1 tapes filled; runtapes=1 does not allow additional tapes

This article is for Amanda Enterprise (AE)

Issue Symptoms

These dumps were to tape zmanda-10.
*** A TAPE ERROR OCCURRED: [1 tapes filled; runtapes=1 does not allow additional tapes].
Some dumps may have been left in the holding disk.

The next tape Amanda expects to use is: zmanda-11.
FAILURE DUMP SUMMARY:
abc.zmanda.com /data/ lev 0  FAILED "1 tapes filled; runtapes=1 does not allow additional tapes"
abc.zmanda.com /data/ lev 0  FAILED [too many taper retries]
abc.zmanda.com /data/ lev 0: partial taper:  No space left on device

Issue Description

This error occurs if the backup does not fit in one single tape.

Resolution

As the total backup, sometimes does not get occupied in a single tape you need to enable "tape spanning". Tape spanning helps to span the backups in between multiple tapes, if needed. Amanda will use the second tape, if the first tape fills up completely.

For enabling tape spanning in two tapes, put the value of "Maximum Media Per Backup" = 2, on Backup=>when page, click save at the bottom of the page.

In the above example we used 2 tapes for tape spanning, however if a single backup requires more than one tape you can increase the value.

Once the fist tape gets filled up completely, Amanda asks for second tape for the remaining backup. As soon as you insert the second tape with a proper label, Amanda will start writing to the second tape.