Tape backup
 

I have a SCSI tape drive (ID is 6) and running Fedora Core 2. I pretty much everything setup on the computer, so now I'm trying to work out the backup.

How do I get access to the tape drive? Do I have to mount it? From what I've been able to tell, it looks like it is reference by /dev/st0, but that (mount /dev/st0 /mnt/tape) doesn't work.

Once it's mounted, how do I save data to it (I'm thinking tar for now...maybe amanda later)?

Thanks!
Chad

You shouldn't need to mount it - just send tar to it like:
tar cvf /dev/st0 /directory_to_backup
check there's something there with
tar tvf /dev/st0
and recover with
tar xvf /dev/st0

If you are having problem accessing the tape drive, run dmesg | grep ftape to see whether the systems loads your tape drive.If the module is not loaded,you should check if the kernel is compiled with support for ftape module and your particular tape drive.Run the make config or make xconfig command,choose Character Devices ->ftape.You can then verify if ftape is enabled and your hardware is supported.The device file for your scsi tape drive should be /dev/st0 and for the floppy tape,it should be /dev/qft0.
After you are ready for the backup,test your tape drive by using the st command and then tar the files you need to backup to the tape drive.
With amanda you can save files over a network.You need to create a few directories where you will keep the amanda config files.Config files are ususally stored in /etc/amanda.You should log in as amanda user and create subdirectories within those directories,one subdir for each backup.You should run

#su -amanda
$mkdir -p /var/lib/amanda/normal
$mkdir -p /var/lib/amanda/normal/index
$mkdir -p /etc/amanda/normal
This is for a normal backup.Use can create an upgrade backup configfor backingnup OS's.You also need to specify a pregnant disk that amanda can use to temporarily spool backups before it writes to the disk.You should allocate a substantial amount of storage for this dir.For eg.

#mkdir /home/amanda
#chmod 700 /home/amanda
#chown amanda /home/amanda
#chgrp disk /home/amanda

Create 2 config files for amanda in the /etc/amanda/normal dir, viz. amanda.conf and disklist.Copy the files from the /etc/amanda/DailySet1 dir.
Type :
$ cd /etc/amanda/DailySet1
$ cp amanda.conf disklist /etc/amanda/normal.
The config file might look daunting,but to ease tasks,leave most settings at deault.Create a disklist file in /etc/amanda/normal dir with the always-full qualifier.

Now since amanda is used for backing up over a network, you need to config the amanda network services.You should config the xinetd daemon to listen for the services.Do this by enabling the amandaidx and amandatape services by theses commands as root:
#chkconfig amidxtape on
#chkconfig amandaidx on
Then type : #/etc/init.d/xinetd restart

Next config the /var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts file on each terminal that amanda will backup from.Initially only the localhost is defined as the backup server.To add the others,type

$echo <amandahost> >> /var/lib/amanda/.amandahosts , replacing amandahost with the name of the backup server.enable the amanda client by typing :#chkconfig amanda on. and to reload the /etc/xinetd.d files type:
#/etc/init.d/xinetd restart.
with the config process over,type as root user:
#/usr/sbin/amdump normal
The backup results are written to the /var/lib/amanda/normal dir.
You may also use cron to automate the process.To create an amddump schedule in cron, enter crontab -e.This opens the crontab file in vi or any other text editor.Add the following lines to the end of the file:

0 22 * * 0 /usr/sbin/amdump normal
0 22 * * 1 /usr/sbin/amdump incremental
0 22 * * 2 /usr/sbin/amdump incremental
0 22 * * 3 /usr/sbin/amdump incremental
0 22 * * 4 /usr/sbin/amdump incremental
0 22 * * 5 /usr/sbin/amdump incremental
0 22 * * 6 /usr/sbin/amdump incremental

Save and exit.The cron daemon will now run amdump at 2200 hrs each day.This will work after you create a second incremental config file.Do this by creating a subdirectory ,incremental , in /etc/amanda and by filling it with applicable amanda.conf and disklist files.Also create a subdir named incremental in /usr/adm/amanda.

Although it may look daunting,amanda is a very useful process for backing up data,but try to avoid it if your network setup isn't that big.