AMANDA.CONF(5)

NAME
amanda.conf - Main configuration file for Amanda, the Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver

DESCRIPTION

amanda.conf(5) is the main configuration file for Amanda. This manpage lists the relevant sections and parameters of this file for quick reference.

The file <CONFIG_DIR>/<config>/amanda.conf is loaded.

SYNTAX

There are a number of configuration parameters that control the behavior of the Amanda programs. All have default values, so you need not specify the parameter in amanda.conf if the default is suitable.

  COMMENTS

Lines starting with # are ignored, as are blank lines. Comments may be placed on a line with a directive by starting the comment with a #. The remainder of the line is ignored.

  KEYWORDS AND IDENTIFIERS

Keywords are case insensitive, i.e. mailto and MailTo are treated the same. Also, the characters '-' and '_' are interchangeable in all predefined Amanda keywords: device_property and device-property have the same meaning.

Identifiers are names which are defined in the configuration itself, such as dumptypes or interfaces. Identifiers are are case-insensitive, but sensitive to '-' vs. '_'. Identifiers should be quoted in the configuration file, although For historical reasons, the quotes are optional.

Strings are always quoted with double quotes ("), and any double quotes or backslashes within the string are escaped with a backslash:

tapelist "/path/to/tapelist"
property "escaped-string" "escaping: \\ (backslash) and \" (double-quote)"

To summarize, then:

                          # QUOTES        CASE            -/_
logdir "logs"             # required      sensitive       sensitive
send-amreport-on strange  # prohibited    insensitive     insensitive
tapetype "EXABYTE"        # optional      insensitive     sensitive
define dumptype "dt" {    # optional      insensitive     sensitive
  "dumptype-common"       # optional      insensitive     sensitive
  strategy noincr         # prohibited    insensitive     insensitive
}

  VALUE SUFFIXES

Integer arguments may have one of the following (case insensitive) suffixes, some of which have a multiplier effect:

b byte bytes
    Some number of bytes.

bps
    Some number of bytes per second.

k kb kbyte kbytes kilobyte kilobytes
    Some number of kilobytes (bytes*1024).

kps kbps
    Some number of kilobytes per second (bytes*1024).

    It is the default multiplier for all size options.

m mb meg mbyte mbytes megabyte megabytes
    Some number of megabytes (bytes*1024*1024).

mps mbps
    Some number of megabytes per second (bytes*1024*1024).

g gb gbyte gbytes gigabyte gigabytes
    Some number of gigabytes (bytes*1024*1024*1024).

tape tapes
    Some number of tapes.

day days
    Some number of days.

week weeks
    Some number of weeks (days*7).

        Note
        The value inf may be used in most places where an integer is expected to mean an infinite amount.

        Boolean arguments may have any of the values y, yes, t, true or on to indicate a true state, or n, no, f, false or off to indicate a false state. If no argument is given, true is assumed.

  PARAMETER ORDER

In general, the order in which parameters occur in the configuration file does not matter, with the exception of subsection inheritance. For example, if dumptype "normal-encrypt" which inherits from dumptype "normal", then "normal" must appear first in the configuration file.

  STRINGS

Quoted strings in Amanda follow a common, C-like syntax. Printable characters and whitespace are kept as-is, except that the backslash character (\) is used as an escape character, and a double-quote ends the string. The allowed escape sequences are

    ESCAPE SEQUENCE     BECOMES
    \\                  \
    \"                  "
    \n                  (newline)
    \t                  (tab)
    \r                  (carriage return)
    \f                  (form-feed)
    \1 - \7
    \01 - \77
    \001 - \377         (character specified in octal)
Illegally quoted strings are handled on a "best-effort" basis, which may lead to unexpected results.

Examples:

finserver "/data/finance/XYZ Corp's \"real\" finances" finance-high eth0 -1
property "syspath" "C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM"

GLOBAL PARAMETERS

org string
    Default: daily. A descriptive name for the configuration. This string appears in the Subject line of mail reports. Each Amanda configuration should have a different string to keep mail reports distinct.

mailer string
    Default found by configure. A mail program that can send mail with 'MAILER -s "subject" user < message_file'.

mailto string
    Default: operators. A space separated list of recipients for mail reports.

send-amreport-on [all|strange|error|never]
    Default: all. Specify which types of messages will trigger an email from amreport. amreport is used by amdump and amflush.

    all
        Send an email on any message.

    strange
        Send an email on strange or error message. A strange message occurs when the dump succeeded, but returned one or more errors unknown to Amanda.

    error
        Send an email only on error messages.

    never
        Never send an email.

dumpcycle int
    Default: 10 days. The number of days in the backup cycle. Each disk will get a full backup at least this often. Setting this to zero tries to do a full backup each run.

        Note
        This parameter may also be set in a specific dumptype (see below). This value sets the default for all dumptypes so must appear in amanda.conf before any dumptypes are defined.

runspercycle int
    Default: same as dumpcycle. The number of amdump runs in dumpcycle days. A value of 0 means the same value as dumpcycle. A value of -1 means guess the number of runs from the tapelist(5) file, which is the number of tapes used in the last dumpcycle days / runtapes.

tapecycle int
    Default: 15 tapes. Typically tapes are used by Amanda in an ordered rotation. The tapecycle parameter defines the size of that rotation. The number of tapes in rotation must be larger than the number of tapes required for a complete dump cycle (see the dumpcycle parameter).

