Hi, 

>I note the "/dev/zvol" for three of the DLE.  Are you using zfs tools
to create slices/partitions and then >formating the space with a ufs
file system??  I ask because if they are really zfs file systems, I
don't 
>think ufsdump will work properly.

I am using ufs filesystems on top of zfs volumes ( as  described here
http://blogs.sun.com/scottdickson/entry/fun_with_zvols_-_ufs ). 
My intention is to use zfs snapshots within the DLE.

>I presume all these four DLE are mounted file systems.  If not, and
they are directory trees, be aware 
>that ufsdump can not do incrementals on anything except full file
systems.

yes all are mounted filesystems

>You say "a runcycle of 5 days", but I'm sure you mean "runspercycle".
Be aware that parameter does not 
>take a unit.  It is 5, not 5 days.

yes I mean "runspercycle"

>If you only have 4 DLE and a longer dumpcycle and runspercycle, you
should expect to have lots of 
>promotion.  Amanda will be trying to balance the amount of data taped
each run.  The only way to achieve 
>this balance is by moving around the level 0's.

As I understand it whether the level of backup is increased (bumped) or
not can be influenced by the bump parameters. These are the bump
parameters of my installation.

[amanda@nessie:/opt/amanda/etc]#amadmin Weekly bumpsize 
Current bump parameters:
  bumppercent  20 %     - minimum savings (threshold) to bump level 1 ->
2
  bumpdays     1        - minimum days at each level
  bumpmult     4        - threshold = disk_size * bumppercent *
bumpmult**(level-1)

      Bump -> To  Threshold
        1  ->  2    20.00 %
        2  ->  3    80.00 %
        3  ->  4   100.00 %
        4  ->  5   100.00 %
        5  ->  6   100.00 %
        6  ->  7   100.00 %
        7  ->  8   100.00 %
        8  ->  9   100.00 %

To get a better understanding it would be great if someone could answer
the following questions:

- bumppercent 20% means that if an higher backup level would save at
least 20% space the level will 
  be bumped, right?

- does this also mean that if the first threshold is met amanda will
continue to calculate whether bumping 
  another level would save 80% and if yes would another bump occur?

- in the dumptype I have specified that the estimate program is
calcsize. Does amanda use that 
  program to calculate the savings that would be achieved by
incrementing the backup level? 

- if the savings that could be reached by bumping are below the
bumppercent value no bumping will occur, 
  or? Would this mean that for a certain filesystem amanda would only
carry out level 0 and level 1 dumps 
  all the time if the savings that would be acccomplished by bumping to
another level would always be below 
  20%?

- if defined bumppercent takes precedence over bumpsize?

>If this is close to your final configuration, you may wish to consider
an administrator-determined 
>schedule rather than letting amanda do the scheduling.  Review in past
discussions about setting your
>dumptypes to incremental only and forcing the level 0's on days you
choose.

Would the following procedure be correct to manually schedule the
different backup levels.

- specify strategy "incronly" in the dumptype that is used

- as I am having 5 filesystem for which I would like to balance the
fullbackups over five weekdays I would 
  setup the following crontab.

0 9 * * 1-5 /opt/amanda/sbin/amcheck -a Weekly
0 19 * * 1-5 /opt/amanda/sbin/amdump Weekly
0 18 * * 1 /opt/amanda/sbin/amadmin force nessie /cad
0 18 * * 2 /opt/amanda/sbin/amadin force nessie /projects
0 18 * * 3 /opt/amanda/sbin/amadin force nessie /users
0 18 * * 4 /opt/amanda/sbin/amadin force nessie /it
0 18 * * 5 /opt/amanda/sbin/amadin force nessie /design

- it seems to be possible to specify device names directly within the
disklist like /dev/rdsk/..., is it 
  also possible to specify device names when using the amadmin command?

Many thanks in advance for answering my questions.

BR,

mark
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