Enterprise Edition Documentation

Pre-installation procedure

• Identify the list of hosts and the filesystems that have to be protected using Amanda software. The list of hosts that have to be protected are the Amanda clients. The list of filesystems or directories that have to be backed up in each Amanda client have to be identified. This information is needed during Amanda configuration.

• Identify the Amanda server. Amanda server should have access to the media (tape, disk, changers) where the Amanda client backups will be stored. Any Amanda client can act as Amanda server. Amanda server might use significant amount of memory during backup run and must have good network connectivity to all Amanda clients.

• Amanda server and client should have all latest service packs or updates to the distribution installed on them.

Steps to install Amanda enterprise edition

• Installation steps have to be performed as super-user (root user). If you are not super-user, please switch user on the installation target host.

• Go to Zmanda Network Downloads page. Choose the appropriate platform.

• Click to download necessary Amanda RPMs for appropriate operating system and Amanda dependency RPMs (Choose "Save to disk" option on the pop -up window) Zmanda network. You should have Zmanda network subscription to download the RPMs. Zmanda network subscription license is required for all Amanda clients. If you do not have Zmanda network subscription for the Amanda client, please contact [email protected] or go to Zmanda network subscriptions page.

• Amanda enterprise RPMs contain GPG signatures. To verify the integrity of the downloaded rpms, please see package verification section. If the signature verification fails, please download the RPMs from Zmanda network again.

• If the Amanda dependency RPM is already installed in the host, remove it using rpm command.

Example: Removing old tar RPM

# /bin/rpm -qa | grep tar
tar-1.14-4
# /bin/rpm -e tar-1.14-4

• Download needed dependency rpms from the Zmanda network. Use rpm command to install the package on the Amanda server and client as needed.

Example: Command to install tar rpm

# /bin/rpm -ivh tar-1.15.1-5.i386.rpm

• Amanda enterprise RPMs have dependencies on some packages that are part for the platform distribution:
  • xinetd
  • perl
  • awk

If these packages are not installed on the target host, please install from the distribution media.

• Use rpm install command to install the RPM on the target host. If the target host is a Amanda server, amanda_enterprise_backup_server RPM must be installed. If the target host is a Amanda client, amanda_enterprise_backup_client RPM must be installed.

Example: Command to install Amanda server RPM

# /bin/rpm -ivh amanda_enterprise-backup_server-2.5.0-1.rhel4.i386.rpm

• Amanda package installation messages and errors are logged in /var/log/amanda/install.log and /var/log/amanda/install.err on the target host. In case of installation failures, please check for messages in these log files.

• As part of Amanda package installation, some configuration steps are automatically completed.
  • Amanda rpms create backup user - "amandabackup" and the user belongs to "disk" group. The password for amandabackup user is locked. Please set the user password for amandabackup user.
  • Configuration templates are installed in the "amandabackup" user home directory - /var/lib/amanda
  • Amanda daemons are added to xinetd configuration files. The xinetd daemon is forced to read the new configuration.
  • SSH keys are generated for ssh authentication between Amanda client and server