    This is calculated by multiplying the number of amdump runs per dump cycle (runspercycle parameter) times the number of tapes used per run (runtapes parameter). Typically two to four times this calculated number of tapes are in rotation. While Amanda is always willing to use a new tape in its rotation, it refuses to reuse a tape until at least 'tapecycle -1' number of other tapes have been used.

    It is considered good administrative practice to set the tapecycle parameter slightly lower than the actual number of tapes in rotation. This allows the administrator to more easily cope with damaged or misplaced tapes or schedule adjustments that call for slight adjustments in the rotation order.

usetimestamps bool
    Default: Yes. This option allows Amanda to track multiple runs per calendar day. The only reason one might disable it is that Amanda versions before 2.5.1 can't read logfiles written when this option was enabled.

label_new_tapes string
    Default: not set. When set, this directive will cause Amanda to automatically write an Amanda tape label to any blank tape she encounters. This option is DANGEROUS because when set, Amanda will ERASE any non-Amanda tapes you may have, and may also ERASE any near-failing tapes. Use with caution.

    When using this directive, specify the template for new tape labels. The template should contain some number of contiguous '%' characters, which will be replaced with a generated number. Be sure to specify enough '%' characters that you do not run out of tape labels. Example: label_new_tapes "DailySet1-%%%"

dumpuser string
    Default: amanda. The login name Amanda uses to run the backups. The backup client hosts must allow access from the tape server host as this user via .rhosts or .amandahosts, depending on how the Amanda software was built.

printer string
    Printer to use when doing tape labels. See the lbl-templ tapetype option.

tapedev string
    Default: null:. The device name, referencing the name of a "device" section in the configuration file. See amanda-devices(7) for more information on device names.

    If a tape changer is configured (see the tpchanger option), this option might not be used.

    If tapedev is null:, programs such as amdump will run normally but all images will be thrown away. This should only be used for debugging and testing, and probably only with the record option set to no.

device_property string string
    These options can set various device properties. See amanda-devices(7) for more information on device properties and their syntax. Both strings are always quoted; the first string contains the name of the property to set, and the second contains its value. For example, to set a fixed block size of 128k, write:
    device_property "BLOCK_SIZE" "128k"

property [append] string string+
    These options can set various properties, they can be used by third party software to store information in the configuration file. Both strings are quoted; the first string contains the name of the property to set, and the others contains its values. append keyword append the values to the list of values for that property.

tpchanger string
    Default: none. The name of the tape changer. If a tape changer is not configured, this option is not used and should be commented out of the configuration file.

    If a tape changer is configured, choose one of the changer scripts (e.g. chg-scsi) and enter that here.

changerdev string
    Default: /dev/null. A tape changer configuration parameter. Usage depends on the particular changer defined with the tpchanger option.

changerfile string
    Default: /usr/adm/amanda/log/changer-status. A tape changer configuration parameter. Usage depends on the particular changer defined with the tpchanger option.

runtapes int
    Default: 1. The maximum number of tapes used in a single run. If a tape changer is not configured, this option is not used and should be commented out of the configuration file.

    If a tape changer is configured, this may be set larger than one to let Amanda write to more than one tape.

    Note that this is an upper bound on the number of tapes, and Amanda may use less.

    Also note that as of this release, Amanda does not support true tape overflow. When it reaches the end of one tape, the backup image Amanda was processing starts over again on the next tape.

maxdumpsize int
    Default: runtapes*tape_length. Maximum number of bytes the planner will schedule for a run.

    The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.

taperalgo [first|firstfit|largest|largestfit|smallest|last]
    Default: first. The algorithm used to choose which dump image to send to the taper.

    first
        First in, first out.

    firstfit
        The first dump image that will fit on the current tape.

    largest
        The largest dump image.

    largestfit
        The largest dump image that will fit on the current tape.

    smallest
        The smallest dump image.

    last
        Last in, first out.

labelstr string
    Default: .*. The tape label constraint regular expression. All tape labels generated (see amlabel(8)) and used by this configuration must match the regular expression. If multiple configurations are run from the same tape server host, it is helpful to set their labels to different strings (for example, "DAILY[0-9][0-9]*" vs. "ARCHIVE[0-9][0-9]*") to avoid overwriting each other's tapes.

tapetype identifier
    Default: "EXABYTE". The type of tape drive associated with tapedev or tpchanger. This refers to one of the defined tapetypes in the config file (see below), which specify various tape parameters, like the length, filemark size, and speed of the tape media and device.

ctimeout int
    Default: 30 seconds. Maximum amount of time that amcheck will wait for each client host.

dtimeout int
    Default: 1800 seconds. Amount of idle time per disk on a given client that a dumper running from within amdump will wait before it fails with a data timeout error.

etimeout int
    Default: 300 seconds. Amount of time per estimate on a given client that the planner step of amdump will wait to get the dump size estimates (note: Amanda runs up to 3 estimates for each DLE). For instance, with the default of 300 seconds and four DLE's, each estimating level 0 and level 1 on client A, planner will wait up to 40 minutes for that machine. A negative value will be interpreted as a total amount of time to wait per client instead of per disk.

