Re: Are you running snapshots?
Dustin J. Mitchell wrote: Hmm, well one problem is that that's a snapshot of the the 2.6.1 branch, which is pretty stable at this point. The other problem, which Jean-Louis might be able to address, is that it's now almost 20090812, so we should probably have a new build installed by now. There is no new snapshot because there is no commit since 20090805. Jean-Louis
Re: Are you running snapshots?
On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 7:13 AM, Jean-Louis Martineaumartin...@zmanda.com wrote: There is no new snapshot because there is no commit since 20090805. Ah, so. I've been off my game! Dustin -- Open Source Storage Engineer http://www.zmanda.com
Re: Are you running snapshots?
On Wednesday 12 August 2009, Dustin J. Mitchell wrote: On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 7:13 AM, Jean-Louis Martineaumartin...@zmanda.com wrote: There is no new snapshot because there is no commit since 20090805. Ah, so. I've been off my game! Dustin And I'd advise that one should not fix that which is not broken. :) 20090805 is working well here. Of course I probably do not exercise it to the fullest by any means. -- Cheers, Gene There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order. -Ed Howdershelt (Author) The NRA is offering FREE Associate memberships to anyone who wants them. https://www.nrahq.org/nrabonus/accept-membership.asp Equal bytes for women.
Re: Are you running snapshots?
Our shop is running with zfs-snapshots. We don't/haven't attempted ufs-snapshots. Snapshots are great - but not the solution to all problems, files that are open when the snapshots are created are 'open' when you back them up (not everyone here seems to understand this). On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 09:57:21AM -0400, Dustin J. Mitchell wrote: I'm curious to know who out there is running the daily Amanda snapshots. A *lot* of new code has gone in since the 2.6.1 release, and I'd like to see it tested now, rather than waiting until the beta process begins. We've rewritten the taper to use the transfer architecture; rewitten all uses of the old taperscan algorithm to use the simpler and more explicit Amanda::Taper::Scan::traditional; rewritten several other applications to use the new Changer API; and added a new chg-robot to replace the crusty old chg-zd-mtx. I'm working on rewriting the restore/recover applications now. The idea is to completely jettison the old Changer API before the next relase. So, please let me know if the snapshots are working for you! Dustin -- Open Source Storage Engineer http://www.zmanda.com --- Brian R Cuttler brian.cutt...@wadsworth.org Computer Systems Support(v) 518 486-1697 Wadsworth Center(f) 518 473-6384 NYS Department of HealthHelp Desk 518 473-0773 IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential or sensitive information which is, or may be, legally privileged or otherwise protected by law from further disclosure. It is intended only for the addressee. If you received this in error or from someone who was not authorized to send it to you, please do not distribute, copy or use it or any attachments. Please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this from your system. Thank you for your cooperation.
Re: Are you running snapshots?
On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 10:43 AM, Brian Cuttlerbr...@wadsworth.org wrote: Snapshots are great - but not the solution to all problems, files that are open when the snapshots are created are 'open' when you back them up (not everyone here seems to understand this). Sorry -- I meant the daily snapshots of the latest and greatest Amanda code. I should have made that clear :) Dustin -- Open Source Storage Engineer http://www.zmanda.com
Re: Are you running snapshots?
On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 10:47 AM, Alan Pearsonalandpear...@yahoo.com wrote: You have to appreciate a lot of people have AMANDA in production environments and it is working. We are very reluctant to change it in case it breaks, we don't want the overhead of having to fix it. Absolutely -- I hope I did not imply that everyone, or even most people, should be running snapshots! But hopefully at least a few people can spare some resources to test things out and alert us to any problems. I am especially nervous to change since AMANDA has changed so much (read - the change to PERL) and is no longer a straight upgrade with bugfixes and new features We're working double-time to ensure backward compatibility, and any failing on that point is a bug. But certainly backups are often a set-it-and-forget-it kind of technology, and frequent upgrades can be disruptive, even if they are smooth. I personally think this is a failing of the AMANDA team to realise this, and to see that a lot of sys admins are reluctant to upgrade for these reasons. I realize that Amanda is working great *right now* for a number of people, but if the project is to remain relevant, it must serve the needs of today's new installations, while remaining fully compatibile with existing installations. That's a lot to ask, and it's not easy. I think we deserve some credit for our success so far, and some support for our continued committment to backward compatibility. Which brings me back to the original topic: any and all assistance with testing recent versions of Amanda in different situations is extraordinarily helpful to ensuring backward compatibility. For example, Alan, it would be great to hear from you that the Kerberos authentication continues to function in the latest snapshots, particularly since it is not something to which we can apply unit tests (we have almost 2000 unit tests at this point, by the way). That only has to mean setting up Amanda on a throwaway machine or VM, running amservice to verify the authentication, and dropping a note to amanda-users@amanda.org with the results. The snapshots are here: http://www.zmanda.com/community-builds.php and to be clear: please do *not* run snapshots in production! Dustin -- Open Source Storage Engineer http://www.zmanda.com
Re: Are you running snapshots?
