NAME

       amdump - back up all disks in an Amanda configuration

SYNOPSIS

       amdump [--no-taper] [--exact-match] [-o configoption...] config [host [disk...]...]

DESCRIPTION

       Amdump is the main interface to the Amanda backup process. It loads the specified
       configuration and attempts to back up every disk specified by the disklist(5).  Amdump is
       normally run by cron.

       The command optionally takes a set of DLE specifications (see amanda-match(7)) to narrow
       the DLEs that will be dumped. All disks are dumped if no expressions are given.

       If a file named hold exists in the configuration directory, amdump will wait until it is
       removed before starting the backups. This allows scheduled backups to be delayed when
       circumstances warrant, for example, if the tape device is being used for some other
       purpose. While waiting, amdump checks for the hold file every minute.

       In some cases it is desirable to dump all Amanda clients to holding disk without writing
       anything to storage media. The --no-taper option instructs Amanda to not start the taper,
       and thus enter degraded mode immediately.

       See the amanda(8) man page for more details about Amanda.

OPTIONS

       host [disk]*
           Specify the host and disk on which the command will work -- see the description of DLE
           specifications in amanda-match(7).

       --exact-match
           The host and disk are parsed as exact values

       -o configoption
           See the "CONFIGURATION OVERRIDE" section in amanda(8).

EXAMPLE

       Here is a typical crontab entry. It runs amdump every weeknight at 1 a.m. as user bin:
       0 1 * * 1-5 bin /usr/local/sbin/amdump daily

       Please see the crontab(5) or crontab(1) manual page for the correct crontab format for
       your system.

MESSAGES

       amdump: waiting for hold file to be removed
           The "hold" file exists and amdump is waiting for it to be removed before starting
           backups.

       amdump: amdump or amflush is already running, or you must run amcleanup
           Amdump detected another amdump or amflush running, or the remains of a previous
           incomplete amdump or amflush run. This run is terminated. If the problem is caused by
           the remains of a previous run, you must execute amcleanup(8) and then rerun amdump.

EXIT CODE

       The exit code of amdump is the ORed value of:
        0  = success
        1  = error
        2  = a dle give strange message
        4  = a dle failed
        8  = Don't know the status of a dle (RESULT_MISSING in the report)
        16 = tape error or no more tape

SEE ALSO

       amanda(8), amcheck(8), amcleanup(8), amrestore(8), amflush(8), cron(8), amanda-match(7)

       The Amanda Wiki: : http://wiki.zmanda.com/

AUTHORS

       James da Silva <jds@amanda.org>

       Stefan G. Weichinger <sgw@amanda.org>