connect_tries int
    Default: 3. How many times the server will try a connection.

req_tries int
    Default: 3. How many times the server will resend a REQ packet if it doesn't get the ACK packet.

netusage int
    Default: 8000 Kbps. The maximum network bandwidth allocated to Amanda, in Kbytes per second. See also the interface section.

inparallel int
    Default: 10. The maximum number of backups that Amanda will attempt to run in parallel. Amanda will stay within the constraints of network bandwidth and holding disk space available, so it doesn't hurt to set this number a bit high. Some contention can occur with larger numbers of backups, but this effect is relatively small on most systems.

displayunit "k|m|g|t"
    Default: "k". The unit used to print many numbers, k=kilo, m=mega, g=giga, t=tera.

dumporder string
    Default: tttTTTTTTT. The priority order of each dumper:

    s: smallest size
    S: largest size
    t: smallest time
    T: largest time
    b: smallest bandwidth
    B: largest bandwidth

maxdumps int
    Default: 1. The maximum number of backups from a single host that Amanda will attempt to run in parallel. See also the inparallel option.

    Note that this parameter may also be set in a specific dumptype (see below). This value sets the default for all dumptypes so must appear in amanda.conf before any dumptypes are defined.

bumpsize int
    Default: 10 Mbytes. The minimum savings required to trigger an automatic bump from one incremental level to the next, expressed as size. If Amanda determines that the next higher backup level will be this much smaller than the current level, it will do the next level. The value of this parameter is used only if the parameter bumppercent is set to 0.

    The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.

    The global setting of this parameter can be overwritten inside of a dumptype-definition.

    See also the options bumppercent, bumpmult and bumpdays.

bumppercent int
    Default: 0 percent. The minimum savings required to trigger an automatic bump from one incremental level to the next, expressed as percentage of the current size of the DLE (size of current level 0). If Amanda determines that the next higher backup level will be this much smaller than the current level, it will do the next level.

    If this parameter is set to 0, the value of the parameter bumpsize is used to trigger bumping.

    The global setting of this parameter can be overwritten inside of a dumptype-definition.

    See also the options bumpsize, bumpmult and bumpdays.

bumpmult float
    Default: 1.5. The bump size multiplier. Amanda multiplies bumpsize by this factor for each level. This prevents active filesystems from bumping too much by making it harder to bump to the next level. For example, with the default bumpsize and bumpmult set to 2.0, the bump threshold will be 10 Mbytes for level one, 20 Mbytes for level two, 40 Mbytes for level three, and so on.

    The global setting of this parameter can be overwritten inside of a dumptype-definition.

bumpdays int
    Default: 2 days. To insure redundancy in the dumps, Amanda keeps filesystems at the same incremental level for at least bumpdays days, even if the other bump threshold criteria are met.

    The global setting of this parameter can be overwritten inside of a dumptype-definition.

diskfile string
    Default: disklist. The file name for the disklist file holding client hosts, disks and other client dumping information.

infofile string
    Default: /usr/adm/amanda/curinfo. The file or directory name for the historical information database. If Amanda was configured to use DBM databases, this is the base file name for them. If it was configured to use text formated databases (the default), this is the base directory and within here will be a directory per client, then a directory per disk, then a text file of data.

logdir string
    Default: /usr/adm/amanda. The directory for the amdump and log files.

indexdir string
    Default /usr/adm/amanda/index. The directory where index files (backup image catalogues) are stored. Index files are only generated for filesystems whose dumptype has the index option enabled.

tapelist string
    Default: tapelist. The file name for the active tapelist(5). Amanda maintains this file with information about the active set of tapes.

device_output_buffer_size int
    Default: 1280k. Controls the amount of memory used by Amanda to hold data as it is read from the network or disk before it is written to the output device. Higher values may be useful on fast tape drives and optical media.

    The default unit is bytes if it is not specified.

tapebufs int
    Default: 20. This option is deprecated; use the device_output_buffer_size directive instead. tapebufs works the same way, but the number specified is multiplied by the device blocksize prior to use.

reserve number
    Default: 100. The part of holding-disk space that should be reserved for incremental backups if no tape is available, expressed as a percentage of the available holding-disk space (0-100). By default, when there is no tape to write to, degraded mode (incremental) backups will be performed to the holding disk. If full backups should also be allowed in this case, the amount of holding disk space reserved for incrementals should be lowered.

autoflush bool
    Default: off. Whether an amdump run will flush the dumps from holding disk to tape.

amrecover_do_fsf bool
    Default: on. Amrecover will call amrestore with the -f flag for faster positioning of the tape.

amrecover_check_label bool
    Default: on. Amrecover will call amrestore with the -l flag to check the label.

amrecover_changer string
    Default: ''. Amrecover will use the changer if you use 'settape <string>' and that string is the same as the amrecover_changer setting.

columnspec string
    Defines the width of columns amreport should use. String is a comma (',') separated list of triples. Each triple consists of three parts which are separated by a equal sign ('=') and a colon (':') (see the example). These three parts specify:

        1. the name of the column, which may be:
        	Compress (compression ratio)
        	Disk (client disk name)
        	DumpRate (dump rate in KBytes/sec)
        	DumpTime (total dump time in hours:minutes)
        	HostName (client host name)
        	Level (dump level)
        	OrigKB (original image size in KBytes)
        	OutKB (output image size in KBytes)
        	TapeRate (tape writing rate in KBytes/sec)
        	TapeTime (total tape time in hours:minutes)

        2. the amount of space to display before the column (used to get whitespace between columns).

