1AMANDA.CONF(5) File formats and conventions AMANDA.CONF(5)
2
6 amanda.conf - Main configuration file for Amanda, the Advanced Maryland
7 Automatic Network Disk Archiver
8
10 amanda.conf(5) is the main configuration file for Amanda. This manpage
11 lists the relevant sections and parameters of this file for quick
12 reference.
13 The file <CONFIG_DIR>/<config>/amanda.conf is loaded.
15
17 There are a number of configuration parameters that control the
18 behavior of the Amanda programs. All have default values, so you need
19 not specify the parameter in amanda.conf if the default is suitable.
20 COMMENTS
22 Lines starting with # are ignored, as are blank lines. Comments may be
23 placed on a line with a directive by starting the comment with a #. The
24 remainder of the line is ignored.
25 KEYWORDS AND IDENTIFIERS
27 Keywords are case insensitive, i.e. mailto and MailTo are treated the
28 same. Also, the characters ´-´ and ´_´ are interchangeable in all
29 predefined Amanda keywords: device_property and device-property have
30 the same meaning.
31 Identifiers are names which are defined in the configuration itself,
33 such as dumptypes or interfaces. Identifiers are are case-insensitive,
34 but sensitive to ´-´ vs. ´_´. Identifiers should be quoted in the
35 configuration file, although For historical reasons, the quotes are
36 optional.
37 Strings are always quoted with double quotes ("), and any double quotes
39 or backslashes within the string are escaped with a backslash:
40 tapelist "/path/to/tapelist"
42 property "escaped-string" "escaping: \\ (backslash) and \" (double-quote)"
43 To summarize, then:
45 # QUOTES CASE -/_
47 logdir "logs" # required sensitive sensitive
48 send-amreport-on strange # prohibited insensitive insensitive
49 tapetype "EXABYTE" # optional insensitive sensitive
50 define dumptype "dt" { # optional insensitive sensitive
52 "dumptype-common" # optional insensitive sensitive
53 strategy noincr # prohibited insensitive insensitive
54 }
55 VALUE SUFFIXES
57 Integer arguments may have one of the following (case insensitive)
58 suffixes, some of which have a multiplier effect:
59 b byte bytes
61 Some number of bytes.
62 bps
64 Some number of bytes per second.
65 k kb kbyte kbytes kilobyte kilobytes
67 Some number of kilobytes (bytes*1024).
68 kps kbps
70 Some number of kilobytes per second (bytes*1024).
71 It is the default multiplier for all size options.
73 m mb meg mbyte mbytes megabyte megabytes
75 Some number of megabytes (bytes*1024*1024).
76 mps mbps
78 Some number of megabytes per second (bytes*1024*1024).
79 g gb gbyte gbytes gigabyte gigabytes
81 Some number of gigabytes (bytes*1024*1024*1024).
82 tape tapes
84 Some number of tapes.
85 day days
87 Some number of days.
88 week weeks
90 Some number of weeks (days*7).
91 Note
93 The value inf may be used in most places where an integer is
94 expected to mean an infinite amount.
95 Boolean arguments may have any of the values y, yes, t, true or
97 on to indicate a true state, or n, no, f, false or off to
98 indicate a false state. If no argument is given, true is
99 assumed.
100 PARAMETER ORDER
102 In general, the order in which parameters occur in the configuration
103 file does not matter, with the exception of subsection inheritance. For
104 example, if dumptype "normal-encrypt" which inherits from dumptype
105 "normal", then "normal" must appear first in the configuration file.
106 STRINGS
108 Quoted strings in Amanda follow a common, C-like syntax. Printable
109 characters and whitespace are kept as-is, except that the backslash
110 character (\) is used as an escape character, and a double-quote ends
111 the string. The allowed escape sequences are
112 ESCAPE SEQUENCE BECOMES
114 \\ \
115 \" "
116 \n (newline)
117 \t (tab)
118 \r (carriage return)
119 \f (form-feed)
120 \1 - \7
121 \01 - \77
122 \001 - \377 (character specified in octal)
123 Illegally quoted strings are handled on a "best-effort" basis, which
124 may lead to unexpected results.
125 Examples:
127 finserver "/data/finance/XYZ Corp´s \"real\" finances" finance-high eth0 -1
129 property "syspath" "C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM"
130
132 org string
133 Default: daily. A descriptive name for the configuration. This
134 string appears in the Subject line of mail reports. Each Amanda
135 configuration should have a different string to keep mail reports
136 distinct.
137 mailer string
139 Default found by configure. A mail program that can send mail with
140 ´MAILER -s "subject" user < message_file´.
141 mailto string
143 Default: operators. A space separated list of recipients for mail
144 reports.
145 send-amreport-on [all|strange|error|never]
147 Default: all. Specify which types of messages will trigger an email
148 from amreport. amreport is used by amdump and amflush.
149 all
151 Send an email on any message.
152 strange
154 Send an email on strange or error message. A strange message
155 occurs when the dump succeeded, but returned one or more errors
156 unknown to Amanda.
157 error
159 Send an email only on error messages.
160 never
162 Never send an email.
163 dumpcycle int
165 Default: 10 days. The number of days in the backup cycle. Each disk
166 will get a full backup at least this often. Setting this to zero
167 tries to do a full backup each run.
168 Note
170 This parameter may also be set in a specific dumptype (see
171 below). This value sets the default for all dumptypes so must
172 appear in amanda.conf before any dumptypes are defined.
173 runspercycle int
175 Default: same as dumpcycle. The number of amdump runs in dumpcycle
176 days. A value of 0 means the same value as dumpcycle. A value of -1
177 means guess the number of runs from the tapelist(5) file, which is
178 the number of tapes used in the last dumpcycle days / runtapes.
179 tapecycle int
181 Default: 15 tapes. Typically tapes are used by Amanda in an ordered
182 rotation. The tapecycle parameter defines the size of that
183 rotation. The number of tapes in rotation must be larger than the
184 number of tapes required for a complete dump cycle (see the
185 dumpcycle parameter).
