There's also a little known backup app called DanBorn's multicd

http://danborn.net/multiCD/

Don't know if that helps or not...

Ok. This was where I went wrong instead of editing the amanda.conf file I had copied and pasted whatever was mentioned in the link @ http://www.howtoforge.com/centralize...anda-on-centos.

I just reverted back to the original file and then edited the same and it resolved the issue.

Amanda Tape Server Host Check
-----------------------------
Holding disk /dumps/amanda: 59359123 KB disk space available, using 59256456 KB
ERROR: logdir /var/log/amanda/intra: No such file or directory, you must create a directory.
slot 1: read label `intra-1', date `X'

NOTE: skipping tape-writable test
Tape intra-1 label ok
NOTE: info dir /var/log/amanda/intra/curinfo: does not exist
NOTE: it will be created on the next run.
NOTE: index dir /var/log/amanda/intra/index: does not exist
NOTE: it will be created on the next run.
Server check took 0.420 seconds

Amanda Backup Client Hosts Check
--------------------------------
WARNING: alpha: selfcheck request failed: timeout waiting for ACK
Client check: 1 host checked in 30.164 seconds, 1 problem found

(brought to you by Amanda 2.5.0p2)

I tried referring to this link for the client side error @ http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/Amc...request_failed
but for some reason I am not able to access it.

But I checked for the amanda process on both my client and server ans it was running.

I used the following command netstat -a | grep amanda

and I also checked the /var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts file on client(alpha) and it had only one line which is as mentioned below:

gamma amanda

The server(gamma) however had two lines in /var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts file as mentioned below:

alpha amanda
gamma amanda

I am not sure why it is failing again? Please help!

Progress!

(by the way, I think the zmanda wiki was down late last night and early this morning. It's back up now. So, you could follow that link, which is a good place to start.)

The error on the backup host tells you what to do for that. Create a directory /var/log/amanda/intra, and give ownership of it to the Amanda backup user. Amanda will then create the files it needs in that directory as it says in the notes just below that.

Dealing with the "timeout waiting for ACK" can be either simple or tangled, depending on what you have done and what you run into. The link above might be a good place to start, or you could use the quick start page, starting here http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/Qui..._on_the_server. When I first set up Amanda a couple of years ago, I used that page as a central guide and just jumped out to other links for more detail whenever I needed it. For starters, right at the point where I gave you the link into that page, the .amandahosts file needs more than you have, and it will depend on how your machines are connecting to one another.

See if you can review those two Zmanda wiki pages and let us know what happens. There are detailed debug logs, usually kept in /tmp/amanda/. You can look at those on the client and on the server to see what happened. Their names are time stamped so you can tell which run you are looking at. Don't get overwhelmed by the detail though. Simple things like, if the client has no debug log, then the server never succeeded in contacting it. Also look for the naming of the hosts in the logs. Is it really just the simple, unqualified name? Or is it being addressed as alpha.yourdomain.com? That would mean you have to change your .amandahosts file to reflect that.

Make sure you have the xinetd set up correctly and are using the right kind of authentication.

Finally which Backup software is better?

http://linux.about.com/od/softbackup..._Solutions.htm

So, besides myself trying to help nandanm1, we've had 3 different people chime in with one liners touting some other product that isn't really comparable (one case appears to be his own product) or just tossing in useless noise. What's with this? Is it so difficult to be either helpful or silent.

Ok. This is what I did I manually created all the folder and files under /var/log/amanda/intra/curinfo/ and /var/log/amanda/intra/index/ and the error message on the server side which I received vanished.

But as per the error message it should have been created on the next run. I am not sure why it did not.

I am referring to the below mentioned error message.

NOTE: info dir /var/log/amanda/intra/curinfo: does not exist
NOTE: it will be created on the next run.

However this fixed the issue on the server side but I still have the same problem with the client could you please help!

The error message is the same as before I referred the following link (http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/Amc...request_failed) but was not able to fix it.

-bash-3.2$ /usr/sbin/amcheck intra
Amanda Tape Server Host Check
-----------------------------
Holding disk /dumps/amanda: 59306148 KB disk space available, using 59203748 KB
slot 3: read label `intra-3', date `X'

NOTE: skipping tape-writable test
Tape intra-3 label ok
Server check took 0.100 seconds

Amanda Backup Client Hosts Check
--------------------------------
WARNING: alpha: selfcheck request failed: timeout waiting for ACK
Client check: 1 host checked in 30.012 seconds, 1 problem found

To update you more on this when I checked my /var/log/messages on client alpha the below mentioned are the last two line I received.

