I am writing some [minimal] oss software, after 5 years of just using it.
Background:
Simplified "unmanaged" distributions like e-smith / SME server (www.contribs.org) are not supposed to require a full-time admin.
Once setup by someone competent, they require nil maintenance unless something breaks.
I am unsatisfied with the backup solutions available. Hard drives are now large, but large tape drives are expensive, especially for the s in SME.
I like the DDS2 tape drives that are almost free and plentiful around here, as are tapes used once only.
Problem:
The system does not provide effectively for incremental backups, and in any case that would require sensible tape management. I want a full nightly backup on a new tape each night. However, the data set is too large for the tape, and restoring can be complex.
Solution:
1) Get flexbackup to prompt for the next tape via email. I couldn't figure this out, and in a full backup every 24 hours you may find a tape drive which is permanently in use.
2) Split the backup into five flexbackup sets, named by the days of the week. Call flexbackup with date +%A as the set name. Define the sets, each small enough to fit on a certain part of the drive. Automate this using bash scripts and du, and a script to detect when the sets are too large to fit on the tape
Question:
How can I determine the capacity of a tape in a generic fashion? I want this to run on any e-smith machine.
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