186 This is calculated by multiplying the number of amdump runs per
188 dump cycle (runspercycle parameter) times the number of tapes used
189 per run (runtapes parameter). Typically two to four times this
190 calculated number of tapes are in rotation. While Amanda is always
191 willing to use a new tape in its rotation, it refuses to reuse a
192 tape until at least ´tapecycle -1´ number of other tapes have been
193 used.
194 It is considered good administrative practice to set the tapecycle
196 parameter slightly lower than the actual number of tapes in
197 rotation. This allows the administrator to more easily cope with
198 damaged or misplaced tapes or schedule adjustments that call for
199 slight adjustments in the rotation order.
200 usetimestamps bool
202 Default: Yes. This option allows Amanda to track multiple runs per
203 calendar day. The only reason one might disable it is that Amanda
204 versions before 2.5.1 can´t read logfiles written when this option
205 was enabled.
206 label_new_tapes string
208 Default: not set. When set, this directive will cause Amanda to
209 automatically write an Amanda tape label to any blank tape she
210 encounters. This option is DANGEROUS because when set, Amanda will
211 ERASE any non-Amanda tapes you may have, and may also ERASE any
212 near-failing tapes. Use with caution.
213 When using this directive, specify the template for new tape
215 labels. The template should contain some number of contiguous ´%´
216 characters, which will be replaced with a generated number. Be sure
217 to specify enough ´%´ characters that you do not run out of tape
218 labels. Example: label_new_tapes "DailySet1-%%%"
219 dumpuser string
221 Default: amanda. The login name Amanda uses to run the backups. The
222 backup client hosts must allow access from the tape server host as
223 this user via .rhosts or .amandahosts, depending on how the Amanda
224 software was built.
225 printer string
227 Printer to use when doing tape labels. See the lbl-templ tapetype
228 option.
229 tapedev string
231 Default: null:. The device name, referencing the name of a "device"
232 section in the configuration file. See amanda-devices(7) for more
233 information on device names.
234 If a tape changer is configured (see the tpchanger option), this
236 option might not be used.
237 If tapedev is null:, programs such as amdump will run normally but
239 all images will be thrown away. This should only be used for
240 debugging and testing, and probably only with the record option set
241 to no.
242 device_property string string
244 These options can set various device properties. See amanda-
245 devices(7) for more information on device properties and their
246 syntax. Both strings are always quoted; the first string contains
247 the name of the property to set, and the second contains its value.
248 For example, to set a fixed block size of 128k, write:
249 device_property "BLOCK_SIZE" "128k"
250 property [append] string string+
252 These options can set various properties, they can be used by third
253 party software to store information in the configuration file. Both
254 strings are quoted; the first string contains the name of the
255 property to set, and the others contains its values. append
256 keyword append the values to the list of values for that property.
257 tpchanger string
259 Default: none. The name of the tape changer. If a tape changer is
260 not configured, this option is not used and should be commented out
261 of the configuration file.
262 If a tape changer is configured, choose one of the changer scripts
264 (e.g. chg-scsi) and enter that here.
265 changerdev string
267 Default: /dev/null. A tape changer configuration parameter. Usage
268 depends on the particular changer defined with the tpchanger
269 option.
270 changerfile string
272 Default: /usr/adm/amanda/log/changer-status. A tape changer
273 configuration parameter. Usage depends on the particular changer
274 defined with the tpchanger option.
275 runtapes int
277 Default: 1. The maximum number of tapes used in a single run. If a
278 tape changer is not configured, this option is not used and should
279 be commented out of the configuration file.
280 If a tape changer is configured, this may be set larger than one to
282 let Amanda write to more than one tape.
283 Note that this is an upper bound on the number of tapes, and Amanda
285 may use less.
286 Also note that as of this release, Amanda does not support true
288 tape overflow. When it reaches the end of one tape, the backup
289 image Amanda was processing starts over again on the next tape.
290 maxdumpsize int
292 Default: runtapes*tape_length. Maximum number of bytes the planner
293 will schedule for a run.
294 The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.
296 taperalgo [first|firstfit|largest|largestfit|smallest|last]
298 Default: first. The algorithm used to choose which dump image to
299 send to the taper.
300 first
302 First in, first out.
303 firstfit
305 The first dump image that will fit on the current tape.
306 largest
308 The largest dump image.
309 largestfit
311 The largest dump image that will fit on the current tape.
312 smallest
314 The smallest dump image.
315 last
317 Last in, first out.
318 labelstr string
320 Default: .*. The tape label constraint regular expression. All tape
321 labels generated (see amlabel(8)) and used by this configuration
322 must match the regular expression. If multiple configurations are
323 run from the same tape server host, it is helpful to set their
324 labels to different strings (for example, "DAILY[0-9][0-9]*" vs.
325 "ARCHIVE[0-9][0-9]*") to avoid overwriting each other´s tapes.
326 tapetype identifier
328 Default: "EXABYTE". The type of tape drive associated with tapedev
329 or tpchanger. This refers to one of the defined tapetypes in the
330 config file (see below), which specify various tape parameters,
331 like the length, filemark size, and speed of the tape media and
332 device.
333 ctimeout int
335 Default: 30 seconds. Maximum amount of time that amcheck will wait
336 for each client host.
337 dtimeout int
339 Default: 1800 seconds. Amount of idle time per disk on a given
340 client that a dumper running from within amdump will wait before it
341 fails with a data timeout error.
342 etimeout int
344 Default: 300 seconds. Amount of time per estimate on a given client
345 that the planner step of amdump will wait to get the dump size
346 estimates (note: Amanda runs up to 3 estimates for each DLE). For
347 instance, with the default of 300 seconds and four DLE´s, each
348 estimating level 0 and level 1 on client A, planner will wait up to
349 40 minutes for that machine. A negative value will be interpreted
350 as a total amount of time to wait per client instead of per disk.
351 connect_tries int
353 Default: 3. How many times the server will try a connection.
354 req_tries int
356 Default: 3. How many times the server will resend a REQ packet if
357 it doesn´t get the ACK packet.
