I don't know exact definition of dumpcycle and runspercycle. Here is my 
understanding of amanda scheduling: 
We can't specify the exact backup schedule in Amanda. However, we can tell 
Amanda how frequently we want at least one full backup. The exact scheduling 
can be done using crontab. 

Ref: http://www.amanda.org/fom-serve/cache/292.html 
Example:
dumpcycle = 1 week
runspercycle = 5
crontab entry: 30 2 * * 1-5 amdump 
This tells Amanda to take at least one full backup every week (dumpcycle = 
1week) with 5 amdump runs (at least one run out of these would give us a full 
backup). 
The crontab entry will actually run the backup every weekday at 2:30 am. 
[ Note: I am not sure whether it is the 'at least' one full backup over dump 
cycle or thats the final figure] 

The dumpcycle and runspercycle gives Amanda an idea of frequency of backups. 
This will help Amanda in its intelligent scheduling whether to perform full or 
incremental backup. 

Hope this helps.. 

-
Shantanu.

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