Chg-zd-mtx

The AMANDA tape-changer program chg-zd-mtx is the tape-changer we currently use on emperor to backup data to the Exabyte drives. It is used for the Zubkoff/Dandelion version of mtx; the kind on Debian.

Configuration

The configuration file is specified as the changerfile directive in the corresponding configuration's amanda.conf (without the trailing .conf). The main one used by emperor -- DailySet1 -- uses /etc/amanda/DailySet1/chg-zd-mtx.conf, so the changerfile directive in /etc/amanda/DailySet1/amanda.conf reads /etc/amanda/DailySet1/chg-zd-mtx. The chg-zd-mtx.conf directives that we use are explained here:

firstslot

The first slot in the changer that chg-zd-mtx will use.

lastslot

The last slot in the changer that chg-zd-mtx will use.

cleanslot

The slot in which the cleaning tape resides.

driveslot

Which tape drive to use, specified as a "Data Transfer Element" index.

autoclean

Enables/disables the "autoclean" functionality of chg-zd-mtx, which will automatically clean the drive after a certain number of uses.

autocleancount

The number of times the drive must be accessed before chg-zd-mtx automatically cleans the drive.

cleancycle

The number of seconds that chg-zd-mtx must wait for the cleaning tape to clean the drive.

havereader

Whether the changer has a barcode reader. (If mtx status reports a bunch of "VolumeTag"s, then the changer has a barcode reader.) The Exabyte has a barcode reader.

offline_before_unload

Whether an mt offline must be executed before an mtx unload to remove a tape from a drive. The Exabyte drives need this.

initial_poll_delay

The number of seconds to wait after loading a tape before trying to access it

unloadpause

The number of seconds to wait after mt offline before trying mtx unload