358 netusage int
360 Default: 8000 Kbps. The maximum network bandwidth allocated to
361 Amanda, in Kbytes per second. See also the interface section.
362 inparallel int
364 Default: 10. The maximum number of backups that Amanda will attempt
365 to run in parallel. Amanda will stay within the constraints of
366 network bandwidth and holding disk space available, so it doesn´t
367 hurt to set this number a bit high. Some contention can occur with
368 larger numbers of backups, but this effect is relatively small on
369 most systems.
370 displayunit "k|m|g|t"
372 Default: "k". The unit used to print many numbers, k=kilo, m=mega,
373 g=giga, t=tera.
374 dumporder string
376 Default: tttTTTTTTT. The priority order of each dumper:
377 s: smallest size
379 S: largest size
380 t: smallest time
381 T: largest time
382 b: smallest bandwidth
383 B: largest bandwidth
384 maxdumps int
386 Default: 1. The maximum number of backups from a single host that
387 Amanda will attempt to run in parallel. See also the inparallel
388 option.
389 Note that this parameter may also be set in a specific dumptype
391 (see below). This value sets the default for all dumptypes so must
392 appear in amanda.conf before any dumptypes are defined.
393 bumpsize int
395 Default: 10 Mbytes. The minimum savings required to trigger an
396 automatic bump from one incremental level to the next, expressed as
397 size. If Amanda determines that the next higher backup level will
398 be this much smaller than the current level, it will do the next
399 level. The value of this parameter is used only if the parameter
400 bumppercent is set to 0.
401 The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.
403 The global setting of this parameter can be overwritten inside of a
405 dumptype-definition.
406 See also the options bumppercent, bumpmult and bumpdays.
408 bumppercent int
410 Default: 0 percent. The minimum savings required to trigger an
411 automatic bump from one incremental level to the next, expressed as
412 percentage of the current size of the DLE (size of current level
413 0). If Amanda determines that the next higher backup level will be
414 this much smaller than the current level, it will do the next
415 level.
416 If this parameter is set to 0, the value of the parameter bumpsize
418 is used to trigger bumping.
419 The global setting of this parameter can be overwritten inside of a
421 dumptype-definition.
422 See also the options bumpsize, bumpmult and bumpdays.
424 bumpmult float
426 Default: 1.5. The bump size multiplier. Amanda multiplies bumpsize
427 by this factor for each level. This prevents active filesystems
428 from bumping too much by making it harder to bump to the next
429 level. For example, with the default bumpsize and bumpmult set to
430 2.0, the bump threshold will be 10 Mbytes for level one, 20 Mbytes
431 for level two, 40 Mbytes for level three, and so on.
432 The global setting of this parameter can be overwritten inside of a
434 dumptype-definition.
435 bumpdays int
437 Default: 2 days. To insure redundancy in the dumps, Amanda keeps
438 filesystems at the same incremental level for at least bumpdays
439 days, even if the other bump threshold criteria are met.
440 The global setting of this parameter can be overwritten inside of a
442 dumptype-definition.
443 diskfile string
445 Default: disklist. The file name for the disklist file holding
446 client hosts, disks and other client dumping information.
447 infofile string
449 Default: /usr/adm/amanda/curinfo. The file or directory name for
450 the historical information database. If Amanda was configured to
451 use DBM databases, this is the base file name for them. If it was
452 configured to use text formated databases (the default), this is
453 the base directory and within here will be a directory per client,
454 then a directory per disk, then a text file of data.
455 logdir string
457 Default: /usr/adm/amanda. The directory for the amdump and log
458 files.
459 indexdir string
461 Default /usr/adm/amanda/index. The directory where index files
462 (backup image catalogues) are stored. Index files are only
463 generated for filesystems whose dumptype has the index option
464 enabled.
465 tapelist string
467 Default: tapelist. The file name for the active tapelist(5).
468 Amanda maintains this file with information about the active set of
469 tapes.
470 device_output_buffer_size int
472 Default: 1280k. Controls the amount of memory used by Amanda to
473 hold data as it is read from the network or disk before it is
474 written to the output device. Higher values may be useful on fast
475 tape drives and optical media.
476 The default unit is bytes if it is not specified.
478 tapebufs int
480 Default: 20. This option is deprecated; use the
481 device_output_buffer_size directive instead. tapebufs works the
482 same way, but the number specified is multiplied by the device
483 blocksize prior to use.
484 reserve number
486 Default: 100. The part of holding-disk space that should be
487 reserved for incremental backups if no tape is available, expressed
488 as a percentage of the available holding-disk space (0-100). By
489 default, when there is no tape to write to, degraded mode
490 (incremental) backups will be performed to the holding disk. If
491 full backups should also be allowed in this case, the amount of
492 holding disk space reserved for incrementals should be lowered.
493 autoflush bool
495 Default: off. Whether an amdump run will flush the dumps from
496 holding disk to tape.
497 amrecover_do_fsf bool
499 Default: on. Amrecover will call amrestore with the -f flag for
500 faster positioning of the tape.
501 amrecover_check_label bool
503 Default: on. Amrecover will call amrestore with the -l flag to
504 check the label.
505 amrecover_changer string
507 Default: ´´. Amrecover will use the changer if you use ´settape
508 <string>´ and that string is the same as the amrecover_changer
509 setting.
510 columnspec string
512 Defines the width of columns amreport should use. String is a
513 comma (´,´) separated list of triples. Each triple consists of
514 three parts which are separated by a equal sign (´=´) and a colon
515 (´:´) (see the example). These three parts specify:
516 1. the name of the column, which may be:
518 Compress (compression ratio)
519 Disk (client disk name)
520 DumpRate (dump rate in KBytes/sec)
521 DumpTime (total dump time in hours:minutes)
522 HostName (client host name)
523 Level (dump level)
524 OrigKB (original image size in KBytes)
525 OutKB (output image size in KBytes)
526 TapeRate (tape writing rate in KBytes/sec)
527 TapeTime (total tape time in hours:minutes)
528 2. the amount of space to display before the column (used to get
530 whitespace between columns).
531 3. the width of the column itself. If set to a negative value, the
534 width will be calculated on demand to fit the largest entry in
535 this column.
