Table of Contents
amanda.conf
This document outlines the tape changer support design of Amanda 2.2 and beyond. It defines a small interface for changer software to follow so that Amanda can remain device-independent but still support the widest range of tape software and hardware possible.
The interface is a bit simplistic and has only had complications added when there is a body of field experience.
All device-specifics are hidden by a glue program that the rest of Amanda calls to interact with the tape changer.
The name of this changer program is given by the "tpchanger" variable
in the file amanda.conf. Example entry:
tpchanger "chg-multi" # use multi-unit tape changer emulator
The tapedev parameter is ignored if a tpchanger program is specified,
unless the changer program itself reads tapedev from amanda.conf.
The chg-multi changer doesn't, as it reads all its configuration arguments
from its own configuration file, specified as changerfile.
If the tpchanger program does not begin with a '/', Amanda expects it to reside in libexecdir, and possibly have the version suffix appended depending on how Amanda was configured.
Two other amanda.conf parameters are available for changer use, however
their definition is left entirely up to the changer script itself.
They are changerfile and changerdev. Typically changerfile will point
to the configuration file specific to the changer, or be a base name
of several related changer files. The changerdev variable may point to
the /dev entry used to access the changer device.
See the documentation with the specific changer you're interested in to see exaclty how these variables are used (if at all).
The tape changer script/program is always from the directory with
amanda.conf. It is never passed the configuration name it is running
on behalf of, but since amgetconf works without a name from the current
directory, that should be sufficient.
The script/program must support the following commands:
<tpchanger> -slot <slot-specifier>
If changer is loaded, unloads the current slot (if different than "slot-specifier") and puts that tape away, then loads the requested slot. See the next section for the list of valid slot requests.
Outputs to stdout the slot name and name of the device file to access the tape on success, or a slot name and error text.
Returns 0 on success.
Returns 1 on positioning error (eg at bottom of gravity stacker or slot empty).
Returns 2 any other fatal error. The slot name may be invalid, but must be present. Error message goes to stdout in place of device name.
Examples:
% chg-multi -slot 0 0 /dev/nrst8 # exitcode returned is 0 % chg-multi -slot 1 1 slot 1 is empty # exitcode returned is 1 % chg-multi -slot bogus-slot <none> no slot `bogus-slot' # exitcode returned is 2
<tpchanger> -info
Outputs to stdout three or more fields:
The current slot string (required)
The number of slots (required)
Flag indicating whether the changer can go backwards
(0 if it can't, 1 if it can). (required)
Flag indicating whether the changer is searchable
(optional). Shows whether the changer supports the -search and -label commands and is able to load a tape given only the Amanda label string (0 or omitted if it can't, 1 if it can). (optional)
Examples:
% chg-multi -info 0 10 1 # exitcode returned is 0 % chg-zd-mtx -info 0 10 1 1
<tpchanger> -reset
Resets the changer to known state and loads the first slot.
Output and error handling are the same as
"<tpchanger> -slot first"
In the case of a gravity stacker that must be reset by hand, this could be run (via " amtape <conf> reset") to inform the software the stacker is positioned back at the top.
Examples:
% chg-multi -reset 0 /dev/nrst8 # exitcode returned is 0 % chg-multi -reset 0 slot 0 is empty # exitcode returned is 1 % chg-multi -reset 0 tape-changer not responding # exitcode returned is 2
<tpchanger> -eject
Unloads the current slot (if loaded) and puts that tape away.
Output and error handling are the same as the -slot command.
Note that a tape may or may not be loaded when this command completes, depending on the hardware.
Examples:
% chg-multi -eject 0 /dev/nrst8 # exitcode returned is 0 % chg-multi -eject 0 drive was not loaded # exitcode returned is 1
The tape changer program MAY support the following commands:
<tpchanger> -search <labelstr>
Loads an Amanda tape by name (labelstr).
Output and error handling are the same as the -slot command.
taper, amcheck and amtape will use this command if the changer reports it is searchable.
Example:
% chg-zd-mtx -search DailySet005 5 /dev/nrst8 # exitcode returned is 0
-<tpchanger> -label <labelstr> Associates the Amanda label <labelstr> with the barcode of the currently loaded (in the tape drive) tape.