        3. the width of the column itself. If set to a negative value, the width will be calculated on demand to fit the largest entry in this column.
    Here is an example:

    columnspec "Disk=1:18,HostName=0:10,OutKB=1:7"

    The above will display the disk information in 18 characters and put one space before it. The hostname column will be 10 characters wide with no space to the left. The output KBytes column is seven characters wide with one space before it.

includefile string
    Default: none. The name of an Amanda configuration file to include within the current file. Useful for sharing dumptypes, tapetypes and interface definitions among several configurations. Relative pathnames are relative to the configuration directory.

debug_auth int
    Default: 0. Debug level of the auth module

debug_event int
    Default: 0. Debug level of the event module

debug_holding int
    Default: 0. Debug level of the holdingdisk module

debug_protocol int
    Default: 0. Debug level of the protocol module

debug_planner int
    Default: 0. Debug level of the planner process

debug_driver int
    Default: 0. Debug level of the driver process

debug_dumper int
    Default: 0. Debug level of the dumper process

debug_chunker int
    Default: 0. Debug level of the chunker process

debug_taper int
    Default: 0. Debug level of the taper process

flush-threshold-dumped int
    Default: 0. Amanda will not begin writing data to a new volume until the amount of data on the holding disk is at least this percentage of the volume size. In other words, Amanda will not begin until the inequality h > t × d is satisfied, where h is the amount of data on the holding disk, t is the capacity of a volume, and d is this parameter, expressed as a percentage. This parameter may be larger than 100%, for example to keep more recent dumps on the holding disk for faster recovery.

    Needless to say, your holding disk must be big enough that this criterion could be satisfied. If the holding disk cannot be used for a particular dump (because, for example, there is no remaining holding space) then Amanda will disregard the constraint specified by this setting and start a new volume anyway. Once writing to a volume has begun, this constraint is not applied unless and until a new volume is needed.

    The value of this parameter may not exceed than that of the flush-threshold-scheduled parameter.

flush-threshold-scheduled int
    Default: 0. Amanda will not begin writing data to a new volume until the sum of the amount of data on the holding disk and the estimated amount of data remaining to be dumped during this run is at least this percentage of the volume size. In other words, Amanda will not begin until the inequality h + s > t × d is satisfied, where h is the amount of data on the holding disk, s is the total amount of data scheduled for this run but not dumped yet, t is the capacity of a volume, and d is this parameter, expressed as a percentage. This parameter may be larger than 100%.

    Needless to say, your holding disk must be big enough that this criterion could be satisfied. If the holding disk cannot be used for a particular dump (because, for example, there is no remaining holding space) then Amanda will disregard the constraint specified by this setting and start a new volume anyway. Once writing to a volume has begun, this constraint is not applied unless and until a new volume is needed.

    The value of this parameter may not be less than that of the flush-threshold-dumped or taperflush parameters.

taperflush int
    Default: 0. At the end of a run, Amanda will start a new tape to flush remaining data if there is more data on the holding disk at the end of a run than this setting allows; the amount is specified as a percentage of the capacity of a single volume. In other words, at the end of a run, Amanda will begin a new tape if the inequality h > t × f is satisfied, where h is the amount of data remaining on the holding disk from this or previous runs, t is the capacity of a volume, and f is this parameter, expressed as a percentage. This parameter may be greater than 100%.

    The value of this parameter may not exceed that of the flush-threshold-scheduled parameter.; autoflush must be set to 'yes' if taperflush is greater than 0.

reserved-udp-port int,int
    Default: --with-udpportrange or 512,1023. Reserved udp port that will be used (bsd, bsdudp). Range is inclusive.

reserved-tcp-port int,int
    Default: --with-low-tcpportrange or 512,1023. Reserved tcp port that will be used (bsdtcp). Range is inclusive.

unreserved-tcp-port int,int
    Default: --with-tcpportrange or 1024,65535. Unreserved tcp port that will be used (bsd, bsdudp). Range is inclusive.

HOLDINGDISK SECTION

The amanda.conf file may define one or more holding disks used as buffers to hold backup images before they are written to tape. The syntax is:
holdingdisk name {
    holdingdisk-option holdingdisk-value
    ...
}

Name is a logical name for this holding disk.

The options and values are:

comment string
    Default: none. A comment string describing this holding disk.

directory disk
    Default: /dumps/amanda. The path to this holding area.

use int
    Default: 0 Gb. Amount of space that can be used in this holding disk area. If the value is zero, all available space on the file system is used. If the value is negative, Amanda will use all available space minus that value.

chunksize int
    Default: 1 Gb. Holding disk chunk size. Dumps larger than the specified size will be stored in multiple holding disk files. The size of each chunk will not exceed the specified value. However, even though dump images are split in the holding disk, they are concatenated as they are written to tape, so each dump image still corresponds to a single continuous tape section.

    The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.

    If 0 is specified, Amanda will create holding disk chunks as large as ((INT_MAX/1024)-64) Kbytes.

    Each holding disk chunk includes a 32 Kbyte header, so the minimum chunk size is 64 Kbytes (but that would be really silly).