Example: Amanda enterprise server installation on Fedora Core 4 platfrom

# rpm -ivh amanda_enterprise-backup_server-2.5.0-1.fc4.i386.rpm
warning: amanda_enterprise-backup_server-2.5.0-1.fc4.i386.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 3c5d1c92
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43: Checking for 'amandabackup' user...
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:  The 'amandabackup' user account for this system has been locked
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:  for security purposes.  Once a password for the  'amandabackup'
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:  account has been set, the user can be unlocked by issuing
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:  the following command as root.:
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:  # passwd -u amandabackup
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:  If this is not a new installation of Amanda and you have
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:  pre-existing Amanda configurations in /etc/amanda
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:  you should ensure that 'dumpuser' is set to 'amandabackup'
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:  in those configurations.  Additionally, you should ensure
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:  that /var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts on your client systems
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:  is properly configured to allow connections for the user
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:  'amandabackup'.
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:
Apr 21 2006 14:55:43:
Apr 21 2006 14:55:49: === Amanda Enterprise backup server installation started. ===
   1:amanda_enterprise-backu########################################### [100%]
Apr 21 2006 14:55:50: Updating system library cache...done.
Stopping xinetd: [  OK  ]
Starting xinetd: [  OK  ]
Apr 21 2006 14:55:50: Restarting xinetd...success.
Apr 21 2006 14:55:50: Installing '/etc/amandates'.
Apr 21 2006 14:55:50: Ensuring correct permissions for '/etc/amandates'.
Apr 21 2006 14:55:50: '/etc/amandates' Installation successful.
Apr 21 2006 14:55:50: Installing '/var/lib/amanda/.gnupg'.
Apr 21 2006 14:55:50: '/var/lib/amanda/.gnupg' will be created.
Apr 21 2006 14:55:50: The directory '/var/lib/amanda/.gnupg' created successfully.
Apr 21 2006 14:55:50: Ensuring correct permissions for '/etc/.gnupg'.
Apr 21 2006 14:55:50: '/var/lib/amanda/.gnupg' Installation successful.
Apr 21 2006 14:55:50: Creating directory '/var/lib/amanda/.ssh'.
Apr 21 2006 14:55:50: Creating ssh RSA key in '/var/lib/amanda/.ssh/id_rsa'
Apr 21 2006 14:55:50: Setting ownership and permissions for '/var/lib/amanda/.ssh' and  '/var/lib/amanda/.ssh/id_rsa*'
Apr 21 2006 14:55:50: Checking for '/var/lib/amanda/.profile' and ensuring correct environment.
Apr 21 2006 14:55:50: Setting ownership and permissions for '/var/lib/amanda/.profile'
Apr 21 2006 14:55:50: === Amanda Enterprise backup server installation complete. ===
Amanda installation log can be found in '/var/log/amanda/install.log' and errors (if any) in '/var/log/amanda/install.err'.

Configuration templates

To ease the creation of Amanda server configuration file - amanda.conf, amanda.conf configuration file is created from multiple configuration files.

amanda.conf 

Configuration parameters that are likely to be changed for each Amanda configuration. This file includes all other configuration files. This file should be present in /etc/amanda/<configuration name>/ directory.

Example: amanda.conf file

org "DailySet1 "               # your organization name for reports
mailto "amandabackup"          # space separated list of operators at your site
dumpcycle 1 week               # the number of days in the normal dump cycle
runspercycle 5                 # the number of amdump runs in dumpcycle days
                               # (4 weeks * 5 amdump runs per week -- just weekdays)
tapecycle 25 tapes             # the number of tapes in rotation
                               # 4 weeks (dumpcycle) times 5 tapes per week (just
                               # the weekdays) plus a few to handle errors that
                               # need amflush and so we do not overwrite the full
                               # backups performed at the beginning of the previous
                               # cycle
runtapes 1                     # number of tapes to be used in a single run of amdump
tpchanger "chg-disk"           # the tape-changer glue script
tapedev "file://var/lib/anabda/backup" # the no-rewind tape device to be used
changerfile "/etc/amanda/DailySet1/changer.conf"
changerdev "/dev/null"
tapetype HARDDISK               # what kind of tape it is 
labelstr "^DailySet1-[0-9][0-9]*$"    # label constraint regex: all tapes must match
dtimeout 1800                          # number of idle seconds before a dump is aborted.
ctimeout 30                            # maximum number of seconds that amcheck waits
                                       # for each client host
etimeout 300                           # number of seconds per filesystem for estimates.

includefile "./advanced.conf"
includefile "/etc/amanda/template.d/dumptypes"
includefile "/etc/amanda/template.d/tapetypes"

advanced.conf 

Configuration parameters that are less likely to be changed for each Amanda confiuration. This file is included by amanda.conf. This file should be present in /etc/amanda/<configuration name/ directory.

dumptypes 

All supported dumptypes are present in /etc/amanda/template.d/dumptypes file. Dumptype configurations are shared by all Amanda configurations in the Amanda server. If dumptype configuration have to be customised, they are added to the amanda.conf by including the dumptype template.

