This article is for Amanda Enterprise (AE)
Description
The ability to verify backup runs created by Amanda Enterprise is a useful tool for maintaining a proper backup regimen. The two main tools that can be used are amrecover and amcheckdump.
Amrecover
Amrecover browses the database of Amanda index files to determine which tapes contain files to recover. Furthermore, it is able to recover files. In order to restore files in place, you must invoke amrecover from the root of the backed up filesystem, or use lcd to move into that directory, otherwise a directory tree that resembles the backed up filesystem will be created in the current directory. See the examples below for details.
Amrecover will read the amanda-client.conf file and the config/amanda-client.conf file. If no configuration name is supplied on the command line, Amrecover will try the compiled-in default configuration, usually DailySet1.
Amcheckdump
Amcheckdump verifies Amanda dump images by reading them from storage volume(s) and verifying that the images can be parsed by the appropriate application (if available). For example, a GNUTAR image is passed to GNU Tar for parsing, and any errors (e.g., corrupt or missing data) are noted.
The application runs on the most recent dump or, if --timestamp is specified, on the most recent dump with that timestamp. Note that the verification is local to the Amanda server; if the dump application is not available, or is configured differently on the server than on the client, then the verification will most likely fail.
If a changer is available, it is used to load the required tapes. Otherwise, the application interactively requests the tapes.