    Operating systems that are limited to a maximum file size of 2 Gbytes actually cannot handle files that large. They must be at least one byte less than 2 Gbytes. Since Amanda works with 32 Kbyte blocks, and to handle the final read at the end of the chunk, the chunk size should be at least 64 Kbytes (2 * 32 Kbytes) smaller than the maximum file size, e.g. 2047 Mbytes.

DUMPTYPE SECTION

The amanda.conf(5) file may define multiple sets of backup options and refer to them by name from the disklist(5) file. For instance, one set of options might be defined for file systems that can benefit from high compression, another set that does not compress well, another set for file systems that should always get a full backup and so on.

A set of backup options are entered in a dumptype section, which looks like this:
define dumptype "name" {
    dumptype-option dumptype-value
    ...
}

Name is the name of this set of backup options. It is referenced from the disklist(5) file.

Some of the options in a dumptype section are the same as those in the main part of amanda.conf(5). The main option value is used to set the default for all dumptype sections. For instance, setting dumpcycle to 50 in the main part of the config file causes all following dumptype sections to start with that value, but the value may be changed on a section by section basis. Changes to variables in the main part of the config file must be done before (earlier in the file) any dumptypes are defined.

The dumptype options and values are:

auth string
    Default: bsd. Type of authorization to perform between tape server and backup client hosts. See amanda-auth(7) for more detail.

amandad_path string
    Default: $libexec/amandad. Specify the amandad path of the client, only use with rsh/ssh authentification.

client_username string
    Default: CLIENT_LOGIN. Specify the username to connect on the client, only use with rsh/ssh authentification.

bumpsize int
    Default: 10 Mbytes. The minimum savings required to trigger an automatic bump from one incremental level to the next, expressed as size. If Amanda determines that the next higher backup level will be this much smaller than the current level, it will do the next level. The value of this parameter is used only if the parameter bumppercent is set to 0.

    The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.

    See also the options bumppercent, bumpmult and bumpdays.

bumppercent int
    Default: 0 percent. The minimum savings required to trigger an automatic bump from one incremental level to the next, expressed as percentage of the current size of the DLE (size of current level 0). If Amanda determines that the next higher backup level will be this much smaller than the current level, it will do the next level.

    If this parameter is set to 0, the value of the parameter bumpsize is used to trigger bumping.

    See also the options bumpsize, bumpmult and bumpdays.

bumpmult float
    Default: 1.5. The bump size multiplier. Amanda multiplies bumpsize by this factor for each level. This prevents active filesystems from bumping too much by making it harder to bump to the next level. For example, with the default bumpsize and bumpmult set to 2.0, the bump threshold will be 10 Mbytes for level one, 20 Mbytes for level two, 40 Mbytes for level three, and so on.

bumpdays int
    Default: 2 days. To insure redundancy in the dumps, Amanda keeps filesystems at the same incremental level for at least bumpdays days, even if the other bump threshold criteria are met.

comment string
    Default: none. A comment string describing this set of backup options.

comprate float [, float ]
    Default: 0.50, 0.50. The expected full and incremental compression factor for dumps. It is only used if Amanda does not have any history information on compression rates for a filesystem, so should not usually need to be set. However, it may be useful for the first time a very large filesystem that compresses very little is backed up.

compress [client|server] string
    Default: client fast. If Amanda does compression of the backup images, it can do so either on the backup client host before it crosses the network or on the tape server host as it goes from the network into the holding disk or to tape. Which place to do compression (if at all) depends on how well the dump image usually compresses, the speed and load on the client or server, network capacity, holding disk capacity, availability of tape hardware compression, etc.

    For either type of compression, Amanda also allows the selection of three styles of compression. Best is the best compression available, often at the expense of CPU overhead. Fast is often not as good a compression as best, but usually less CPU overhead. Or to specify Custom to use your own compression method. (See dumptype custom-compress in example/amanda.conf for reference)

    So the compress options line may be one of:

    compress none

    compress client fast

    compress client best

    compress client custom
        Specify client_custom_compress "PROG"

        PROG must not contain white space and it must accept -d for uncompress.

    compress server fast

    compress server best

    compress server custom
        Specify server_custom_compress "PROG"

        PROG must not contain white space and it must accept -d for uncompress.

    Note that some tape devices do compression and this option has nothing to do with whether that is used. If hardware compression is used (usually via a particular tape device name or mt option), Amanda (software) compression should be disabled.

dumpcycle int
    Default: 10 days. The number of days in the backup cycle. Each disk using this set of options will get a full backup at least this of ten. Setting this to zero tries to do a full backup each run.

encrypt [none|client|server]
    Default: none. To encrypt backup images, it can do so either on the backup client host before it crosses the network or on the tape server host as it goes from the network into the holding disk or to tape.

    So the encrypt options line may be one of:

    encrypt none

    encrypt client
        Specify client_encrypt "PROG"

        PROG must not contain white space.

        Specify client_decrypt_option "decryption-parameter" Default: "-d"

        decryption-parameter must not contain white space.

        (See dumptype client-encrypt-nocomp in example/amanda.conf for reference)

    encrypt server
        Specify server_encrypt "PROG"

        PROG must not contain white space.