Outputs to stdout the current slot and tape device. amlabel will use this command if your changer is searchable to build up the barcode database.
Example:
% chg-zd-mtx -label DailySet006 6 /dev/nrst8 # exitcode returned is 0
For all the commands:
An exit code of 0 implies that the operation was completely successful, and the output may be parsed by the Amanda code as described above.
For non-zero exit codes, the first field is still the slot name, but the actual error messages are not fixed. They are just displayed and/or logged as-is by the calling Amanda program.
An exit code of 1 implies the operation failed in a benign way, for example an empty slot or an attempt to go backwards in a gravity stacker. The calling Amanda program will print the error message if appropriate and continue, perhaps requesting a different slot be loaded.
Any other exit code is considered fatal and will cause Amanda to stop attempting to talk to the tape changer.
Some tape changers, such as carousels and gravity stackers, have a hardware notion of current position. Others have no current position when no tape is loaded: all tapes are in their slots and the changer arm is docked away from the slots.
Nevertheless, Amanda requires tape-changer scripts to maintain the
notion of a "current" position. This is for performance reasons: as
tapes tend to be loaded into the rack in order, and Amanda uses them in
order, the next tape to use can be found much quicker if the position
of the current one is remembered. As an example, the chg-multi script
maintains the current position in a chg-multi.state file (or any other
file specified in a `statefile' line in the changer configuration file).
Amanda does not care how slots are available or how they are named. They could be numbered 0 to N-1, numbered 1 to N, or even designated by letter, A .. Z. The only requirement is that the names do not contain whitespace and that the names "current", "next", "prev", "first", "last" and "advance" retain their meaning as follows:
current The position of the last loaded tape, as described above
next The position after current, wrapping from the last slot to the first.
prev The position before current, wrapping from the first slot to the last.
first The first slot in the tape rack.
last The last slot in the tape rack.
advance The same as "next" except the next tape may not be loaded if the changer supports advancing to the next slot without putting that tape in the drive.
The current position must be updated even if there is a positioning error (such as "empty slot"). This allows amanda to step through the entire tape rack by issuing successive "slot next" positioning commands.
The amtape program is the main operator interface to Amanda's tape changer support. The commands supported include:
amtape <conf> slot <slot-specifier> Load the tape from the specified slot into the drive
amtape <conf> eject Send an eject command to the tape-changer. Effect is changer specific.
amtape <conf> reset Send a reset command to the tape-changer. Effect is changer specific.
amtape <conf> show Go through the entire tape rack, showing the labels of all amanda tapes encountered.
amtape <conf> label <label> Find and load the tape with the specified label
amtape <conf> taper Perform taper's scan algorithm (see below), loading the tape which would be picked for the next amdump run.
amtape <conf> clean If a cleaning tape is defined by the changer, load it in the drive and put it away when done.
amtape <conf> device Output the current tape device name.
amtape <conf> current Display the contents of the current slot.
amtape <conf> update Scan the entire tape rack and update the barcode database.
See the amtape(8) man page for more details.
In addition to amtape, amlabel has been modified to allow optionally specifying a slot:
amlabel <conf> <label> [slot <slot-specifier>]
amcheck looks for the next tape in the rack the same way the taper does. If multiple tapes are used in one night, amcheck attempts to find all the needed tapes in turn if the tape-changer is random access. On a one-way gravity stacker, amcheck only finds the first tape, since finding the subsequent ones would put the first one out of reach of that night's amdump run.
amrestore and amrecover do not yet include any tape changer support
directly, as amrestore knows nothing about the amanda.conf files or
server-side databases. This is a deliberate decision to keep amrestore
independent, so it can be run from any host with a tape drive, even
if the original tape server host is down. To use amrestore in a
tape-changer environment, use amtape to find the right tape, then run
amrestore giving the resulting tape device name.
Amanda does not require a particular tape label for a run. Any label that matches the labelstr regex and is determined to be "inactive" according to the tapelist database, may be written to. However, there is a preferred 'next' tape, the one that is next in the cycle implied by the current tapelist.
amdump uses two algorithms, depending on whether the tape changer can go backwards in the rack or not. If multiple tapes are needed in a single run, this algorithm is repeated in turn whenever a new tape is required.
