Openfiler – Installing Amanda Backup Client

Introduction

This article explains the steps to install the Amanda backup client on to an Openfiler 2.3 server.

The infrastructure used for this article was an Openfiler 2.3 64-bit Virtual Machine running on a Fedora Core 8 64-bit host running VMware Server 1.0.8

The version of Amanda used for this test was version 2.6.1.p1 downloaded from http://sourceforge.net/projects/amanda/files

Pre-requisites

In order to install Amanda on to an Openfiler server the following pre-requisites must be met :-

• An Openfiler server built using the standard installation
• The latest Amanda source tarball downloaded to the Openfiler server
• The GCC compiler

Installing the GCC compiler

The first step to install Amanda on an Openfiler server is to install GCC and its dependencies as Openfiler does not come with it pre-installed.  To install GCC and its dependencies follow the steps below :-

1. Logon to the console of the Openfiler server as root
2. At the command prompt execute the commands below :-conary update gcc
   conary update gcc:runtime
   conary update libtool
   conary update glib
   conary update glib:devel
   conary update glibc
   conary update glibc:devel
   conary update automake
   conary update autoconf
   conary update pkgconfig

Create the amandabackup user

The Amanda software runs using an account on system which needs creating before the software is compiled and installed. To create the Amanda user perform the following steps :-

1. Logon to the console of the Openfiler server as root
2. At the command prompt execute the commands below :-mkdir /var/lib/amanda
   useradd -d /var/lib/amanda -s /bin/bash -G disk amandabackup
   chown amandabackup:disk /var/lib/amanda
   chmod 700 /var/lib/amanda
   passwd -u -f amandabackup
3. At the command prompt execute the commands below :-mkdir /etc/amanda
   chown amandabackup:disk /etc/amanda
   chmod 700 /etc/amanda

Compiling and installing Amanda

Once the GCC Compiler has been installed the next step is to compile and install the Amanda software.  To install the Amanda software perform the following steps :-

1. Unpack the source tarball in to the /tmp foldertar -zvxf amanda-2.6.1.p1.tar.gz
2. Change directory in to the unpacked folder in tmpcd /tmp/amanda-2.6.1.p1
3. To compile and install the software execute the commands below :-./configure –with-user=amandabackup –with-group=disk –with-gnutar-listdir=/var/lib/amanda/gnutar-lists
   make
   make install

Create the xinetd amanda config file

Amanda uses the xinetd service to run its service and in order to work a configuration file needs to be created.  To create the xinetd Amanda service file perform the following steps :-

1. At the command prompt execute the following command :-vi /etc/xinetd.d/amandaclient
2. In the file insert the following lines :-service amanda
   {
   disable         = no
   flags             = IPv6
   socket_type   = stream
   protocol         = tcp
   wait               = no
   user              = amandabackup
   group            = disk
   groups          = yes
   server           = /usr/local/libexec/amanda/amandad
   server_args    = -auth=bsdtcp amdump
   }
3. Save and exit the file
4. Restart the xinetd service by executing the command below :-service xinetd restart
5. At the command prompt execute the command below and confirm that the amanda service is shown :-netstat -l | grep amanda

Test server to client connectivity

Once the client is installed logon to the Amanda backup server and add the Openfiler to the disklist file in the required Backup Set.

As the Amanda user execute amcheck {Backup Set Name} and confirm that no issues were found with the Openfiler server.