        Specify server_decrypt_option "decryption-parameter" Default: "-d"

        decryption-parameter must not contain white space.

        (See dumptype server-encrypt-fast in example/amanda.conf for reference)

    Note that current logic assumes compression then encryption during backup(thus decrypt then uncompress during restore). So specifying client-encryption AND server-compression is not supported. amcrypt which is a wrapper of aespipe is provided as a reference symmetric encryption program.

estimate client|calcsize|server
    Default: client. Determine the way Amanda does it's estimate.

    client
        Use the same program as the dumping program, this is the most accurate way to do estimates, but it can take a long time.

    calcsize
        Use a faster program to do estimates, but the result is less accurate.

    server
        Use only statistics from the previous run to give an estimate, it takes only a few seconds but the result is not accurate if your disk usage changes from day to day.

exclude [ list|file ][[optional][ append ][ string ]+]
    Default: file. There are two exclude lists, exclude file and exclude list. With exclude file , the string is a GNU-tar exclude expression. With exclude list , the string is a file name on the client containing GNU-tar exclude expressions. The path to the specified exclude list file, if present (see description of 'optional' below), must be readable by the Amanda user.

    All exclude expressions are concatenated in one file and passed to GNU-tar as an --exclude-from argument.

    Exclude expressions must always be specified as relative to the head directory of the DLE.

    With the append keyword, the string is appended to the current list, without it, the string overwrites the list.

    If optional is specified for exclude list, then amcheck will not complain if the file doesn't exist or is not readable.

    For exclude list, if the file name is relative, the disk name being backed up is prepended. So if this is entered:
        exclude list ".amanda.excludes"
    the actual file used would be /var/.amanda.excludes for a backup of /var, /usr/local/.amanda.excludes for a backup of /usr/local, and so on.

holdingdisk [ never|auto|required ]
    Default: auto. Whether a holding disk should be used for these backups or whether they should go directly to tape. If the holding disk is a portion of another file system that Amanda is backing up, that file system should refer to a dumptype with holdingdisk set to never to avoid backing up the holding disk into itself.

    never|no|false|off
        Never use a holdingdisk, the dump will always go directly to tape. There will be no dump if you have a tape error.

    auto|yes|true|on
        Use the holding disk, unless there is a problem with the holding disk, the dump won't fit there or the medium doesn't require spooling (e.g., VFS device)

    required
        Always dump to holdingdisk, never directly to tape. There will be no dump if it doesn't fit on holdingdisk

ignore boolean
    Default: no. Whether disks associated with this backup type should be backed up or not. This option is useful when the disklist file is shared among several configurations, some of which should not back up all the listed file systems.

include [ list|file ][[optional][ append ][ string ]+]
    Default: file ".". There are two include lists, include file and include list. With include file , the string is a glob expression. With include list , the string is a file name on the client containing glob expressions.

    All include expressions are expanded by Amanda, concatenated in one file and passed to GNU-tar as a --files-from argument. They must start with "./" and contain no other "/".

    Include expressions must always be specified as relative to the head directory of the DLE.

        Note
        For globbing to work at all, even the limited single level, the top level directory of the DLE must be readable by the Amanda user.

    With the append keyword, the string is appended to the current list, without it, the string overwrites the list.

    If optional is specified for include list, then amcheck will not complain if the file doesn't exist or is not readable.

    For include list, If the file name is relative, the disk name being backed up is prepended.

index boolean
    Default: no. Whether an index (catalogue) of the backup should be generated and saved in indexdir. These catalogues are used by the amrecover utility.

kencrypt boolean
    Default: no. Whether the backup image should be encrypted by Kerberos as it is sent across the network from the backup client host to the tape server host.

maxdumps int
    Default: 1. The maximum number of backups from a single host that Amanda will attempt to run in parallel. See also the main section parameter inparallel.

maxpromoteday int
    Default: 10000. The maximum number of day for a promotion, set it 0 if you don't want promotion, set it to 1 or 2 if your disks get overpromoted.

priority string
    Default: medium. When there is no tape to write to, Amanda will do incremental backups in priority order to the holding disk. The priority may be high (2), medium (1), low (0) or a number of your choice.

program [DUMP|GNUTAR|APPLICATION]
    Default: DUMP. The type of backup to perform. Valid values are:

    DUMP
        The native operating system backup program.

    GNUTAR
        To use GNU-tar or to do PC backups using Samba.

    APPLICATION
        To use an application-tool, see the application option.

application string
    No default. Must be the name of an application-tool if program is set to APPLICATION. See APPLICATION SECTION below.

script string
    No default. Must be the name of a script-tool. You can have many script. See SCRIPT SECTION below.

property [append] string string+
    These options can set various properties, they can be used by third party software to store information in the configuration file. Both strings are quoted; the first string contains the name of the property to set, and the others contains its values. append keyword append the values to the list of values for that property.

record boolean
    Default: yes. Whether to ask the backup program to update its database (e.g. /etc/dumpdates for DUMP or /usr/local/var/amanda/gnutar-lists for GNUTAR) of time stamps. This is normally enabled for daily backups and turned off for periodic archival runs.

skip-full boolean
    Default: no. If true and planner has scheduled a full backup, these disks will be skipped, and full backups should be run off-line on these days. It was reported that Amanda only schedules level 1 incrementals in this configuration; this is probably a bug.

