the coherence between tape_splitsize
and runtapes.

Runtapes tells amanda how many tapes she is maximum allowed to use in a single run. If you plan to backup more data that fits on one tape, then you have to set this value higher that "1".

Normally amanda saves full DLEs to a tape until it`s full. But if you have a 30 GB tape and amanda should backup 2x 20 GB, then 10 GB will stay unused on the first tape. When you use tape_splitsize, you can get a better usage of the tapes. Most of my tapes are filled between 95-99% since this option is available.


See manpage amanda.conf(5):

tape_splitsize
Default: none. Split dump file on tape into pieces of a specified size. This allows dumps to be spread across multiple tapes, and can potentially make more efficient use of tape space. Note that if this value is too large (more than half the size of the average dump being split), substantial tape space can be wasted. If too small, large dumps will be split into innumerable tiny dumpfiles, adding to restoration complexity. A good rule of thumb, usually, is 1/10 of the size of your tape.

runtapes
Default: 1. The maximum number of tapes used in a single run. If a tape changer is not configured, this option is not used and should be commented out of the configuration file. If a tape changer is configured, this may be set larger than one to let AMANDA write to more than one tape. Note that this is an upper bound on the number of tapes, and AMANDA may use less. Also note that as of this release, AMANDA does not support true tape overflow. When it reaches the end of one tape, the backup image AMANDA was processing starts over again on the next tape.




Now the problem:
if i try amdump test with runtapes = 1 the following error appears :

FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY:
 server  /etc  lev 0  FAILED [dump larger than available tape space,
38620 KB, but cannot incremental dump new disk]
 planner: FATAL cannot fit anything on tape, bailing out

The problem is, you have only one tape (runtapes=1) available for each run. A full dump have 48MB and your tape is only 30MB. You get this error, because amanda can`t do a incremental dump, because she never did a full one (and never can do, because only one tape is available and that one is too small).



Regards
Marc



--
Marc Muehlfeld (Leitung Systemadministration)
Zentrum fuer Humangenetik und Laboratoriumsmedizin Dr. Klein und Dr. Rost
Lochhamer Str. 29 - D-82152 Martinsried
Telefon: +49(0)89/895578-0 - Fax: +49(0)89/895578-78
http://www.medizinische-genetik.de

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