Normal tape changers (those that can go backwards):
With a full-access tape changer, amdump searches the entire rack for the preferred tape label. This tape will usually be found at the current or next position, but might be located anywhere. If the tape is found, it is used. If it is not found, the first tape encountered that matches the labelstr and is not active is picked.
Gravity stackers (anything that can not go backwards):
To avoid going all the way to the bottom of the stacker only to find that the preferred tape isn't present and nothing can be done, Amanda picks the first tape (starting at the current position) that matches the labelstr and is not active, regardless of whether it is the preferred tape.
This tape changer script supports several common configurations:
Using multiple tape drives in a single host to emulate a tape changer. This can also be used with a single physical drive to write several tapes in an Amanda run.
Using a gravity stacker or a real changer configured to sequentially load the next tape when the current one is ejected. Also supports a changer which cycles to the first tape after loading the last one.
Using a changer accessed through several "virtual" tape devices which determine which slot actually gets loaded in the tape drive.
The advantage of this changer script is that you do not need to get into the complexity of dealing with a real changer interface. All the action goes through the tape device interface with standard mt commands, which eases many portability issues. Many common tape jukeboxes can be configured in a sequential or cycle mode.
chg-multi ignores `tapedev' and `changerdev' because `changerfile' may
specify several tape devices to be used. A sample configuration file
may be found in example/chg-multi.conf.
This is a poor man's tape changer that requires the backup operator to
change tapes manually. It expects `tapedev' in amanda.conf to point to
a valid tape device, and stores some status data in files whose names
start with the `changerfile'. `changerdev' is ignored.
An mtx-based tape changer script. `changerdev' must specify the tape device controlled by the mtx program, and `tapedev' must point to the no-rewind tape device to be used. More than likely, both `changerdev' and `tapedev' will reference the same device file. `changerfile' must specify a prefix for status files maintained by this script. It will maintain files named `changerfile'/changer-clean and `changerfile'/changer-access. You may have to edit the script to specify which slot contains a cleaning tape (cleanslot).
The mtx program must support commands such as `-s', `-l' and `-u'. If the one you've got requires `status', `load' and `unload', you should use chg-zd-mtx instead (see below).
Based on chg-mtx, but modified in order to support the Zubkoff/Dandelion version of mtx. Eric DOUTRELEAU <[email protected]>, who contributed this script, reported that it works on a Solaris/sparc box with a HP 1557A stacker.
In addition to the `changerfile'-clean and the `changerfile'-access files, it maintains a `changerfile'-slot file that indicates the currently loaded slot.
There are lots of comments at the start of the script describing how to set it up.
A C program that relies on scsi tape-changer interfaces. It may either use the tape changer interface specified in chio.h (Gerd Knor's SCSI media changer driver, a Linux kernel loadable module), or it may use built-in tape changer interfaces available on HPUX, Solaris 2.5, IRIX and possibly others, but only the chio and HPUX interfaces are currently implemented . `tapedev' specifies the tape device to be used; `changer_dev' is the device used to talk to the kernel module (for chio, usually /dev/ch0), and `changerfile' specifies a filename in which the current slot number will be stored.
Now there is another way, to get the chg-scsi a little bit more flexible. If you use only one digit in the `tapedev' parameter, the chg-scsi expects that changerfile points to a real configuration file, not only a counting file. In this configuration file you may specify that the tapedrive needs an eject command and an optional waittime, necessary after inserting the tape into the drive. You are also able to configure a range of slots which should be used by your configuration. The idea behind this is, that you don't want Amanda to cycle all the tapes if Amanda searches exactly one tape. If you have a library which supports more than one drive you can also specify which drive to use. For each configuration (there should be at least one) you have to specify a file, where Amanda remembers which tape is actually in the drive. For future use there is also some stuff for cleaning the drives.