skip-incr boolean
    Default: no. If true and planner has scheduled an incremental backup, these disks will be skipped.

ssh_keys string
    Default: No default. The key file the ssh auth will use, it must be the private key. If this parameter is not specified, then the default ssh key will be used.

starttime int
    Default: none. Backups will not start until after this time of day. The value should be hh*100+mm, e.g. 6:30PM (18:30) would be entered as 1830.

strategy string
    Default: standard. Strategy to use when planning what level of backup to run next. Values are:

    standard
        The standard Amanda schedule.

    nofull
        Never do full backups, only level 1 incrementals.

    noinc
        Never do incremental backups, only full dumps.

    skip
        Never do backups (useful when sharing the disklist file).

    incronly
        Only do incremental dumps. amadmin force should be used to tell Amanda that a full dump has been performed off-line, so that it resets to level 1.

tape_splitsize int
    Default: none. Split dump file on tape into pieces of a specified size. This allows dumps to be spread across multiple tapes, and can potentially make more efficient use of tape space. Note that if this value is too large (more than half the size of the average dump being split), substantial tape space can be wasted. If too small, large dumps will be split into innumerable tiny dumpfiles, adding to restoration complexity. A good rule of thumb, usually, is 1/10 of the size of your tape.

    The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.

split_diskbuffer string
    Default: none. When dumping a split dump in PORT-WRITE mode (usually meaning "no holding disk"), buffer the split chunks to a file in the directory specified by this option.

fallback_splitsize int
    Default: 10M. When dumping a split dump in PORT-WRITE mode, if no split_diskbuffer is specified (or if we somehow fail to use our split_diskbuffer), we must buffer split chunks in memory. This specifies the maximum size split chunks can be in this scenario, and thus the maximum amount of memory consumed for in-memory splitting. The size of this buffer can be changed from its (very conservative) default to a value reflecting the amount of memory that each taper process on the dump server may reasonably consume.

    The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.

The following dumptype entries are predefined by Amanda:
define dumptype "no-compress" {
    compress none
}
define dumptype "compress-fast" {
    compress client fast
}
define dumptype "compress-best" {
    compress client best
}
define dumptype "srvcompress" {
    compress server fast
}
define dumptype "bsd-auth" {
    auth bsd
}
define dumptype "krb4-auth" {
    auth krb4
}
define dumptype "no-record" {
    record no
}
define dumptype "no-hold" {
    holdingdisk no
}
define dumptype "no-full" {
    skip-full yes
}

In addition to options in a dumptype section, one or more other dumptype names may be supplied as identifiers, which make this dumptype inherit options from other previously defined dumptypes. For instance, two sections might be the same except for the record option:
define dumptype "normal" {
    comment "Normal backup, no compression, do indexing"
    no-compress
    index yes
    maxdumps 2
}
define dumptype "testing" {
    comment "Test backup, no compression, do indexing, no recording"
    "normal"
    record no
}

Amanda provides a dumptype named global in the sample amanda.conf file that all dumptypes should reference. This provides an easy place to make changes that will affect every dumptype.

TAPETYPE SECTION

The amanda.conf file may define multiple types of tape media and devices. The information is entered in a tapetype section, which looks like this in the config file:
define tapetype "name" {
    tapetype-option tapetype-value
    ...
}

Name is the name of this type of tape medium/device. It is referenced from the tapetype option in the main part of the config file.

The tapetype options and values are:

comment string
    Default: none. A comment string describing this set of tape information.

filemark int
    Default: 1 kbytes. How large a file mark (tape mark) is, measured in kbytes. If the size is only known in some linear measurement (e.g. inches), convert it to kbytes using the device density.

length int
    Default: 2000 kbytes. How much data will fit on a tape, expressed in kbytes.

    Note that this value is only used by Amanda to schedule which backups will be run. Once the backups start, Amanda will continue to write to a tape until it gets an error, regardless of what value is entered for length (but see amanda-devices(7) for exceptions).

blocksize int
    Default: 32 kbytes. How much data will be written in each tape record, expressed in kbytes. This is similar to the BLOCK_SIZE device property, but if the blocksize is not a multiple of 1024 bytes, then this parameter cannot be used to specify it, and the property must be used instead.

readblocksize int
    Default: 32 kytes How much data will be read in each tape record. This can be used to override a device's block size for reads only. This may be useful, for example, in reading a tape written with a 256k block size when Amanda is configured to use 128k blocks. This unusual feature is not supported by all operating systems and tape devices.

    The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.

speed int
    Default: 200 bps. How fast the drive will accept data, in bytes per second. This parameter is NOT currently used by Amanda.

lbl-templ string
    A PostScript template file used by amreport to generate labels. Several sample files are provided with the Amanda sources in the example directory. See the amreport(8) man page for more information.

In addition to options, another tapetype name may be supplie as an identifier, which makes this tapetype inherit options from another tapetype. For instance, the only difference between a DLT4000 tape drive using Compact-III tapes and one using Compact-IV tapes is the length of the tape. So they could be entered as:
define tapetype "DLT4000-III" {
    comment "DLT4000 tape drives with Compact-III tapes"
    length 12500 mbytes         # 10 Gig tapes with some compression
    filemark 2000 kbytes
    speed 1536 kps
}
define tapetype "DLT4000-IV" {
    "DLT4000-III"
    comment "DLT4000 tape drives with Compact-IV tapes"
    length 25000 mbytes         # 20 Gig tapes with some compression
}

INTERFACE SECTION

The amanda.conf file may define multiple types of network interfaces. The information is entered in an interface section, which looks like this:
define interface "name" {
    interface-option interface-value
    ...
}

name is the name of this type of network interface. It is referenced from the disklist file.