536 Here is an example:
537 columnspec "Disk=1:18,HostName=0:10,OutKB=1:7"
539 The above will display the disk information in 18 characters and
541 put one space before it. The hostname column will be 10 characters
542 wide with no space to the left. The output KBytes column is seven
543 characters wide with one space before it.
544 includefile string
546 Default: none. The name of an Amanda configuration file to include
547 within the current file. Useful for sharing dumptypes, tapetypes
548 and interface definitions among several configurations. Relative
549 pathnames are relative to the configuration directory.
550 debug_auth int
552 Default: 0. Debug level of the auth module
553 debug_event int
555 Default: 0. Debug level of the event module
556 debug_holding int
558 Default: 0. Debug level of the holdingdisk module
559 debug_protocol int
561 Default: 0. Debug level of the protocol module
562 debug_planner int
564 Default: 0. Debug level of the planner process
565 debug_driver int
567 Default: 0. Debug level of the driver process
568 debug_dumper int
570 Default: 0. Debug level of the dumper process
571 debug_chunker int
573 Default: 0. Debug level of the chunker process
574 debug_taper int
576 Default: 0. Debug level of the taper process
577 flush-threshold-dumped int
579 Default: 0. Amanda will not begin writing data to a new volume
580 until the amount of data on the holding disk is at least this
581 percentage of the volume size. In other words, Amanda will not
582 begin until the inequality h > t × d is satisfied, where h is the
583 amount of data on the holding disk, t is the capacity of a volume,
584 and d is this parameter, expressed as a percentage. This parameter
585 may be larger than 100%, for example to keep more recent dumps on
586 the holding disk for faster recovery.
587 Needless to say, your holding disk must be big enough that this
589 criterion could be satisfied. If the holding disk cannot be used
590 for a particular dump (because, for example, there is no remaining
591 holding space) then Amanda will disregard the constraint specified
592 by this setting and start a new volume anyway. Once writing to a
593 volume has begun, this constraint is not applied unless and until a
594 new volume is needed.
595 The value of this parameter may not exceed than that of the
597 flush-threshold-scheduled parameter.
598 flush-threshold-scheduled int
600 Default: 0. Amanda will not begin writing data to a new volume
601 until the sum of the amount of data on the holding disk and the
602 estimated amount of data remaining to be dumped during this run is
603 at least this percentage of the volume size. In other words, Amanda
604 will not begin until the inequality h + s > t × d is satisfied,
605 where h is the amount of data on the holding disk, s is the total
606 amount of data scheduled for this run but not dumped yet, t is the
607 capacity of a volume, and d is this parameter, expressed as a
608 percentage. This parameter may be larger than 100%.
609 Needless to say, your holding disk must be big enough that this
611 criterion could be satisfied. If the holding disk cannot be used
612 for a particular dump (because, for example, there is no remaining
613 holding space) then Amanda will disregard the constraint specified
614 by this setting and start a new volume anyway. Once writing to a
615 volume has begun, this constraint is not applied unless and until a
616 new volume is needed.
617 The value of this parameter may not be less than that of the
619 flush-threshold-dumped or taperflush parameters.
620 taperflush int
622 Default: 0. At the end of a run, Amanda will start a new tape to
623 flush remaining data if there is more data on the holding disk at
624 the end of a run than this setting allows; the amount is specified
625 as a percentage of the capacity of a single volume. In other words,
626 at the end of a run, Amanda will begin a new tape if the inequality
627 h > t × f is satisfied, where h is the amount of data remaining on
628 the holding disk from this or previous runs, t is the capacity of a
629 volume, and f is this parameter, expressed as a percentage. This
630 parameter may be greater than 100%.
631 The value of this parameter may not exceed that of the
633 flush-threshold-scheduled parameter.; autoflush must be set to
634 ´yes´ if taperflush is greater than 0.
635 reserved-udp-port int,int
637 Default: --with-udpportrange or 512,1023. Reserved udp port that
638 will be used (bsd, bsdudp). Range is inclusive.
639 reserved-tcp-port int,int
641 Default: --with-low-tcpportrange or 512,1023. Reserved tcp port
642 that will be used (bsdtcp). Range is inclusive.
643 unreserved-tcp-port int,int
645 Default: --with-tcpportrange or 1024,65535. Unreserved tcp port
646 that will be used (bsd, bsdudp). Range is inclusive.
647
649 The amanda.conf file may define one or more holding disks used as
650 buffers to hold backup images before they are written to tape. The
651 syntax is:
652 holdingdisk name {
653 holdingdisk-option holdingdisk-value
654 ...
655 }
656 Name is a logical name for this holding disk.
658 The options and values are:
660 comment string
662 Default: none. A comment string describing this holding disk.
663 directory disk
665 Default: /dumps/amanda. The path to this holding area.
666 use int
668 Default: 0 Gb. Amount of space that can be used in this holding
669 disk area. If the value is zero, all available space on the file
670 system is used. If the value is negative, Amanda will use all
671 available space minus that value.
672 chunksize int
674 Default: 1 Gb. Holding disk chunk size. Dumps larger than the
675 specified size will be stored in multiple holding disk files. The
676 size of each chunk will not exceed the specified value. However,
677 even though dump images are split in the holding disk, they are
678 concatenated as they are written to tape, so each dump image still
679 corresponds to a single continuous tape section.
680 The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.
682 If 0 is specified, Amanda will create holding disk chunks as large
684 as ((INT_MAX/1024)-64) Kbytes.
685 Each holding disk chunk includes a 32 Kbyte header, so the minimum
687 chunk size is 64 Kbytes (but that would be really silly).
688 Operating systems that are limited to a maximum file size of 2
690 Gbytes actually cannot handle files that large. They must be at
691 least one byte less than 2 Gbytes. Since Amanda works with 32 Kbyte
692 blocks, and to handle the final read at the end of the chunk, the
693 chunk size should be at least 64 Kbytes (2 * 32 Kbytes) smaller
694 than the maximum file size, e.g. 2047 Mbytes.