Example: Customised dumptype configuration to exclude GIF files in amanda.conf

dumptype custom_exclude_tar {
  user-tar
  exclude-file *.gif
}

tapetypes 

All supported tapetype definitions are present in /etc/amanda/template.d/tapetypes file. Tapetype definitions are shared by all configurations in the Amanda server. This file is included in amanda.conf.

Configuration tools

$ amserverconfig --template harddisk new_config1

$ amserverconfig --tapedev /dev/nst2 --tapecycle 30  new_config2

$ amaddclient --config new_config1 --client client1.zmanda.com --diskdev /home

$ amaddclient --config new_config2 --client client2.zmanda.com --diskdev /usr --excludefile ./tmp

Configuring using configuration templates

This section provides an example configuration using configuration templates. This example backs up "/var/log" directory from Amanda client - copper.zmanda.com to a disk storage on the Amanda server "iron.zmanda.com" using "harddisk" configuration template. All configuration steps are performed on the Amanda server - iron.zmanda.com

• Switch user to "amandabackup" - Amanda backup user.

Example: Switching to amandabackup

su - amandabackup

• Run amserverconfig command with "harddisk" configuration template parameter to create amanda.conf

Example: Creating amanda.conf for configuration "dailyset1" on iron.zmanda.com

$ /usr/sbin/amserverconfig dailyset1 --template harddisk
Logging to /tmp/amanda/amserverconfig.20060420095207.debug
/var/lib/amanda/gnutar-lists directory exists
/etc/amanda/template.d directory created
/etc/amanda/dailyset1/amanda.conf created and updated
/etc/amanda/dailyset1/advanced.conf created and updated
curinfo and index directory created
tapelist file created
disklist file created
DONE

Note:

1. The created amanda.conf uses "amandabackup" as the "mailto" parameter value. All the mail notifications about the backups in this configuration will be sent to the user "amandabackup" on the Amanda server. It is necessary to configure email account for the amandabackup user.

• Add client and the directory to be backed up using amaddclient

Example: copper.zmanda.com as Amanda client to backup /var/log directory

$ /usr/sbin/amaddclient --config dailyset1 --client copper.zmanda.com --diskdev /var/log/
Logging to /tmp/amanda/amclientconfig.20060420101637.debug
/etc/amanda/dailyset1/disklist updated
updating /var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts on iron
/var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts contains copper.zmanda.com root, file not updated
I am attempting to update /var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts on copper.zmanda.com
.amandahosts                                                                 100%  109     0.1KB/s   00:00
.amandahosts.tmp                                                             100%  130     0.1KB/s   00:00
copper.zmanda.com:/var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts updated successfully

Note:

1. If the Amanda client is same as the Amanda server, you will have to add 'localhost amandabackup' and 'copper.zmanda.com amandabackup' in /var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts on iron.zmanda.com
2. If ssh public-key authentication is set up between the Amanda server and the client, amaddclient command will update /var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts on the Amanda client using scp. Otherwise, amaddclient command will print a message with information on what has to be added to /var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts on the client machine. To set up public-key authentication:
   1. Copy ~amandabackup/.ssh/id_rsa.pub to the client machine through a secure channel(*) and append it to ~amandabackup/.ssh/authorized_keys file. For example: copy id_rsa.pub to a floppy or flash drive and hand carry to the client machine.
   2. Run ssh-add on the Amanda server to add the RSA identities to the authentication agent.
   3. Change file permissions

$ chmod 600 ~amandabackup/.ssh/authorized_keys

• Run Amanda configuration check tool - amcheck command.

Example: Running amcheck on configuration "dailyset1"

$ /usr/sbin/amcheck dailyset1
Amanda Tape Server Host Check
-----------------------------
slot 25: read label `dailyset1-25', date `X'
NOTE: skipping tape-writable test
Tape dailyset1-25 label ok
NOTE: host info dir /etc/amanda/dailyset1/curinfo/copper does not exist
NOTE: it will be created on the next run.
NOTE: index dir /etc/amanda/dailyset1/index/copper does not exist
NOTE: it will be created on the next run.
Server check took 0.120 seconds

Amanda Backup Client Hosts Check
--------------------------------
Client check: 1 host checked in 0.055 seconds, 0 problems found

(brought to you by Amanda 2.5.0)

• Do a backup run manually. Please check default parameters in /etc/amanda/<configname>/amanda.conf before backup run. Please make sure default "tapedev" has enough space to accomodate the backup.

