amcheck - run Amanda self-checks
SYNOPSIS
amcheck [ -Maddress ] [ -mwsc ] config
DESCRIPTION
Amcheck runs a number of self-checks on both the Amanda
tape server host and the Amanda backup client hosts.
On the tape server host, amcheck goes through the same
tape checking used at the start of the nightly amdump run.
This verifies the correct tape for the next run is in the
correct drive. Holding disks are checked to insure they
have enough free space.
Amcheck also causes a self-check to be run on all backup
client hosts. This makes sure each host is up and running
and that permissions on filesystems to be backed up are
correct.
See the amanda(8) man page for more details about Amanda.
OPTIONS
-Maddress
When -m is also set, mail the report to address
instead of the mailto value from amanda.conf.
-s Only the tape server host checks are run.
-c Only the backup client host checks are run.
-w Enables a destructive check for write-protection on
the tape (which would cause the subsequent amdump
to fail). If the tape is writable, this check
causes all data after the tape label to be erased
(actually depends on the device driver: there is no
portable non-destructive way to check for
write-protection). The check is only made if the
tape is otherwise correct.
-m Nothing is printed, but mail is sent if any errors
are detected. The mail goes to the mailto address
as specified in the amanda.conf file or the address
value if -M is set.
EXAMPLES
In this example, both the tape server and backup client
tests are run. The results are displayed on standard out-
put.
% amcheck DailySet1
Amanda Tape Server Host Check
NOTE: skipping tape-writable test.
Tape VOL10 label ok.
Server check took 34.966 seconds.
Amanda Backup Client Hosts Check
--------------------------------
WARNING: northstar: selfcheck request timed out. Host down?
WARNING: drinkme: selfcheck request timed out. Host down?
WARNING: scruffy: selfcheck request timed out. Host down?
Client check: 136 hosts checked in 51.945 seconds, 3 problems found.
(brought to you by Amanda 2.4.0)
In this example, if the line mailto csd-amanda is in
amanda.conf, mail will be sent to csd-amanda if the tape
check returns an error.
% amcheck -s -m DailySet1
MESSAGES
fatal slot slot: error message
(error) The tape changer detected some kind of
fatal error while trying to load slot slot.
slot slot: error message
(warning) The tape changer detected some kind of
non-fatal error (e.g. an empty slot was detected)
while trying to load slot slot, or an error was
detected trying to read the tape label.
slot slot: date YYYYMMDD label label (result)
(info) Tape label in slot slot was loaded and found
to have been last written on YYYYMMDD. If the tape
is new, the date field will be an X. The result
may be one of:
exact label match
This is the expected tape.
no match
This label does not match the labelstr pat-
tern in amanda.conf. Tape scanning will
continue.
active tape
This tape is still active and cannot be
overwritten. Tape scanning will continue.
first labelstr match
This tape is the first one that matches the
labelstr pattern in amanda.conf. Tape scan-
ning will continue if necessary.
This tape is the next one that matches the
labelstr pattern in amanda.conf. Tape scan-
ning will continue.
ERROR: statfs disk: error message
(error) An error was returned from the statfs sys-
tem call on holding disk disk (maybe because it
does not exist).
ERROR: disk is unwritable: error message
(error) An error was returned from the access sys-
tem call on holding disk disk, probably because the
caller does not have write permission.
WARNING: avail disk space unknown for disk. N KB
requested.
(warning) Amcheck could not determine the amount of
available space on holding disk disk to see if
there were at least N KBytes available.
WARNING: disk: only F KB free (R KB requested).
(warning) Amanda.conf requested R KBytes of free
space on holding disk disk, but only F KBytes were
available. 10 MBytes is subtracted for each backup
process (see the inparallel amanda.conf option) to
allow for unexpected overruns.
Note: even though this message is listed as a warn-
ing, it causes amcheck to exit with a non-zero sta-
tus.
disk: N KB disk space available, that's plenty.
(info) There was sufficient free space on holding
disk disk.
WARNING: if a tape changer is not available, runtapes must
be set to 1.
(warning) The runtapes amanda.conf option must be
set to 1 if the tpchanger amanda.conf option is not
set.
ERROR: error message.
(error) An error was detected while initializing
the tape changer.
ERROR: tape device: error message.
(error) An error was detected while processing the
tape label.
ERROR: cannot overwrite active tape label.
(error) Tape label is still active and cannot be
used.
(error) The label on tape label does not match the
labelstr amanda.conf option.
(expecting a new tape)
(info) The tape is not OK and a new tape was
expected.
(expecting tape label or a new tape)
(info) The tape is not OK and either tape label or
a new tape was expected.
ERROR: tape label label ok, but is not writable.
(error) Tape label is OK, but the write enable test
failed.
Tape label is writable.
(info) Tape label is OK and the write enable test
succeeded.
NOTE: skipping tape-writable test.
(info) The tape write test (see the -w option) was
not enabled.
Tape label label ok.
(info) Tape label is OK for the next run.
Index dir "directory" doesn't exist or is not writable.
(warning) The directory used to collect backup
index files (from the indexdir amanda.conf option)
is not accessible.
Server check took S seconds.
(info) Reports how long the tape server host checks
took.
ERROR: host: couldn't resolve hostname
(error) Could not look up backup client hostname
host.
Client check: H hosts checked in S seconds, N problems
found.
(info) Reports the number of backup client hosts
checked, how long it took and the number of errors
detected.
WARNING: host: selfcheck request timed out. Host down?
(warning) There was no response from host when try-
ing to do the client checks.
ERROR: host NAK: message
(error) Host reported a negative acknowledgment
error of message to the status check request.
(error) Amcheck could not parse the negative
acknowledgment error from host. There might be an
Amanda version mismatch between the host running
amcheck and host.
ERROR: host [mutual-authentication failed]
(error) Kerberos authentication failed while con-
tacting host.
ERROR: host: message
(error) Error message was reported by the status
check on host.
AUTHOR
James da Silva <jds@cs.umd.edu>
University of Maryland, College Park
SEE ALSO
amanda(8), amdump(8)