In amanda.conf:
tapedev "x" with x between 0 and 9, selects the configuration to use changerfile "filename" specifies the changer configuration file
In the changer-config-file the following could be set:
number_configs x # x between 0 and 9 number of configurations defined. This should be the first parameter in the config-file. eject x # x 0 or 1 1 means that the drives need an eject command, before the robot can handle the tape. sleep x # x between 0 and MAX_INT specifies the seconds to wait before the drive could be used after inserting a tape. 5 should be OK. cleanmax x # x some positive int How many cleanings does a cleaning tape survive changerdev <device> # The device for the robot
And then there come some configuration sections, separated by the word `config` followed by the ordinal of that configuration (0 to 9). In each configuration section you should specify:
drivenum x x between 0 and the number of drives in the library This one specifies the drive to use with this configuration dev <device> The device for the tapedrive startuse x x between 0 and maximum slotnumber of your library Starting here we may use the tapes enduse x x between start and maximum slotnumber This is the last tape we may use in this configuration. If we reach this one the next will be start.. statfile <filename> Here we remember the last used slot for this configuration cleancart x x between 0 and maximum slotnumber In this slot we find the cleaning tape cleanfile <filename> Here we will remember how often we used the cleaning tape usagecount <filename> This points to a file which is deleted after cleaning the drive e.g. the usagetime of the drive
Comments begin with an '#' until end of line. Allowed separators are TAB and SPACE.
The config and the syntax is the same as for chg-scsi-chio. New is the config type
emubarcode 1
With this option and the option labelfile chg-scsi will try to create an inventory. With this inventory it should be possible to use the search feature for loading tapes.
debuglevel x:y
This option will set the debug level and select for which part debug messages should be sent to the debug file. In case of problems you should set it to 9:0
havebarcode 1
This will force the program to read the barcodes, and don not try to figure out if there is an barcode reader available.
scsitapedev <devicename>
This device is used to control the tape, read status infos etc.
tapestatus <filename>
If this option is given on every eject/move the log pages of the tape device will be dumped in this file. There are 2 log pages were you can see how many read/write errors (corrected) are processed by the tape
labelfile <filename>
This file is used for the mapping from barcode labels to Amanda volume labels. It is used if the changer has a barcode reader. To initialize run amtape show, this will add the mapping for the tapes in the magazine.
eject > 1
Use the mtio ioctl to eject the tape, use only if the standard (1) does
not work, and send the debug output (/tmp/amanda/chg-scsi.debug) to
[email protected]
changerident <ident>
With this it is possible to specify which internal driver to use for controlling/error handling of the robot
tapeident <ident>
Some as above but for the tape.
New command line option: -status [all|types|robot|sense|ModeSenseRobot|ModeSenseTape|fd]
<all> will show the result form all options. <types> will list the known driver types. <robot> will show the status of all elements (tape/robot/slots..) <sense> will show the result from a request sense <ModeSenseRobot> will show the sense page from the robot <ModeSenseTape> will show the sense page from the tape <fd> will show the devices which are open, and some info about it.
At the moment changer with tape and robot on the same SCSI id ( but on different luns) will run on the following platforms:
- HP_UX 10.20 - IRIX 6.x - Solaris - Linux - AIX - FreeBSD 3.0/4.0
Tape and robot on different IDs run native on - Linux - HP-UX 10.20 - Irix 6.x - FreeBSD
Tape and robot on different IDs with special modules run on: Solaris with sst kernel module, which is not any longer needed in solaris 2.8. See in the contrib/sst directory The configuration on solaris 2.8 with the sgen driver is done by creating the file /kernel/drv/sgen.conf
This file should contain at the beginning the following device-type-config-list="changer","sequential"
This will force the driver to attach only to the devices with type either changer (the robot) and sequential (the tape). Next you must tell the driver on which id it should check for devices (tape on id 5, robot on id 6 in this example),
name="sgen" class="scsi" target=5 lun=0; name="sgen" class="scsi" target=6 lun=0;
This will create the 2 device files /dev/scsi/sequential/c0t5d0 (scsitapedev option in chg-scsi.conf) /dev/scsi/changer/c0t6d0 (changer option in chg-scsi.conf)
So the complete sgen.conf looks like: device-type-config-list="changer","sequential name="sgen" class="scsi" target=5 lun=0; name="sgen" class="scsi" target=6 lun=0;
For HP you have to create the special device files for the pass throu interface. Check if the ctl driver is installed. Example:
# lsdev -C ctl
Character Block Driver Class
203 -1 sctl ctl
Next check on which bus your drives are connected. (ioscan) with the Character device num form the lsdev and the card instance from ioscan create the special file. Example:
mknod /dev/scsi/1 c 203 0x001000
||||
||| LUN of device
||SCSI ID of the device
2 digit instance number from ioscan
On FreeBSD 4.0 the syntax for the device files has changed. Now you have to tell chg-scsi the bus:target:lun combination. If you for example on your scsi bus 0 target 3 an robot the syntax is changerdev 0:3:0 To get this info you can use the camcontrol command, <camcontrl devlist> will give you a list of known devices. Don't specify dev and scsitapedev in your chg-scsi.conf !!, this will not work.
