Re: without tapes
On Wed, 3 Apr 2002, Juanjo wrote: > Hi, > > Is it possible to run amanda "without-tapes" so it dumps only to holding > disk? > But what I mean is not to take off the tapes physically but disabling tape > writing. I want to accumulate incrementals worth a week and flush them on > friday to a tape... > > How can I do such a thing? Put /dev/null in for your tape device when running the amdumps, then set it to a real tape and do an amflush. - Marc Mengel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Re: without tapes
>>and... what about changing /dev/sg0 and /dev/nst0 and /dev/st0 (which >>are my devices) permissions? > > As long as you're not running as root, I guess this is OK. Seems like > a lot of work and potential for messing up to me, but whatever you're > comfortable with. > > BTW, you shouldn't be using /dev/st0 anyplace. > >>Or better to touch /dev/nosuchdevice and then? Point to it the >>changer-device or the tape-device? > > Why touch it? The whole point of the excercise is to point at a device > that does not exist, which will cause the open to fail, which Amanda > already handles. > > And you'll want to leave your tape changer out of all this. Just > comment out tpchanger in amanda.conf when going to the holding disk. > > John R. Jackson, Technical Software Specialist, [EMAIL PROTECTED] This is the error amanda reports when running amcheck with nosuchdevice as tapedev and changerdev... Amanda Tape Server Host Check - Holding disk /data0/backup-dump: 39044072 KB disk space available, that's plentyamcheck-server: could not get changer info: badly formed result from changer: "cannot open SCSI device '/dev/nosuchdevice' - No such file or directory" Amanda Backup Client Hosts Check Client check: 4 hosts checked in 0.641 seconds, 0 problems found (brought to you by Amanda 2.4.2p2) So, that will force to leave backups on holding disk till they are flushed out to a tape with amflush.. Am I right?
Re: without tapes
>and... what about changing /dev/sg0 and /dev/nst0 and /dev/st0 (which are my >devices) permissions? As long as you're not running as root, I guess this is OK. Seems like a lot of work and potential for messing up to me, but whatever you're comfortable with. BTW, you shouldn't be using /dev/st0 anyplace. >Or better to touch /dev/nosuchdevice and then? Point to it the >changer-device or the tape-device? Why touch it? The whole point of the excercise is to point at a device that does not exist, which will cause the open to fail, which Amanda already handles. And you'll want to leave your tape changer out of all this. Just comment out tpchanger in amanda.conf when going to the holding disk. John R. Jackson, Technical Software Specialist, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: without tapes
>>> Put /dev/null in for your tape device when running the amdumps, then >>> set it to a real tape and do an amflush. >> >>Wasn't there a comment on this list before about using something non- >>existent (like /dev/nosuchdevice) instead of /dev/null because amanda >>was somehow 'aware' of /dev/null and would perform backups differently? > > Absolutely correct. Do **not** set tapedev to /dev/null unless you > really want Amanda to throw all your data away. That "feature" is > meant for debugging, performance test, etc. > > At 2.4.3 this changes to "null:" and "/dev/null" goes back to an older > behavior of throwing an error (since you cannot rewind it :-). But I > would still strongly recommend the "/no/such/device" technique -- you > know for certain what's going on with that. > >>Frank > > John R. Jackson, Technical Software Specialist, [EMAIL PROTECTED] and... what about changing /dev/sg0 and /dev/nst0 and /dev/st0 (which are my devices) permissions? c-1 root tape 9, 128 Aug 8 2001 /dev/nst0 c-1 backup root 21, 0 Aug 8 2001 /dev/sg0 c-1 root tape 9, 0 Aug 8 2001 /dev/st0 Would this work? Or better to touch /dev/nosuchdevice and then? Point to it the changer-device or the tape-device? Thanks
Re: without tapes
>> Put /dev/null in for your tape device when running the amdumps, then >> set it to a real tape and do an amflush. > >Wasn't there a comment on this list before about using something non- >existent (like /dev/nosuchdevice) instead of /dev/null because amanda >was somehow 'aware' of /dev/null and would perform backups differently? Absolutely correct. Do **not** set tapedev to /dev/null unless you really want Amanda to throw all your data away. That "feature" is meant for debugging, performance test, etc. At 2.4.3 this changes to "null:" and "/dev/null" goes back to an older behavior of throwing an error (since you cannot rewind it :-). But I would still strongly recommend the "/no/such/device" technique -- you know for certain what's going on with that. >Frank John R. Jackson, Technical Software Specialist, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: without tapes
--On Wednesday, April 10, 2002 13:56:02 -0500 "Marc W. Mengel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Wed, 3 Apr 2002, Juanjo wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> Is it possible to run amanda "without-tapes" so it dumps only to holding >> disk? >> But what I mean is not to take off the tapes physically but disabling tape >> writing. I want to accumulate incrementals worth a week and flush them on >> friday to a tape... >> >> How can I do such a thing? > > Put /dev/null in for your tape device when running the amdumps, then > set it to a real tape and do an amflush. > Wasn't there a comment on this list before about using something non- existent (like /dev/nosuchdevice) instead of /dev/null because amanda was somehow 'aware' of /dev/null and would perform backups differently? You could just not have the correct tape in the drive and amanda will keep accumulating the backups in the holding disk. Frank -- Frank Smith[EMAIL PROTECTED] Systems Administrator Voice: 512-374-4673 Hoover's Online Fax: 512-374-4501
Re: without tapes
On Wed, 3 Apr 2002, Juanjo wrote: > Hi, > > Is it possible to run amanda "without-tapes" so it dumps only to holding > disk? > But what I mean is not to take off the tapes physically but disabling tape > writing. I want to accumulate incrementals worth a week and flush them on > friday to a tape... > > How can I do such a thing? Put /dev/null in for your tape device when running the amdumps, then set it to a real tape and do an amflush. - Marc Mengel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Re: without tapes
>Is it possible to run amanda "without-tapes" so it dumps only to holding >disk? Set tapedev to "/no-such-device". Amanda will not be able to access that as a tape device and fall back to degraded (incremental only, unless you change "reserve" in your holding disk definition) mode. John R. Jackson, Technical Software Specialist, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: without tapes
On Wed, 3 Apr 2002 at 11:12am, Juanjo wrote > Is it possible to run amanda "without-tapes" so it dumps only to holding > disk? > But what I mean is not to take off the tapes physically but disabling tape > writing. I want to accumulate incrementals worth a week and flush them on > friday to a tape... If this is what you want to do, just don't put a tape in on Mon-Fri. Then do your amflush(es) on Friday. Note that you'll need to set your reserve to a low number to have room for full backups and you'll need enough holding space. Also keep in mind that if that disk crashes on Thursday night/Friday morning, you've lost a week's worth of backups... -- Joshua Baker-LePain Department of Biomedical Engineering Duke University