695
697 The amanda.conf(5) file may define multiple sets of backup options and
698 refer to them by name from the disklist(5) file. For instance, one set
699 of options might be defined for file systems that can benefit from high
700 compression, another set that does not compress well, another set for
701 file systems that should always get a full backup and so on.
702 A set of backup options are entered in a dumptype section, which looks
704 like this:
705 define dumptype "name" {
706 dumptype-option dumptype-value
707 ...
708 }
709 Name is the name of this set of backup options. It is referenced from
711 the disklist(5) file.
712 Some of the options in a dumptype section are the same as those in the
714 main part of amanda.conf(5). The main option value is used to set the
715 default for all dumptype sections. For instance, setting dumpcycle to
716 50 in the main part of the config file causes all following dumptype
717 sections to start with that value, but the value may be changed on a
718 section by section basis. Changes to variables in the main part of the
719 config file must be done before (earlier in the file) any dumptypes are
720 defined.
721 The dumptype options and values are:
723 auth string
725 Default: bsd. Type of authorization to perform between tape server
726 and backup client hosts. See amanda-auth(7) for more detail.
727 amandad_path string
729 Default: $libexec/amandad. Specify the amandad path of the client,
730 only use with rsh/ssh authentification.
731 client_username string
733 Default: CLIENT_LOGIN. Specify the username to connect on the
734 client, only use with rsh/ssh authentification.
735 bumpsize int
737 Default: 10 Mbytes. The minimum savings required to trigger an
738 automatic bump from one incremental level to the next, expressed as
739 size. If Amanda determines that the next higher backup level will
740 be this much smaller than the current level, it will do the next
741 level. The value of this parameter is used only if the parameter
742 bumppercent is set to 0.
743 The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.
745 See also the options bumppercent, bumpmult and bumpdays.
747 bumppercent int
749 Default: 0 percent. The minimum savings required to trigger an
750 automatic bump from one incremental level to the next, expressed as
751 percentage of the current size of the DLE (size of current level
752 0). If Amanda determines that the next higher backup level will be
753 this much smaller than the current level, it will do the next
754 level.
755 If this parameter is set to 0, the value of the parameter bumpsize
757 is used to trigger bumping.
758 See also the options bumpsize, bumpmult and bumpdays.
760 bumpmult float
762 Default: 1.5. The bump size multiplier. Amanda multiplies bumpsize
763 by this factor for each level. This prevents active filesystems
764 from bumping too much by making it harder to bump to the next
765 level. For example, with the default bumpsize and bumpmult set to
766 2.0, the bump threshold will be 10 Mbytes for level one, 20 Mbytes
767 for level two, 40 Mbytes for level three, and so on.
768 bumpdays int
770 Default: 2 days. To insure redundancy in the dumps, Amanda keeps
771 filesystems at the same incremental level for at least bumpdays
772 days, even if the other bump threshold criteria are met.
773 comment string
775 Default: none. A comment string describing this set of backup
776 options.
777 comprate float [, float ]
779 Default: 0.50, 0.50. The expected full and incremental compression
780 factor for dumps. It is only used if Amanda does not have any
781 history information on compression rates for a filesystem, so
782 should not usually need to be set. However, it may be useful for
783 the first time a very large filesystem that compresses very little
784 is backed up.
785 compress [client|server] string
787 Default: client fast. If Amanda does compression of the backup
788 images, it can do so either on the backup client host before it
789 crosses the network or on the tape server host as it goes from the
790 network into the holding disk or to tape. Which place to do
791 compression (if at all) depends on how well the dump image usually
792 compresses, the speed and load on the client or server, network
793 capacity, holding disk capacity, availability of tape hardware
794 compression, etc.
795 For either type of compression, Amanda also allows the selection of
797 three styles of compression. Best is the best compression
798 available, often at the expense of CPU overhead. Fast is often not
799 as good a compression as best, but usually less CPU overhead. Or to
800 specify Custom to use your own compression method. (See dumptype
801 custom-compress in example/amanda.conf for reference)
802 So the compress options line may be one of:
804 compress none
806 compress client fast
808 compress client best
810 compress client custom
812 Specify client_custom_compress "PROG"
813 PROG must not contain white space and it must accept -d for
815 uncompress.
816 compress server fast
818 compress server best
820 compress server custom
822 Specify server_custom_compress "PROG"
823 PROG must not contain white space and it must accept -d for
825 uncompress.
826 Note that some tape devices do compression and this option has
828 nothing to do with whether that is used. If hardware compression is
829 used (usually via a particular tape device name or mt option),
830 Amanda (software) compression should be disabled.
831 dumpcycle int
833 Default: 10 days. The number of days in the backup cycle. Each disk
834 using this set of options will get a full backup at least this of
835 ten. Setting this to zero tries to do a full backup each run.
836 encrypt [none|client|server]
838 Default: none. To encrypt backup images, it can do so either on the
839 backup client host before it crosses the network or on the tape
840 server host as it goes from the network into the holding disk or to
841 tape.
842 So the encrypt options line may be one of:
844 encrypt none
846 encrypt client
848 Specify client_encrypt "PROG"
849 PROG must not contain white space.
851 Specify client_decrypt_option "decryption-parameter" Default:
853 "-d"
854 decryption-parameter must not contain white space.
856 (See dumptype client-encrypt-nocomp in example/amanda.conf for
858 reference)
859 encrypt server
861 Specify server_encrypt "PROG"
862 PROG must not contain white space.
864 Specify server_decrypt_option "decryption-parameter" Default:
866 "-d"
867 decryption-parameter must not contain white space.
869 (See dumptype server-encrypt-fast in example/amanda.conf for
871 reference)
872 Note that current logic assumes compression then encryption during
874 backup(thus decrypt then uncompress during restore). So specifying
875 client-encryption AND server-compression is not supported. amcrypt
876 which is a wrapper of aespipe is provided as a reference symmetric
877 encryption program.
878 estimate client|calcsize|server
880 Default: client. Determine the way Amanda does it´s estimate.
881 client
883 Use the same program as the dumping program, this is the most
884 accurate way to do estimates, but it can take a long time.