May 4 01:26:53 alpha xinetd[4702]: START: amanda pid=5123 from=192.168.1.2
May 4 01:27:24 alpha xinetd[4702]: EXIT: amanda status=0 pid=5123 duration=31(sec)


192.168.1.2 refers to my server.

This means to say that there is communication between my server and client and I found no error messages in /var/log/messages on server(gamma).

Could you please give me a step by step instruction to debug this issue.

Thank you in advance!

That's pretty much what http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/Amc...request_failed is. You referred to that, but didn't say anything in detail about what you did.

For example, did you do anything about your .amandahosts files on both the server and the client? Check those against the recommendations on http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/Quick_start. Looking back at your earlier posts, the entries you had seem inadequate.

You confirmed that xinetd was at least connecting. That's good, but it wasn't getting the ack back. Check the amanda debug logs on both the server and the client in /tmp/amanda and see if they give any errors that tell you what needs to be done. The names of these log files are time stamped, so you can do an amcheck and then look for the corresponding logs by time stamp.

You haven't mentioned what auth method you are using. I would configure it using bsdtcp, rather than plain bsd -- http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/Con...authentication. See also http://wiki.zmanda.com/man/amanda-auth.7.html. But I would take care of the first things above before messing with this.

Ok this is what I did. I edited the /var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts file both on server and the client and the below mentioned entries in it.

Referring to http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/Qui..._on_the_server

On Server

gamma amanda
gamma root
alpha amanda
alpha root

Referring to http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/Qui..._on_the_client

On Client

gamma amanda


Here gamma refers to the hostname of my server and alpha refers to hostname of my client. I have configured ldap and Samba on my client (alpha) nothing on my server.

I have also checked the file permission by using ls -la command on both the server and client and it reads as mentioned below.

-rwx------ 1 amanda disk 22 May 5 00:02 /var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts

I could not find the debug logs on both the server and client in /tmp/amanda folder but I could find the same under /var/log/amanda.

I have sent you /var/log/amanda file on the client via Email to you.

I am lost please help me.

How did you email the debug log to me? I didn't get any messages from you.

Your Amanda version is a slightly older version. However, it's close to one I'm running on an older server. I'm trying to chase down whether there was a change in the format of the .amandahosts file, because your format doesn't match mine, even though it matches the documentation you were following.

Take a look at http://wiki.zmanda.com/index.php/Con...andahosts_file. It matches my format, and may make a difference for you. Also, you are on a local private network (192.168. IP range); so, how your machines identify themselves depends on your own network configurations. That needs to match the entries in .amandahosts. I'm on a fully qualified domain, so my .amandahosts entries start with myserver.mydept.myuniv.edu. The debug logs will tell what is being seen on yours and whether that is an issue. That's part of why I wanted you to look at them or show them to me.

I use bacula to backup windows, linux and HPUX machines. The bacula client for windows hosts is a mess and takes some time to figure out. But once you have it up and running it's all well.

rosv, do you have anything constructive to offer? Amanda is also solid, and fewer people complain about the "steep learning curve" you hear about so much with Bacula (on the Bacula users list). The original poster is a self proclaimed newbie on linux, and is struggling through basic linux troubleshooting while installing and configuring an application. Suggesting a different application that "is a mess" and has a steep learning curve isn't going to help that situation.

Hurray,

All I did to do to get rid of my old error message was to add an entry on the client system in /etc/hosts file - gamma 192.168.1.1

Now I am getting a new error message:

ERROR: alpha: [can not read/write /etc/amandates: Permission denied]

I checked the file permissions for /etc/amandates and it is as mentioned below.

-rw-r--r-- 1 amanda disk 0 Jan 7 2007 /etc/amandates

Any quick thoughts or suggestion on this?

I presume you were checking the permissions on /etc/amandates on your client alpha?

Also, can you confirm that the processes launched by xinetd on the client are running as the user amanda? Typical configurations have a user amandabackup, so I'm just wondering if you have a confusion on the user there. I don't recall whether you did a package install or built amanda from source.