On Mon, Feb 09, 2004 at 03:01:21PM -0500, Eric Siegerman wrote: > I want to make two identical copies of an Amanda backup. > > I have enough holding-disk space to hold all of the client's DLEs > at once, so what I'm thinking is this: > > 1. Build a new Amanda configuration that backs up only the client > in question (reserve=0; also record=no to be on the safe side) > > 2. Run the configuration with no tape in the drive, forcing all > the (full) backups to holding disk > > 3. Hard-link the holding-disk files to another directory that > Amanda doesn't know about > > 4. Run amflush > > 5. Hard-link the holding-disk files back to the Amanda spool > directory (it's pure paranoia that I choose not to mv them > instead and thus dispense with step 7) > > 6. Run amflush again > > 7. Delete the holding-disk files from the other directory > > Does this look like a reasonable approach?
Since nobody raised any red flags, I went ahead and tried this. It worked flawlessly. > My main worry is that > the curinfo database and multiple amflush's of the same data > won't get along with each other. Is that likely to be a problem? This didn't turn out to be an issue. The only effect I could find on the database was that when I amflushed the second copy (step 6), "amadmin info" forgot about the first one. But this is a minor quibble, and I'm *not* suggesting that anything needs to be done about it. amserver 3# amadmin archive info foo c0t4d0s4 Current info for foo c0t4d0s4: Stats: dump rates (kps), Full: 629.0, -1.0, -1.0 Incremental: -1.0, -1.0, -1.0 compressed size, Full: 94.8%,-100.0%,-100.0% Incremental: -100.0%,-100.0%,-100.0% Dumps: lev datestmp tape file origK compK secs 0 20040209 archive.foo_before_reinstall.20040210.copy_2.tape_1 2 1308351 1240741 1972 "amadmin find" gets it right -- it reports both tapes: amserver 4# amadmin archive find foo c0t4d0s4 | more Scanning /var/spool/amanda/holding-disk-archive... date host disk lv tape or file file status 2004-02-09 foo c0t4d0s4 0 archive.foo_before_reinstall.20040210.copy_1.tape_1 2 OK 2004-02-09 foo c0t4d0s4 0 archive.foo_before_reinstall.20040210.copy_2.tape_1 2 OK In summary, I wouldn't recommend doing it this way on a regular basis -- RAIT and a second drive would be easier and less error-prone. But I only needed to do a single two-copy backup; in that situation, if you have enough holding-disk space, this approach is hard to beat. (And no, my regular backup tapes don't have weird names like that; they're Weekly.[0-9][0-9][0-9]. But for permanent archival tapes, I thought, why not make them as self-identifying as possible?) -- | | /\ |-_|/ > Eric Siegerman, Toronto, Ont. [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | / It must be said that they would have sounded better if the singer wouldn't throw his fellow band members to the ground and toss the drum kit around during songs. - Patrick Lenneau