885 calcsize
887 Use a faster program to do estimates, but the result is less
888 accurate.
889 server
891 Use only statistics from the previous run to give an estimate,
892 it takes only a few seconds but the result is not accurate if
893 your disk usage changes from day to day.
894 exclude [ list|file ][[optional][ append ][ string ]+]
896 Default: file. There are two exclude lists, exclude file and
897 exclude list. With exclude file , the string is a GNU-tar exclude
898 expression. With exclude list , the string is a file name on the
899 client containing GNU-tar exclude expressions. The path to the
900 specified exclude list file, if present (see description of
901 ´optional´ below), must be readable by the Amanda user.
902 All exclude expressions are concatenated in one file and passed to
904 GNU-tar as an --exclude-from argument.
905 Exclude expressions must always be specified as relative to the
907 head directory of the DLE.
908 With the append keyword, the string is appended to the current
910 list, without it, the string overwrites the list.
911 If optional is specified for exclude list, then amcheck will not
913 complain if the file doesn´t exist or is not readable.
914 For exclude list, if the file name is relative, the disk name being
916 backed up is prepended. So if this is entered:
917 exclude list ".amanda.excludes"
918 the actual file used would be /var/.amanda.excludes for a backup of
919 /var, /usr/local/.amanda.excludes for a backup of /usr/local, and
920 so on.
921 holdingdisk [ never|auto|required ]
923 Default: auto. Whether a holding disk should be used for these
924 backups or whether they should go directly to tape. If the holding
925 disk is a portion of another file system that Amanda is backing up,
926 that file system should refer to a dumptype with holdingdisk set to
927 never to avoid backing up the holding disk into itself.
928 never|no|false|off
930 Never use a holdingdisk, the dump will always go directly to
931 tape. There will be no dump if you have a tape error.
932 auto|yes|true|on
934 Use the holding disk, unless there is a problem with the
935 holding disk, the dump won´t fit there or the medium doesn´t
936 require spooling (e.g., VFS device)
937 required
939 Always dump to holdingdisk, never directly to tape. There will
940 be no dump if it doesn´t fit on holdingdisk
941 ignore boolean
943 Default: no. Whether disks associated with this backup type should
944 be backed up or not. This option is useful when the disklist file
945 is shared among several configurations, some of which should not
946 back up all the listed file systems.
947 include [ list|file ][[optional][ append ][ string ]+]
949 Default: file ".". There are two include lists, include file and
950 include list. With include file , the string is a glob expression.
951 With include list , the string is a file name on the client
952 containing glob expressions.
953 All include expressions are expanded by Amanda, concatenated in one
955 file and passed to GNU-tar as a --files-from argument. They must
956 start with "./" and contain no other "/".
957 Include expressions must always be specified as relative to the
959 head directory of the DLE.
960 Note
962 For globbing to work at all, even the limited single level, the
963 top level directory of the DLE must be readable by the Amanda
964 user.
965 With the append keyword, the string is appended to the current
966 list, without it, the string overwrites the list.
967 If optional is specified for include list, then amcheck will not
969 complain if the file doesn´t exist or is not readable.
970 For include list, If the file name is relative, the disk name being
972 backed up is prepended.
973 index boolean
975 Default: no. Whether an index (catalogue) of the backup should be
976 generated and saved in indexdir. These catalogues are used by the
977 amrecover utility.
978 kencrypt boolean
980 Default: no. Whether the backup image should be encrypted by
981 Kerberos as it is sent across the network from the backup client
982 host to the tape server host.
983 maxdumps int
985 Default: 1. The maximum number of backups from a single host that
986 Amanda will attempt to run in parallel. See also the main section
987 parameter inparallel.
988 maxpromoteday int
990 Default: 10000. The maximum number of day for a promotion, set it 0
991 if you don´t want promotion, set it to 1 or 2 if your disks get
992 overpromoted.
993 priority string
995 Default: medium. When there is no tape to write to, Amanda will do
996 incremental backups in priority order to the holding disk. The
997 priority may be high (2), medium (1), low (0) or a number of your
998 choice.
999 program [DUMP|GNUTAR|APPLICATION]
1001 Default: DUMP. The type of backup to perform. Valid values are:
1002 DUMP
1004 The native operating system backup program.
1005 GNUTAR
1007 To use GNU-tar or to do PC backups using Samba.
1008 APPLICATION
1010 To use an application-tool, see the application option.
1011 application string
1013 No default. Must be the name of an application-tool if program is
1014 set to APPLICATION. See APPLICATION SECTION below.
1015 script string
1017 No default. Must be the name of a script-tool. You can have many
1018 script. See SCRIPT SECTION below.
1019 property [append] string string+
1021 These options can set various properties, they can be used by third
1022 party software to store information in the configuration file. Both
1023 strings are quoted; the first string contains the name of the
1024 property to set, and the others contains its values. append
1025 keyword append the values to the list of values for that property.
1026 record boolean
1028 Default: yes. Whether to ask the backup program to update its
1029 database (e.g. /etc/dumpdates for DUMP or
1030 /usr/local/var/amanda/gnutar-lists for GNUTAR) of time stamps. This
1031 is normally enabled for daily backups and turned off for periodic
1032 archival runs.
1033 skip-full boolean
1035 Default: no. If true and planner has scheduled a full backup, these
1036 disks will be skipped, and full backups should be run off-line on
1037 these days. It was reported that Amanda only schedules level 1
1038 incrementals in this configuration; this is probably a bug.
1039 skip-incr boolean
1041 Default: no. If true and planner has scheduled an incremental
1042 backup, these disks will be skipped.
1043 ssh_keys string
1045 Default: No default. The key file the ssh auth will use, it must be
1046 the private key. If this parameter is not specified, then the
1047 default ssh key will be used.
1048 starttime int
1050 Default: none. Backups will not start until after this time of day.
1051 The value should be hh*100+mm, e.g. 6:30PM (18:30) would be entered
1052 as 1830.