Hi Dustin You have to appreciate a lot of people have AMANDA in production environments and it is working. We are very reluctant to change it in case it breaks, we don't want the overhead of having to fix it. Example we are deploying a 2.5.2 snapshot that has fixes in it that we raised. Speaking personally, I will not upgrade my AMANDA environment until I absolutely have to, as it took quite a bit of effort to get it working with our changer, kerberos auth and environment. I am especially nervous to change since AMANDA has changed so much (read - the change to PERL) and is no longer a straight upgrade with bugfixes and new features I personally think this is a failing of the AMANDA team to realise this, and to see that a lot of sys admins are reluctant to upgrade for these reasons. Just my 2c AlanP -- AlanP On Tue, August 11, 2009 2:57 pm, Dustin J. Mitchell wrote: I'm curious to know who out there is running the daily Amanda snapshots. A *lot* of new code has gone in since the 2.6.1 release, and I'd like to see it tested now, rather than waiting until the beta process begins. We've rewritten the taper to use the transfer architecture; rewitten all uses of the old taperscan algorithm to use the simpler and more explicit Amanda::Taper::Scan::traditional; rewritten several other applications to use the new Changer API; and added a new chg-robot to replace the crusty old chg-zd-mtx. I'm working on rewriting the restore/recover applications now. The idea is to completely jettison the old Changer API before the next relase. So, please let me know if the snapshots are working for you! Dustin -- Open Source Storage Engineer http://www.zmanda.com
Re: Are you running snapshots?
Good points and I do appreciate the effort that is put into AMANDA and its backwards compatibility. I guess testing the client is easy, and something I will try to do over the next few weeks and report the results, but changing the server side.. well that scares me :) :) -- AlanP On Tue, August 11, 2009 4:48 pm, Dustin J. Mitchell wrote: On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 10:47 AM, Alan Pearsonalandpear...@yahoo.com wrote: You have to appreciate a lot of people have AMANDA in production environments and it is working. We are very reluctant to change it in case it breaks, we don't want the overhead of having to fix it. Absolutely -- I hope I did not imply that everyone, or even most people, should be running snapshots! But hopefully at least a few people can spare some resources to test things out and alert us to any problems. I am especially nervous to change since AMANDA has changed so much (read - the change to PERL) and is no longer a straight upgrade with bugfixes and new features We're working double-time to ensure backward compatibility, and any failing on that point is a bug. But certainly backups are often a set-it-and-forget-it kind of technology, and frequent upgrades can be disruptive, even if they are smooth. I personally think this is a failing of the AMANDA team to realise this, and to see that a lot of sys admins are reluctant to upgrade for these reasons. I realize that Amanda is working great *right now* for a number of people, but if the project is to remain relevant, it must serve the needs of today's new installations, while remaining fully compatibile with existing installations. That's a lot to ask, and it's not easy. I think we deserve some credit for our success so far, and some support for our continued committment to backward compatibility. Which brings me back to the original topic: any and all assistance with testing recent versions of Amanda in different situations is extraordinarily helpful to ensuring backward compatibility. For example, Alan, it would be great to hear from you that the Kerberos authentication continues to function in the latest snapshots, particularly since it is not something to which we can apply unit tests (we have almost 2000 unit tests at this point, by the way). That only has to mean setting up Amanda on a throwaway machine or VM, running amservice to verify the authentication, and dropping a note to amanda-users@amanda.org with the results. The snapshots are here: http://www.zmanda.com/community-builds.php and to be clear: please do *not* run snapshots in production! Dustin -- Open Source Storage Engineer http://www.zmanda.com
Re: Are you running snapshots?
