AMANDA-COMMAND-FIL(5)

📦
version 3.5.4 · 8 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

AMANDA-COMMAND-FIL(5) 🌸

okay bestie, welcome to amanda-command-file — that's the page we're on, from the Amanda manual, section 5 (file formats and conventions). Sit down, grab a strawberry 🍓, we're gonna learn about the little text file that keeps receipts on all your outgoing dle commands. it's giving organized. it's giving bookkeeping queen. let's go 💅

✨ NAME ✨

amanda-command-file — keeps the status of outgoing dle commands 🫶

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So the command-file file holds the tea ☕ on your outgoing dump commands. Like, all of these:

  • dumps that need to be flushed from holding disk over to storage
  • dumps that need to be copied (vaulted) from one storage to another
  • dumps that have an outgoing restore request

The file is plain text, no cap. The first line is the version of the file. The second line is an id that increments every single time something new gets inserted into the file. growth mindset fr fr 📈

Every line after that starts with an id, and then one of these keywords:

  • FLUSH — an entry that lists a holding file and a storage, and says where that file must be flushed to.
  • COPY — an entry that lists a dump from a storage and a storage to copy it to (vault).
  • RESTORE — an entry that lists a dump from a storage that has a restore request. Heads up: an entry gets automatically removed 24 hours after it's created. poof, gone, expired like my attention span 😭
🚨 Important, no skimming: Amanda never overwrites a volume if one of its dumps has a command in the command-file. That volume is taken, okay? respect the commitment 💖

🚰 FLUSH LINE 🚰

id FLUSH config holding-file hostname diskname dump-timestamp dump-level storage WORKING:pid STATUS.fi

Here's what every single field is doing at the party:

  • id — the id of the command.
  • FLUSH — the FLUSH keyword.
  • config — the config this command applies to.
  • holding-file — the holding-file to flush.
  • hostname — the hostname of the dump.
  • diskname — the diskname of the dump.
  • dump-timestamp — the timestamp of the dump.
  • dump-level — the level of the dump.
  • storage — the storage where the dump gets flushed to.
  • WORKING:pid — the pid of the process doing the flush, or 0.
  • STATUS — TODO or DONE.

🎀 COPY LINE 🎀

id COPY config src-storage src-pool src-label src-fileno src-labels-str start-time hostname diskname dump-timestamp dump-level dest-storage WORKING:pid STATUS.fi

Field-by-field, because we do not skip ✋:

  • id — the id of the command.
  • COPY — the COPY keyword.
  • config — the config this command applies to.
  • src-srorage — the storage where the dump is found.
  • src-pool — the pool where the dump is found.
  • src-label — the label of the first part of the dump.
  • src-fileno — the fileno of the first part of the dump.
  • src-labels-str — the list of all source labels required.
  • start-time — when to start the copy.
  • hostname — the hostname of the dump.
  • diskname — the diskname of the dump.
  • dump-timestamp — the timestamp of the dump.
  • dump-level — the level of the dump.
  • dest-storage — the storage where the dump gets copied to.
  • WORKING:pid — the pid of the process doing the copy, or 0.
  • STATUS — TODO or DONE.

🦋 RESTORE LINE 🦋

Two flavours, bestie, pick your fighter.

To restore from a storage:

id RESTORE config src-storage src-pool src-label    src-fileno expire hostname diskname dump-timestamp dump-level WORKING:pid STATUS.fi

Or, to restore from a holding file:

id RESTORE config HOLDING     HOLDING  holding-file 0          expire hostname diskname dump-timestamp dump-level WORKING:pid STATUS.fi

And the fields, all of them, every last one:

  • id — the id of the command.
  • RESTORE — the RESTORE keyword.
  • config — the config this command applies to.
  • src-srorage — the storage where the dump is found.
  • src-pool — the pool where the dump is found.
  • src-label — the label of the first part of the dump.
  • HOLDING — the HOLDING keyword.
  • holding-file — the full path of the holding file.
  • src-fileno — the fileno of the first part of the dump.
  • expire — when this command expires and can be automatically removed from the file.
  • src-labels-str — the list of all source labels required.
  • start-time — when to start the copy.
  • hostname — the hostname of the dump.
  • diskname — the diskname of the dump.
  • dump-timestamp — the timestamp of the dump.
  • dump-level — the level of the dump.
  • WORKING:pid — the pid of the process doing the copy, or 0.
  • STATUS — TODO or DONE.

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

The Amanda Wiki: : http://wiki.zmanda.com/ ✨

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Jean-Louis Martineau <martineau@zmanda.com> Zmanda, Inc. (http://www.zmanda.com)

okay that's the whole thing, you ate it, no crumbs left 🍽️💅 this was Amanda 3.5.4, dated 08/26/2026, and yes the page is literally called AMANDA-COMMAND-FIL(5) — go forth and never overwrite a volume that has a command pending, mwah 😘🌈

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