1053 strategy string
1055 Default: standard. Strategy to use when planning what level of
1056 backup to run next. Values are:
1057 standard
1059 The standard Amanda schedule.
1060 nofull
1062 Never do full backups, only level 1 incrementals.
1063 noinc
1065 Never do incremental backups, only full dumps.
1066 skip
1068 Never do backups (useful when sharing the disklist file).
1069 incronly
1071 Only do incremental dumps. amadmin force should be used to
1072 tell Amanda that a full dump has been performed off-line, so
1073 that it resets to level 1.
1074 tape_splitsize int
1076 Default: none. Split dump file on tape into pieces of a specified
1077 size. This allows dumps to be spread across multiple tapes, and can
1078 potentially make more efficient use of tape space. Note that if
1079 this value is too large (more than half the size of the average
1080 dump being split), substantial tape space can be wasted. If too
1081 small, large dumps will be split into innumerable tiny dumpfiles,
1082 adding to restoration complexity. A good rule of thumb, usually, is
1083 1/10 of the size of your tape.
1084 The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.
1086 split_diskbuffer string
1088 Default: none. When dumping a split dump in PORT-WRITE mode
1089 (usually meaning "no holding disk"), buffer the split chunks to a
1090 file in the directory specified by this option.
1091 fallback_splitsize int
1093 Default: 10M. When dumping a split dump in PORT-WRITE mode, if no
1094 split_diskbuffer is specified (or if we somehow fail to use our
1095 split_diskbuffer), we must buffer split chunks in memory. This
1096 specifies the maximum size split chunks can be in this scenario,
1097 and thus the maximum amount of memory consumed for in-memory
1098 splitting. The size of this buffer can be changed from its (very
1099 conservative) default to a value reflecting the amount of memory
1100 that each taper process on the dump server may reasonably consume.
1101 The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.
1103 The following dumptype entries are predefined by Amanda:
1105 define dumptype "no-compress" {
1106 compress none
1107 }
1108 define dumptype "compress-fast" {
1109 compress client fast
1110 }
1111 define dumptype "compress-best" {
1112 compress client best
1113 }
1114 define dumptype "srvcompress" {
1115 compress server fast
1116 }
1117 define dumptype "bsd-auth" {
1118 auth bsd
1119 }
1120 define dumptype "krb4-auth" {
1121 auth krb4
1122 }
1123 define dumptype "no-record" {
1124 record no
1125 }
1126 define dumptype "no-hold" {
1127 holdingdisk no
1128 }
1129 define dumptype "no-full" {
1130 skip-full yes
1131 }
1132 In addition to options in a dumptype section, one or more other
1134 dumptype names may be supplied as identifiers, which make this dumptype
1135 inherit options from other previously defined dumptypes. For instance,
1136 two sections might be the same except for the record option:
1137 define dumptype "normal" {
1138 comment "Normal backup, no compression, do indexing"
1139 no-compress
1140 index yes
1141 maxdumps 2
1142 }
1143 define dumptype "testing" {
1144 comment "Test backup, no compression, do indexing, no recording"
1145 "normal"
1146 record no
1147 }
1148 Amanda provides a dumptype named global in the sample amanda.conf file
1150 that all dumptypes should reference. This provides an easy place to
1151 make changes that will affect every dumptype.
1152
1154 The amanda.conf file may define multiple types of tape media and
1155 devices. The information is entered in a tapetype section, which looks
1156 like this in the config file:
1157 define tapetype "name" {
1158 tapetype-option tapetype-value
1159 ...
1160 }
1161 Name is the name of this type of tape medium/device. It is referenced
1163 from the tapetype option in the main part of the config file.
1164 The tapetype options and values are:
1166 comment string
1168 Default: none. A comment string describing this set of tape
1169 information.
1170 filemark int
1172 Default: 1 kbytes. How large a file mark (tape mark) is, measured
1173 in kbytes. If the size is only known in some linear measurement
1174 (e.g. inches), convert it to kbytes using the device density.
1175 length int
1177 Default: 2000 kbytes. How much data will fit on a tape, expressed
1178 in kbytes.
1179 Note that this value is only used by Amanda to schedule which
1181 backups will be run. Once the backups start, Amanda will continue
1182 to write to a tape until it gets an error, regardless of what value
1183 is entered for length (but see amanda-devices(7) for exceptions).
1184 blocksize int
1186 Default: 32 kbytes. How much data will be written in each tape
1187 record, expressed in kbytes. This is similar to the BLOCK_SIZE
1188 device property, but if the blocksize is not a multiple of 1024
1189 bytes, then this parameter cannot be used to specify it, and the
1190 property must be used instead.
1191 readblocksize int
1193 Default: 32 kytes How much data will be read in each tape record.
1194 This can be used to override a device´s block size for reads only.
1195 This may be useful, for example, in reading a tape written with a
1196 256k block size when Amanda is configured to use 128k blocks. This
1197 unusual feature is not supported by all operating systems and tape
1198 devices.
1199 The default unit is Kbytes if it is not specified.
1201 speed int
1203 Default: 200 bps. How fast the drive will accept data, in bytes per
1204 second. This parameter is NOT currently used by Amanda.
1205 lbl-templ string
1207 A PostScript template file used by amreport to generate labels.
1208 Several sample files are provided with the Amanda sources in the
1209 example directory. See the amreport(8) man page for more
1210 information.
1211 In addition to options, another tapetype name may be supplie as an
1213 identifier, which makes this tapetype inherit options from another
1214 tapetype. For instance, the only difference between a DLT4000 tape
1215 drive using Compact-III tapes and one using Compact-IV tapes is the
1216 length of the tape. So they could be entered as:
1217 define tapetype "DLT4000-III" {
1218 comment "DLT4000 tape drives with Compact-III tapes"
1219 length 12500 mbytes # 10 Gig tapes with some compression
1220 filemark 2000 kbytes
1221 speed 1536 kps
1222 }
1223 define tapetype "DLT4000-IV" {
1224 "DLT4000-III"
1225 comment "DLT4000 tape drives with Compact-IV tapes"
1226 length 25000 mbytes # 20 Gig tapes with some compression
1227 }
1228
1230 The amanda.conf file may define multiple types of network interfaces.
1231 The information is entered in an interface section, which looks like
1232 this:
1233 define interface "name" {
1234 interface-option interface-value
1235 ...
