Richard Stockton wrote at 16:42 -0700 on Sep 23, 2008:
 > At 04:29 PM 9/23/2008, you wrote:
 > > > How do I force a full dump under ALL circumstances?
 > > > (I do have my disklist set to "always-full").
 > >
 > >Is your holding disk sufficiently large?
 > 
 > Yes.  260 Gigs to hold about 240 Gigs of backup in 2 pieces (100+140)
 > 
 > >Have you changed the "reserve" for incrementals parameter
 > >from its default 100%?
 > 
 > I have now.  I have also set (in the "always-full" dumptype):
 >      strategy noinc
 >      skip-incr
 > 
 > Do I need all three set as above?  Or would just the "reserve 0"
 > take care of it?

I _think_ noinc is sufficient, but I'm not sure.  I've always added
'reserve 0' in our "everything level 0" config.  And I think that's a
good idea (if you definitely don't want amanda to try dumping
incrementals in degraded mode) in case of running out of tapes, etc.

I don't think skip-incr is necessary, but we do have it.

I don't know about dumpcycle 0, but I don't use it.

I've always considered that amanda treats dumpcycle as advisory.  If
it it can meet the dumpcycle number, it will, but between promotions
(not really applicable for dumpcycle 0) and delays (usually due to
space), it's not guaranteed.