On 2007-09-11 19:39, johns AT msli DOT com wrote:

I am trying to test Amanda before installing a tape drive, therefore I
am using the tapetype HARD-DISK.

Since the backup will be about 1TB in size, I created a partition of
this size ( /amandatapes ).

I don't have the resources to create more than one tape of this size, so
I have to reuse the tape multiple times in one day, during the testing

phase.

The problem is, I need to run multiple test runs in a single day (to
debug the errors for each disklist item), but amanda won't reuse my
single tape until the next calender day.

I thought I read about this, but after all the reading, I can't seem to
find it again.

Do I delete and recreate the tape? Can I simply change the date in the tapelist file manually?

Is it a matter of picking the right settings for tapecycle,
runspercycle, and dumpcycle?
Some way of marking a tape expired?
I imagine this is a very common novice problem, so it should be easy to
find in the docs...., but I can't find it.

http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/How_To:Build_a_Test_Environment_With_Virtual_Tapes

Details about my backup:
Debian etch server a clients
-----------------------------------
BEGIN /etc/amanda/daily/amanda.conf
-----------------------------------
org      "daily"   # your organization name for reports
mailto   "root AT abc DOT com" # space separated list of operators at your site
dumpuser "backup"  # the user to run dumps under
inparallel 8       # maximum dumpers run in parallel (max 63)
dumporder "sssS"   # priority order of each dumper
taperalgo first    # Algorithm sends dump image to taper.

Never understand why people make this the default.
Use "taperalgo largestfit" without any drawback, but with the
some chance to fill your tapes better.

displayunit "g"    # Possible values: "k|m|g|t"
netusage  800 Kbps # maximum net bandwidth for Amanda, in KB per sec
etimeout 1800      #default 300# seconds per filesystem for estimates.
labelstr "^daily[0-9][0-9]*$"
tapecycle    1 # 1
runspercycle 1
tapetype    HARD-DISK
tpchanger   "chg-disk"
changerfile "/etc/amanda/daily/changer.conf"
tapedev     "file:/amandatapes/daily"
logdir      "/var/log/amanda/daily"
infofile    "/etc/amanda/daily/curinfo"
indexdir    "/etc/amanda/daily/index"
usetimestamps YES
define tapetype HARD-DISK {
    comment "Dump onto hard disk"
    length 1003490 mbytes       # mbytes to get exact size of 1TB
}
define dumptype hard-disk-dump {
    #global
    comment "Back up to hard disk instead of tape - using dump"
    holdingdisk no
    index yes
    priority high
}
define dumptype hard-disk-tar {
    hard-disk-dump
    comment "Back up to hard disk instead of tape - using tar"
    priority high
    program "GNUTAR"
    index yes
    dumpcycle 1
    exclude list "/etc/amanda/exclude-list"
}

While testing, add "record no" to the dumptype to avoid interfering
with your other production backups.

------------------------------------
END /etc/amanda/daily/amanda.conf
------------------------------------
BEGIN /etc/amanda/daily/disklist
--------------------------------
# hostname       diskdev              dumptype
# LOCALHOST BACKUP
fs.eng.abc.com   sdb2                 hard-disk-tar
fs.eng.abc.com   sdb1                 hard-disk-tar
fs.eng.abc.com   mapper/vg00-home     hard-disk-tar
fs.eng.abc.com   mapper/vg00-projects hard-disk-tar
fs.eng.abc.com   mapper/vg00-images   hard-disk-tar
fs.eng.abc.com   mapper/vg00-tmp      hard-disk-tar
svn.eng.abc.com  /                    hard-disk-tar
svn.eng.abc.com  /boot                hard-disk-tar
fw.eng.abc.com   /                    hard-disk-tar
fw.eng.abc.com   /boot                hard-disk-tar
--------------------------------
END /etc/amanda/daily/disklist
--------------------------------
BEGIN /etc/amanda/daily/tapelist
--------------------------------
20070911095252 daily1 reuse
--------------------------------
END /etc/amanda/daily/tapelist
--------------------------------

Thank you for your help.

--
Paul Bijnens, xplanation Technology Services        Tel  +32 16 397.511
Technologielaan 21 bus 2, B-3001 Leuven, BELGIUM    Fax  +32 16 397.512
http://www.xplanation.com/          email:  Paul.Bijnens AT xplanation DOT com
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