Example: Running amdump manually on confiuguration "dailyset1"

$ /usr/sbin/amdump dailyset1
You have mail in /var/mail/amandabackup
 

• Check mail for backup run report.

Example: Amanda report email message

These dumps were to tape dailyset1-25.
The next tape Amanda expects to use is: a new tape.
The next new tape already labelled is: dailyset1-1.


STATISTICS:
			Total       Full      Incr.
			--------   --------   --------
Estimate Time (hrs:min)    0:00
Run Time (hrs:min)         0:00
Dump Time (hrs:min)        0:00       0:00       0:00
Output Size (meg)           8.6        8.6        0.0
Original Size (meg)         8.5        8.5        0.0
Avg Compressed Size (%)     --         --         --
Filesystems Dumped            1          1          0
Avg Dump Rate (k/s)     10771.1    10771.1        --

Tape Time (hrs:min)        0:00       0:00       0:00
Tape Size (meg)             8.6        8.6        0.0
Tape Used (%)               0.2        0.2        0.0
Filesystems Taped             1          1          0

Chunks Taped                  0          0          0
Avg Tp Write Rate (k/s)  9442.1     9442.1        --

USAGE BY TAPE:
Label              Time      Size      %    Nb    Nc
dailyset1-25       0:00     8800K    0.2     1     0

NOTES:
planner: Adding new disk copper:/var/log/.

Creating Customized configuration

This section provides an example for creating customised Amanda configuration instead of using configuration templates. This example backs up "/var/log" directory from Amanda client - copper.zmanda.com to a disk storage (/mnt/storage) on the Amanda server "iron.zmanda.com" using "harddisk" configuration template. All configuration steps are performed on the Amanda server - iron.zmanda.com

See Notes in the Creating Amanda configuration using templates for amserverconfig and amaddclient commands (Steps 1 and 2).

• Customize configuraton using amserverconfig command.

Example: Creating customer configuration "dailyset1"

$ /usr/sbin/amserverconfig dailyset1 --tapedev "file://mnt/storage" --tapetype HARDDISK --tpchanger chg-disk \
--changerfile "/etc/amanda/dailyset1/changer.conf" --changerdev /dev/null --labelstr "^dailyset1-[0-9][0-9]*$" \
--mailto "amandabackup" --dumpcycle 5days --runspercycle 5 --runtapes 1 --tapecycle 25
Logging to /tmp/amanda/amserverconfig.20060420142202.debug
/var/lib/amanda/gnutar-lists directory exists
/etc/amanda/template.d directory created
custom amanda.conf created
/etc/amanda/dailyset1/advanced.conf created and updated
curinfo and index directory created
tapelist file created
disklist file created
DONE.

• Add Amanda client - copper.zmanda.com and directory to be backed up using amaddclient.

Example: Using amaddclient to add Amanda client

$ /usr/sbin/amaddclient --config dailyset1 --client copper.zmanda.com --diskdev /var/log/
Logging to /tmp/amanda/amclientconfig.20060420101637.debug
/etc/amanda/dailyset1/disklist updated
updating /var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts on iron
/var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts contains copper.zmanda.com root, file not updated
I am attempting to update /var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts on copper.zmanda.com
.amandahosts                                                                     100%  109     0.1KB/s   00:00
.amandahosts.tmp                                                                 100%  130     0.1KB/s   00:00
copper.zmanda.com:/var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts updated successfully

• Create virtual tape slot directories and label them with amlabel command. Change to tapedev directory, Create slot directories equal to "tapecycle" value in amanda.conf (default value: 25) and label them with amlabel command.

Example: Following shell script will create 25 virtual tape slot directories under "/mnt/storage" directory and label them

$ cd /mnt/storage
$ i=1; while [ $i -le 25 ]; do mkdir slot$i; /usr/sbin/amlabel dailyset1 dailyset1-$i slot $i; i=$[$i+1];  done;

• Check Amanda configuration with amcheck command.