Note that these sections define network interface characteristics, not the actual interface that will be used. Nor do they impose limits on the bandwidth that will actually be taken up by Amanda. Amanda computes the estimated bandwidth each file system backup will take based on the estimated size and time, then compares that plus any other running backups with the limit as another of the criteria when deciding whether to start the backup. Once a backup starts, Amanda will use as much of the network as it can leaving throttling up to the operating system and network hardware.

The interface options and values are:

comment string
    Default: none. A comment string describing this set of network information.

use int
    Default: 8000 Kbps. The speed of the interface in Kbytes per second.

In addition to options, another interface name may be supplied as an identifier, which makes this interface inherit options from another interface. At the moment, this is of little use.

APPLICATION SECTION

The amanda.conf file may define multiple types of application. The information is entered in a application-tool section, which looks like this:
define application-tool "name" {
    application-option application-value
    ...
}

name is the name of this type of application. It is referenced from the dumptype

The application-tool options and values are:

comment string
    Default: none. A comment string describing this application.

plugin string
    No default. Must be set to the name of the program. This program must be in the $libexecdir/amanda/application directory on the client.

property [append] [priority] string string+
    No default. You can set property for the application, each application have a different set of property. Both strings are quoted; the first string contains the name of the property to set, and the others contains its values. append keyword append the values to the list of values for that property. priority keyword disallow the setting of that property on the client.

SCRIPT SECTION

The amanda.conf file may define multiple types of script. The information is entered in a script-tool section, which looks like this:
define script-tool "name" {
    script-option script-value
    ...
}

name is the name of this type of script. It is referenced from the dumptype

The script-tool options and values are:

comment string
    Default: none. A comment string describing this script.

plugin string
    No default. Must be set to the name of the program. This program must be in the $libexecdir/amanda/application directory on the client and/or server.

execute_where [client|server]
    Default: client. Where the script must be executed, on the client or server.

execute_on execute_on[,execute_on]*
    No default. When the script must be executed, you can specify many of them:

    pre-dle-amcheck
        Execute before the amcheck command for the dle.

    pre-host-amcheck
        Execute before the amcheck command for all dle for the client.

    post-dle-amcheck
        Execute after the amcheck command for the dle.

    post-host-amcheck
        Execute after the amcheck command for all dle for the client.

    pre-dle-estimate
        Execute before the estimate command for the dle.

    pre-host-estimate
        Execute before the estimate command for all dle for the client.

    post-dle-estimate
        Execute after the estimate command for the dle.

    post-host-estimate
        Execute after the estimate command for all dle for the client.

    pre-dle-backup
        Execute before the backup command for the dle.

    pre-host-backup
        Execute before the backup command for all dle for the client.

    post-dle-backup
        Execute after the backup command for the dle.

    post-host-backup
        Execute after the backup command for all dle for the client.

    pre-recover
        Execute before any level is recovered.

    post-recover
        Execute after all levels are recovered.

    pre-level-recover
        Execute before each level recovery.

    post-level-recover
        Execute after each level recovery.

    inter-level-recover
        Execute between two levels of recovery.

    If you recover level 0 and 2 of the disk /usr with amrecover, it will execute:
    script --pre-recover
    script --pre-level-recover --level 0
    #recovering level 0
    script --post-level-recover --level 0
    script --inter-level-recover --level 0 --level 2
    script --pre-level-recover --level 2
    #recovering level 2
    script --post-level-recover --level 2
    script --post-recover

property [append] [priority] string string+
    No default. You can set property for the script, each script have a different set of property. Both strings are quoted; the first string contains the name of the property to set, and the others contains its values. append keyword append the values to the list of values for that property. priority keyword disallow the setting of that property on the client.

DEVICE SECTION

Backend storage devices are specified in amanda.conf in the form of "device" sections, which look like this:
define device name {
    commend "comment (optional)"
    tapedev "device-specifier"
    device_property "prop-name" "prop-value"
    ...
}

name is the user-specified name of this device. It is referenced from the global tapedev parameter. The device-specifier specifies the device name to use; see amanda-devices(7). As with most sections, the comment parmeter is optional and only for the user's convenience.

An arbitrary number of device_property parameters can be specified. Again, see amanda-devices(7) for information on device properties.

CHANGER SECTION

Changers are described in amanda.conf in the form of "changer" sections, which look like this:
define changer name {
    comment "comment (optional)"
    tapedev "tape-device"
    tpchanger "changer-type"
    changerdev "device-name"
    changerfile "state-file"
    ...
}

name is the user-specified name of this device. The remaining parameters are specific to the changer type selected.

SEE ALSO

amanda(8), amanda-client.conf(5), amcrypt(8), aespipe(1), : http://wiki.zmanda.com

AUTHORS

James da Silva <jds@amanda.org>

Stefan G. Weichinger <sgw@amanda.org>