Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Administration Unleashed

224CHAPTER 10Techniques for Backup and RecoveryThe Amanda backup server must have the tape drive or other backup media attached toit. It must also have the amanda-server RPM package installed. Refer to Chapter 3,“Operating System Updates,” for details on package installation.The server configuration files for Amanda are installed in the /etc/amanda/ directory. The/etc/amanda/DailySet1/ directory contains two files: amanda.conf and disklist. TheDailySet1 directory name is the default configuration name and can be changed as longas the file permissions and ownership remains the same for the directory and the configurationfiles in it. Create a new directory with a unique name for each configuration, andthen copy the default configuration files from the DailySet1/ directory into it. Thedefault configuration files are just examples and must be modified to work properly.The disklist file is used to define the clients to be backed up and is discussed in thesection “Setting Up the Amanda Clients” later in this chapter.The amanda.conf file is the main configuration file for the Amanda server and containsserver configuration parameters. Read the brief descriptions of each parameter in theexample file and refer to the amanda.conf man page for more details. Table 10.1 describessome of the most common parameters.CAUTIONThe default amanda.conf uses the directories in /usr/adm/amanda/ for many defaultvalues. The /etc/amanda/ directory is used instead of this directory in Red HatEnterprise Linux. Any values with /usr/adm/amanda/ should be modified.TABLE 10.1 Common Amanda Configuration ParametersParameter DescriptionorgDescriptive name of the configuration. Used in the subject of emails generatedfor this configuration. Each configuration should have a unique orgname.mailto Email addresses of all the administrators who should receive reports fromthis configuration. Separate each email address by a space.dumpcycle Number of days between full backups.runspercycle Number of runs per cycle, with the cycle defined by dumpcycle.netusage Maximum amount of network bandwidth that can be used by Amanda.maxdumps Maximum number of backups Amanda will attempt to run at the same time.logdir Directory to write logs. Directory from default value in amanda.conf doesnot exist. Change to existing /var/log/amanda directory or another existingdirectory.Saving to TapeIf using a tape drive, be sure to use a non-rewinding tape drive that does not automaticallyrewind when closed. Amanda uses a new tape for each run and can not be configuredto append a second run to a tape.