Example: Running amcheck on configuration "dailyset1"

$ /usr/sbin/amcheck dailyset1
Amanda Tape Server Host Check
-----------------------------
slot 1: read label `dailyset1-1', date `X'
NOTE: skipping tape-writable test
Tape dailyset1-1 label ok
NOTE: host info dir /etc/amanda/dailyset1/curinfo/copper.zmanda.com does not exist
NOTE: it will be created on the next run.
NOTE: index dir /etc/amanda/dailyset1/index/copper.zmanda.com does not exist
NOTE: it will be created on the next run.
Server check took 0.144 seconds

Amanda Backup Client Hosts Check
--------------------------------
Client check: 1 host checked in 0.506 seconds, 0 problems found 

(brought to you by Amanda 2.5.0)

• Force a backup run manually for testing the configuration.

Example: Running amdump on configuration "dailyset1"

$ /usr/sbin/amdump dailyset1
You have mail in /var/mail/amandabackup 

• Check email for backup run report.

Example: Backup run report email message

These dumps were to tape dailyset1-1.
The next tape Amanda expects to use is: a new tape.
The next new tape already labelled is: dailyset1-2.


STATISTICS:
                          Total       Full      Incr.
                        --------   --------   --------
Estimate Time (hrs:min)    0:00
Run Time (hrs:min)         0:00
Dump Time (hrs:min)        0:00       0:00       0:00
Output Size (meg)           8.6        8.6        0.0
Original Size (meg)         8.6        8.6        0.0
Avg Compressed Size (%)     --         --         --
Filesystems Dumped            1          1          0
Avg Dump Rate (k/s)     10640.9    10640.9        -- 

Tape Time (hrs:min)        0:00       0:00       0:00
Tape Size (meg)             8.6        8.6        0.0
Tape Used (%)               0.2        0.2        0.0
Filesystems Taped             1          1          0 

Chunks Taped                  0          0          0
Avg Tp Write Rate (k/s)  9723.8     9723.8        --

USAGE BY TAPE:
  Label             Time      Size      %    Nb    Nc
  dailyset1-1       0:00     8800K    0.2     1     0

NOTES:
planner: Adding new disk copper.zmanda.com:/var/log/.

Recommended configuration parameters

• Gnu tar is recommended as the backup program for Amanda enterprise edition. The "Program" parameter in the dumptype section of amanda.conf must be set to "GNUTAR".
• "ssh" is the recommended mechanism for encrypting communication. The "auth" parameter in the dumptype section of amanda.conf must be set to "ssh". Encryption increases the backup time significantly. So, use encrytion only if it is needed.
• If you are using "ssh" for Amanda server and client authentication, it's not recommended to client data encryption. That's not to use both 'auth "ssh"' and 'encrypt client' in the same dumptype.
• Always use indexing to track the files in the backup image.
• Use Fully Qualified Domain Names for hostnames in disklist entries. See amanda(8).

Example: Recommended dumptype configuration

define dumptype recommended-tar {
   global
   program "GNUTAR"
   comment "recommended dumptype configuration"
   auth bsd
   index
   record yes
}

Configuring Star backups

Star is supported by Amanda enterprise edition in same manner as GNU tar program. Set the program field in the dumptype configuration in amanda.conf configuration file to STAR. Use the dumptype definition in disklist entry to use star command to backup the data from the Amanda client.

Example: dumptype configuration using star in amanda.conf

 define dumptype user-star {
         comment "Full dump of /boot using star
         global
         program "STAR"
         compress none
         priority high
 }

Example: disklist entry using user-star dumptype

 copper.zmanda.com /boot user-star

Adding include and exclude lists for STAR program in the dumptype is identical to GNU tar. It can be specified in the amanda.conf dumptype configuration or in a separate file.

(include|exclude)  file1 file2 file3 

or may be listed in a file

one file per line, as in : '(include|exclude) list filename'.

Incremental backups

Star program requires a backup level 0 (full backup) backup to be done before incremental backups. The backup process will fail if incremental backup is done before any full backup. The star program maintains /etc/tardumps to keep track backup level and timestamp file on the Amanda client. This file should not be modified by the user.

