Documentation for versions 4 and higher is at docs.zmanda.com

Admin Devices

1. Disk Device
2. Amazon S3 Device
3. Tape Changer Device
4. Single Tape Drive Device

Version as of 23:31, 19 May 2024

The Admin Devices page lets you select and configure target devices for backup. Once configured, a device is then bound to the current backup set.

AdminDevices-CreateDevice-3.1.png

When you select a device type (Disk, Single Tape, Tape Change, Amazon S3) and click Add, the options for that device are displayed in the top pane as shown above. Devices already configured are listed in the bottom pane along with buttons that allow you to Edit, Delete, and Use the device as shown below. When there are more items that can be listed one page, page navigation links at the bottom of the table allow you to move between pages.

All devices must have a Name; a descriptive Comment is optional. Device-specific options are described in the subsections that follow.

AdminDevices-List-3.1.png

Disk Device

AdminDevices-Vtape-3.1.png

Root Path The directory to store backup images, specified as an absolute path.

By default, ZMC fills in the field with /var/lib/amanda/vtapes/. The amandabackup user must have permission to write to this directory, which should also be large enough to hold images for all intended backups. When you bind a disk device profile to a backup set on the Backup Where page, it will display this value as the storage location, creating a subdirectory of the root path that matches the backup set name to store images.

Tip: The amount of free space available to hold backup images is an important consideration for fast retrieval of data.

To ensure effective restore capabilities, set aside sufficient disk space to hold more than one full Backup Set worth of Data. Just how many full Backup Sets you should keep on disk depends on the data and your sites requirements for quick restores of accidentally deleted data. The more full backup images stored, the longer the retention of accidentally deleted files. Start with enough space to hold three full Backup Set images and adjust this number as experience dictates.

When using vtapes, you must first decide whether to oversubscribe before you can determine how much disk space to allocate. If oversubscribing, you should still determine by how much you plan to oversubscribe and set up processes on the host system to alert you when oversubscription threatens to prevent backups from occuring.

If you set the number of vtapes in rotation to match the number of vtape slots on the Backup Where page (i.e. normal, recommended configuration), then to avoid oversubscription issues you must allocate disk space equal to the number of vtapes times the size of each vtape. Changes to either of these two parameters require adjusting the amount of disk space allocated for use by ZMC's backup set outside of Amanda, since currently the Amanda does not reserve space before usage.

Tip: Because there is no value in creating a backup of a backup on the same media, Zmanda recommends that the drive that holds the vtapes be excluded from the backup set that points to the vtapes.

Reserved Percent Percentage of the file system that should be free. This value depends on the file system in use. All file systems have reserve space. This value is used for ZMC disk space warning messages.