1236 }
1237 name is the name of this type of network interface. It is referenced
1239 from the disklist file.
1240 Note that these sections define network interface characteristics, not
1242 the actual interface that will be used. Nor do they impose limits on
1243 the bandwidth that will actually be taken up by Amanda. Amanda
1244 computes the estimated bandwidth each file system backup will take
1245 based on the estimated size and time, then compares that plus any other
1246 running backups with the limit as another of the criteria when deciding
1247 whether to start the backup. Once a backup starts, Amanda will use as
1248 much of the network as it can leaving throttling up to the operating
1249 system and network hardware.
1250 The interface options and values are:
1252 comment string
1254 Default: none. A comment string describing this set of network
1255 information.
1256 use int
1258 Default: 8000 Kbps. The speed of the interface in Kbytes per
1259 second.
1260 In addition to options, another interface name may be supplied as an
1262 identifier, which makes this interface inherit options from another
1263 interface. At the moment, this is of little use.
1264
1266 The amanda.conf file may define multiple types of application. The
1267 information is entered in a application-tool section, which looks like
1268 this:
1269 define application-tool "name" {
1270 application-option application-value
1271 ...
1272 }
1273 name is the name of this type of application. It is referenced from the
1275 dumptype
1276 The application-tool options and values are:
1278 comment string
1280 Default: none. A comment string describing this application.
1281 plugin string
1283 No default. Must be set to the name of the program. This program
1284 must be in the $libexecdir/amanda/application directory on the
1285 client.
1286 property [append] [priority] string string+
1288 No default. You can set property for the application, each
1289 application have a different set of property. Both strings are
1290 quoted; the first string contains the name of the property to set,
1291 and the others contains its values. append keyword append the
1292 values to the list of values for that property. priority keyword
1293 disallow the setting of that property on the client.
1294
1296 The amanda.conf file may define multiple types of script. The
1297 information is entered in a script-tool section, which looks like this:
1298 define script-tool "name" {
1299 script-option script-value
1300 ...
1301 }
1302 name is the name of this type of script. It is referenced from the
1304 dumptype
1305 The script-tool options and values are:
1307 comment string
1309 Default: none. A comment string describing this script.
1310 plugin string
1312 No default. Must be set to the name of the program. This program
1313 must be in the $libexecdir/amanda/application directory on the
1314 client and/or server.
1315 execute_where [client|server]
1317 Default: client. Where the script must be executed, on the client
1318 or server.
1319 execute_on execute_on[,execute_on]*
1321 No default. When the script must be executed, you can specify many
1322 of them:
1323 pre-dle-amcheck
1325 Execute before the amcheck command for the dle.
1326 pre-host-amcheck
1328 Execute before the amcheck command for all dle for the client.
1329 post-dle-amcheck
1331 Execute after the amcheck command for the dle.
1332 post-host-amcheck
1334 Execute after the amcheck command for all dle for the client.
1335 pre-dle-estimate
1337 Execute before the estimate command for the dle.
1338 pre-host-estimate
1340 Execute before the estimate command for all dle for the client.
1341 post-dle-estimate
1343 Execute after the estimate command for the dle.
1344 post-host-estimate
1346 Execute after the estimate command for all dle for the client.
1347 pre-dle-backup
1349 Execute before the backup command for the dle.
1350 pre-host-backup
1352 Execute before the backup command for all dle for the client.
1353 post-dle-backup
1355 Execute after the backup command for the dle.
1356 post-host-backup
1358 Execute after the backup command for all dle for the client.
1359 pre-recover
1361 Execute before any level is recovered.
1362 post-recover
1364 Execute after all levels are recovered.
1365 pre-level-recover
1367 Execute before each level recovery.
1368 post-level-recover
1370 Execute after each level recovery.
1371 inter-level-recover
1373 Execute between two levels of recovery.
1374 If you recover level 0 and 2 of the disk /usr with amrecover, it
1376 will execute:
1377 script --pre-recover
1378 script --pre-level-recover --level 0
1379 #recovering level 0
1380 script --post-level-recover --level 0
1381 script --inter-level-recover --level 0 --level 2
1382 script --pre-level-recover --level 2
1383 #recovering level 2
1384 script --post-level-recover --level 2
1385 script --post-recover
1386 property [append] [priority] string string+
1388 No default. You can set property for the script, each script have a
1389 different set of property. Both strings are quoted; the first
1390 string contains the name of the property to set, and the others
1391 contains its values. append keyword append the values to the list
1392 of values for that property. priority keyword disallow the setting
1393 of that property on the client.
1394
1396 Backend storage devices are specified in amanda.conf in the form of
1397 "device" sections, which look like this:
1398 define device name {
1399 commend "comment (optional)"
1400 tapedev "device-specifier"
1401 device_property "prop-name" "prop-value"
1402 ...
1403 }
1404 name is the user-specified name of this device. It is referenced from
1406 the global tapedev parameter. The device-specifier specifies the device
1407 name to use; see amanda-devices(7). As with most sections, the comment
1408 parmeter is optional and only for the user´s convenience.
1409 An arbitrary number of device_property parameters can be specified.
1411 Again, see amanda-devices(7) for information on device properties.
1412
1414 Changers are described in amanda.conf in the form of "changer"
1415 sections, which look like this:
1416 define changer name {
1417 comment "comment (optional)"
1418 tapedev "tape-device"
1419 tpchanger "changer-type"
1420 changerdev "device-name"
1421 changerfile "state-file"
1422 ...
1423 }
1424 name is the user-specified name of this device. The remaining
1426 parameters are specific to the changer type selected.
1427
1429 amanda(8), amanda-client.conf(5), amcrypt(8), aespipe(1), :
1430 http://wiki.zmanda.com
1431
1433 James da Silva <jds@amanda.org>
1434 Stefan G. Weichinger <sgw@amanda.org>
1436Amanda 2.6.1p2 11/05/2009 AMANDA.CONF(5)