Recovery from backups done using star command

Recovery commands - amrecover and amrestore will work with backup images created using star commands.

If the backup index is no longer available, the backup image header will provide information on how to restore the image and show the command to be used.

Example: Backup header of a backup done using star

 AMANDA: FILE 20060414174126 localhost /tmp/amanda  lev 0 comp N program /usr/bin/star
 To restore, position tape at start of file and run:
       dd if=<tape> bs=32k skip=1 |    /usr/bin/star -f - ...
^L

Restoring the individual files from the backup images is different. Please take a look at the star man page for command line syntax.

Example: Restoring backup images created by star under SELinux. Following command will restore amanda debug files from Amanda backup image - localhost._tmp_amanda.20060414174126.0

$ star -x -v -xattr -f localhost._tmp_amanda.20060414174126.0 amandad.20060414165105.debug amandad.20060414165741.debug amandad.20060414170145.debug amandad.20060414174127.debug
Host name   ktill2.zmanda.com
File system /tmp/amanda
Working dir /tmp/amanda
Release     star 1.5a69 (i386-redhat-linux-gnu)
Archtype    exustar
Dumptype    partial
Dumplevel   0
Dumpdate    1145061704.555902 (Fri Apr 14 17:41:44 2006)
Volno       1
Blocksize   20
x amandad.20060414165105.debug 3636 bytes, 8 tape blocks
x amandad.20060414170145.debug 135656 bytes, 265 tape blocks
x amandad.20060414174127.debug 16393 bytes, 33 tape blocks
x amandad.20060414165741.debug 3636 bytes, 8 tape blocks
star: 70 blocks + 4096 bytes (total of 720896 bytes = 704.00k).

Example: Restored file attributes from the backup image

$ ls -Z
-rw-r-----  amandaba disk     system_u:object_r:amanda_tmp_t    amandad.20060414165105.debug
-rw-r-----  amandaba disk     system_u:object_r:amanda_tmp_t    amandad.20060414165741.debug
-rw-r-----  amandaba disk     system_u:object_r:amanda_tmp_t    amandad.20060414170145.debug
-rw-r-----  amandaba disk     system_u:object_r:amanda_tmp_t    amandad.20060414174127.debug
-rw-r-----  amandaba disk     amandabackup:object_r:sysadm_home_t  localhost._tmp_amanda.20060414174126.0

Specifying Special characters

Pathnames with special characters must be enclosed in double quotes ("). Some unprintable charactes are given special escape sequences.

Example: Spaces in a dumptype name, exclude list, include list in amanda.conf

 define dumptype "user-tar (a1)" {
    root-tar
    comment "User partition dumped with tar and a funny dumptype name"
    priority medium
    exclude "diskfile b*"
    include list "/tmp/include list with spaces in file name"
 }

Example: Disklist file entries with spaces in backup directory and dumptype names

 localhost "/tmp/disk name with spaces" user-tar
 localhost "/tmp/disk name with\nnewline" "user-tar (a1)"

Example: Using file names with spaces in Amrecover sub-commands

 setdisk "/tmp/disk name with\nnewline"
 add "diskfile *"
 delete "diskfile a1"

Configuration

To use the Plasmon Archive Appliance with Amanda, mount the NFS share provided by the appliance on the Amanda server, and then follow the standard instructions for disk-based backup. However, because the Archive Appliance does not support files larger than 5 Gb, you must instruct Amanda to split dumps larger than this size.

Example: dumptype definition in amanda.conf specifying tape split size

define dumptype global {
    tape_splitsize 4900 Mb
    ...
}

Notes about the high-water mark

The Archive Appliance supports configurable high- and low-water marks which determine when data is migrated to UDO disks from the RAID cache. The default high-water mark is 85% of the RAID cache size by default, and this default is acceptable for most installations.

Users with very large dumps may wish to reduce the high-water mark for improved performance. In particular, those planning to dump more than about double the RAID cache size (300 GB - 4 TB, depending on the Archive Appliance) will need to lower the high-water mark.