On Tuesday 11 August 2009, Dustin J. Mitchell wrote: I'm curious to know who out there is running the daily Amanda snapshots. A *lot* of new code has gone in since the 2.6.1 release, and I'd like to see it tested now, rather than waiting until the beta process begins. We've rewritten the taper to use the transfer architecture; rewitten all uses of the old taperscan algorithm to use the simpler and more explicit Amanda::Taper::Scan::traditional; rewritten several other applications to use the new Changer API; and added a new chg-robot to replace the crusty old chg-zd-mtx. I'm working on rewriting the restore/recover applications now. The idea is to completely jettison the old Changer API before the next relase. So, please let me know if the snapshots are working for you! Dustin I have been following the 2.6.2 snapshots, usually within a day or so, for several months. You've heard about it when I have problems, which isn't often. Currently running the 2.6.2-20090805 snapshot. The only problem is an Ooopsen caused by tar, in the first minute thirty of the first run of amanda after a reboot, an Ooopsen that is apparently 100% benign as it never repeats, and amanda is not aware of it, the backup proceeds normally. There is a regression filed against kernel 2.6.31-rc5 about this, but whose bz number I do not recall ATM. Ends in 899 IIRC. Current uptime on that kernel is 4d, 1:23. I have been reducing the size of the vtape slowly, and the scheduler seems to be coming into a balance of about 85% usage, so I just reduced it another few percent, from 16GB to 15GB. Drive usage is still just under 50% on a 1TB drive so I could add more vtapes, but see no real reason to, 30 seems sufficient. Is it ready for prime time? My guess is that it is, at least for me, in my environment. -- Cheers, Gene There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order. -Ed Howdershelt (Author) The NRA is offering FREE Associate memberships to anyone who wants them. https://www.nrahq.org/nrabonus/accept-membership.asp We don't care how they do it in New York.
Re: Are you running snapshots?
On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 12:56 PM, Gene Heskettgene.hesk...@verizon.net wrote: I have been following the 2.6.2 snapshots, usually within a day or so, for several months. You've heard about it when I have problems, which isn't often. Thanks, Gene -- this has been a great help! Dustin -- Open Source Storage Engineer http://www.zmanda.com
Re: Are you running snapshots?
* Dustin J. Mitchell dus...@zmanda.com [20090811 10:34]: I'm curious to know who out there is running the daily Amanda snapshots. A *lot* of new code has gone in since the 2.6.1 release, and I'd like to see it tested now, rather than waiting until the beta process begins. We've rewritten the taper to use the transfer architecture; rewitten all uses of the old taperscan algorithm to use the simpler and more explicit Amanda::Taper::Scan::traditional; rewritten several other applications to use the new Changer API; and added a new chg-robot to replace the crusty old chg-zd-mtx. I'm working on Can you elaborate on the new chg-robot: I just downloaded the latest snapshot for 2.6.1 (2.6.1p1-20090805) and I can't find anything related to that. In the next few days I intend to toy with this as I have a new library not in yet production. Thanks for the good work! jf rewriting the restore/recover applications now. The idea is to completely jettison the old Changer API before the next relase. So, please let me know if the snapshots are working for you! Dustin -- Open Source Storage Engineer http://www.zmanda.com
Re: Are you running snapshots?
On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 4:48 PM, Jean-Francois Malouinma...@bic.mni.mcgill.ca wrote: Can you elaborate on the new chg-robot: I just downloaded the latest snapshot for 2.6.1 (2.6.1p1-20090805) and I can't find anything related to that. Hmm, well one problem is that that's a snapshot of the the 2.6.1 branch, which is pretty stable at this point. The other problem, which Jean-Louis might be able to address, is that it's now almost 20090812, so we should probably have a new build installed by now. That said, the commit of chg-robot (perl/Amanda/Changer/robot.pm) was on 8/3, so the 2.6.2alpha-20090805 snapshot should do the trick for you. In the next few days I intend to toy with this as I have a new library not in yet production. That would be great! I've tested this manually on the changers I have access to, but its unit tests use mock versions of mt and mtx, which might obscure some bugs that will appear on exposure to more real hardware. I've been toying with the idea of running the unit tests against a real changer library, but there are just too many variables and too many possibilities for false failures involved. Thanks for the good work! And to you, in advance! Dustin -- Open Source Storage Engineer http://www.zmanda.com
