AMZFS-SNAPSHOT(8)

💅 amzfs-snapshot(8) — the Amanda script that makes zfs snapshots (yes, that's amzfs-snapshot, section 8 of the manual, we love a system administration command 👑

okay so bestie, buckle up 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

amzfs-snapshot — an Amanda script that creates a zfs snapshot. literally its whole personality 💖

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

no synopsis here babes — this one isn't for typing at your shell, and the page will tell you exactly why 👇

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

amzfs-snapshot is an Amanda script implementing the Script API. it should not be run by users directly 🚫 — like, do not. It creates a zfs snapshot of the filesystem where the path specified is mounted. that's it, that's the job ✨

PRE-DLE-* create a snapshot, and the POST-DLE-* destroy the snapshot. and for the rest to actually happen, *-DLE-AMCHECK, *-DLE-ESTIMATE and *-DLE-BACKUP must be set to be executed on the client:

execute-on  pre-dle-amcheck, post-dle-amcheck, pre-dle-estimate, post-dle-estimate, pre-dle-backup, post-dle-backup
execute-where client

The PRE_DLE_* script outputs a DIRECTORY property telling where the directory is located in the snapshot 📍. The application must be able to use the DIRECTORY property — amgtar can do it, no cap 💅

The script is run as the amanda user, and it must have the privilege to create and destroy snapshot:

zfs allow -ldu AMANDA_USER mount,snapshot,destroy FILESYSTEM

Some systems don't have "zfs allow" 😭, but you can give the Amanda backup user the rights to manipulate ZFS filesystems by using the following command:

usermod -P "ZFS File System Management,ZFS Storage Management" AMANDA_USER

This will require that you run zfs under pfexec — set the PFEXEC property to YES. 🔥

The format of the DLE must be one of these five, periodt:

• Description: Mountpoint — example: /data
• Description: Arbitrary mounted dir — example: /data/interesting_dir
• Description: ZFS pool name — example: datapool
• Description: ZFS filesystem — example: datapool/database
• Description: ZFS logical volume — example: datapool/dbvol

⚠️ the filesystem must be mounted. like, non-negotiable, bestie.

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🎀 PROPERTIES 🎀

This section lists the properties that control amzfs-snapshot's functionality. See amanda-scripts(7) for information on the Script API and script configuration 🧚

• DF-PATH — path to the df binary. by default it's searched in $PATH 🔍
• ZFS-PATH — path to the zfs binary. default: searched in $PATH 🔍
• PFEXEC-PATH — path to the pfexec binary. default: searched in $PATH 🔍
• PFEXEC — if it's "NO" (the default), pfexec is not used. if it's set to "YES", then pfexec is used. that's the whole vibe check ✅

👑 EXAMPLE 👑

In this example, a dumptype is defined to use the amzfs-snapshot script to create a snapshot and use amgtar to backup the snapshot. iconic collaboration honestly 🤝

 define script-tool amzfs_snapshot {
   comment "backup of zfs snapshot"
   plugin  "amzfs-snapshot"
   execute-on  pre-dle-amcheck, post-dle-amcheck, pre-dle-estimate, post-dle-estimate, pre-dle-backup, post-dle-backup
   execute-where client
   #property "DF-PATH" "/usr/sbin/df"
   #property "ZFS-PATH" "/usr/sbin/zfs"
   #property "PFEXEC-PATH" "/usr/sbin/pfexec"
   #property "PFEXEC" "NO"
 }

 define dumptype user-zfs-amgtar {
   dt_amgtar
   script "amzfs_snapshot"
 }

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

amanda(8), amanda.conf(5), amanda-client.conf(5), amanda-scripts(7)

The Amanda Wiki: : http://wiki.zmanda.com/ — go click around, iykyk 💜

💜 AUTHORS 💜

• Jean-Louis Martineau <martineau@zmanda.com> — Zmanda, Inc. (http://www.zmanda.com)
• Dustin J. Mitchell <dustin@zmanda.com> — Zmanda, Inc. (http://www.zmanda.com)

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that's the whole page, babes 🍓 this was Amanda 3.5.4, dated 07/23/2025 — go forth and snapshot responsibly, mwah 💋💅