AMTAPE(8)AMTAPE(8)NAMEamtape - user interface to Amanda tape changer controls
SYNOPSISamtape config command [ command options ]
DESCRIPTION
Amtape performs tape changer control operations. It uses
the underlying tape changer script defined by the
tpchanger option for a particular Amanda configuration as
specified by the config argument.
Tape changers maintain a notion of the current and next
slot for each configuration. These may or may not corre-
spond to an actual physical state of the device, but do
tend to minimize searching through the tape rack. If the
desired tape is in the current slot, it is likely the next
tape needed is in the next slot rather than at some random
position in the rack.
See the amanda(8) man page for more details about Amanda.
COMMANDS
reset Reset the tape changer to a known state. It
changes the current slot to the first slot and may
have other device-specific side effects. Some
gravity stackers need to be reset to the top posi-
tion by hand. This command notifies Amanda the
stacker is back in that position.
eject If a tape is loaded in the drive, it is ejected and
returned to the slot from which it was loaded.
show Show the contents of all slots in the rack. This
can be slow.
label label
Search for and load an Amanda tape with label
label.
taper Perform the taper scan algorithm. Load the next
tape in the configuration's tape sequence, or a
fresh tape with a suitable label.
device Print the name of the current tape device to std-
out.
slot slot
Eject any tape in the drive and put it away, then
load the tape from slot slot and reset current.
slot current
Eject any tape in the drive and put it away, then
load the tape from the current slot.
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AMTAPE(8)AMTAPE(8)
slot prev
Eject any tape in the drive and put it away, then
load the tape from the previous slot and reset cur-
rent.
slot next
Eject any tape in the drive and put it away, then
load the tape from the next slot and reset current.
slot first
Eject any tape in the drive and put it away, then
load the tape from the first slot and reset cur-
rent.
slot last
Eject any tape in the drive and put it away, then
load the tape from the last slot and reset current.
slot advance
Eject any tape in the drive and put it away.
Advance current to the next tape, but do not load
it.
This is useful with non-gravity stackers to unload
the last tape used and set up Amanda for the next
run. If you just use eject, the current tape will
need to be mounted again in the next run, where it
will be rejected as being in use, ejected and the
next tape requested. Using slot next followed by
eject does an unnecessary mount.
Note: most changers optimize the slot command to not eject
the loaded tape if it is the one being requested.
AUTHOR
James da Silva <jds@cs.umd.edu>
University of Maryland, College Park
SEE ALSOamanda(8)
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