How Does Amanda ZMC Discover Tape Changers?

This article explains how Amanda ZMC discovers tape changers including manual addition.

This article is for Amanda Enterprise (AE)

Amanda Enterprise looks at the device file names that match patterns /dev/changer*, /dev/sg?, /dev/sg??, and /dev/scsi/changer/* on the Amanda backup server. Device files that are symbolic links are also considered.

For all the device files that are readable and writeable by amandabackup user and match the above pattern, Amanda uses the mtx status command to validate the tape changer file.

If the mtx command is successful, the tape changer device file is listed on the Storage page in the Zmanda Management Console.

Users can add tape changer devices that were not discovered manually to ZMC using the Other selection in the drop-down menu.

Note: Amanda Enterprise works with all tape changers that can be managed using the mtx command, even if ZMC did not discover them.