On Linux you need either sg (generic scsi) as module or it must be compiled into the kernel. If the sg driver doses not work try to use the ioctl interface. For that you have to undef the LINUX_CHG define in changer-src/scsi-linux.c Also you have to change the NORMAL_TIMEOUT in /usr/src/linux/drivers/scsi/scsi_ioctl.c from (10 * HZ) to (5 * 60 * HZ). On linux it does not run if you are using an aha1542 SCSI controller. The driver can not handle the extended request sense.On IRIX you find the SCSI pass through interfaces for every device in /dev/scsi.
chg-scsi has been tested/run with the following devices: Exabyte 10h and eliant tape HP-Surestore 1200e and C1553A tape BreeceHill Q2.15 (EXB-120) and DLT7000 tape Powerstor L200 and DLT7000 ARCHIVE Python 28849-XXX TANDBERG TDS 1420 ADIC VLS DLT Library
It is now possible with a changer that has barcode reader to load tapes faster. Also amdump will find tapes faster. Every time a tape is labeled the information in the labelfile will be updated. To initialize the label mapping you can also do an amtape config show. This will put the mapping for all tapes in the magazine into the mapping file.
For all problems please contact [email protected]. Please include in your
mail the debug file. (/tmp/amanda/chg-scsi.debug)
nchangers=3 tpchanger_1="chg-mtx" changerdev_1="/dev/mtx1" changerfile_1="/some/file1" tapedev_1="/some/dev" tpchanger_2="chg-mtx" changerdev_2="/dev/mtx2" changerfile_2="/some/file2" tapedev_2="/some/dev" tpchanger_3="chg-null" changerdev_3="/dev/null" changerfile_3="/some/file3" tapedev_3="/some/dev"The third uses the null changer. The tapedev_n entries are only needed if the changerfile in question uses them.
Clone of the chg-zd-mtx, but modified to be applied on local directories instead of tapes. This changer emulates a robotic that uses virtual tapes instead of real ones, where the virtual tapes are real directories on a hard disk.
The directory tree should be:
slot_root_dir -|
|- info
|- data -> slot1/
|- slot1/
|- slot2/
|- ...
|- slotn/
Where "slot_root_dir" is the tapedev "file:xxx" parameter and "n" the tapecycle parameter.
Please refer to How to use the Amanda file-driver for details of usage.
This changer script is designed for IOMEGA or JAZZ disks of various sizes as well as any other removable disk media. This is a PURELY MANUAL changer. It requests insertion of disk media via messages on /dev/tty. So it cannot be used via crontab. Make sure you comply with any of the following. - Add statements
tpchanger "chg-iomega"
tapedev "file:<mount_point_of_removable_disk>"
(e.g. tapedev "file:/mnt/iomega" )
tapetype IOMEGA
define tapetype IOMEGA {
comment "IOMega 250 MB floppys"
length 250 mbytes
filemark 100 kbytes
speed 1 mbytes
}
to your amanda.conf.
- Add entry to /etc/fstab to specify mount point of removable disk
and make this disk mountable by any user.
- Format all disks, add a "data" sub directory and label all disks
by using amlabel.
- Be aware that as of version 2.4.4p1, Amanda can't handle backups that are
larger than the size of the removable disk media. So make sure
/etc/amanda/<backup_set>/disklist specifies chunks smaller than the
disk size.