How to Install Amanda on Manjaro

Amanda is an open source client-server backup system that allows you to backup and restore data on multiple machines in a network. This tutorial will guide you on how to install Amanda on Manjaro.

Prerequisites

Before you install Amanda, make sure you have the following:

  • A machine running Manjaro Linux
  • A sudo user account

Step 1: Install Dependencies

We will first install the dependencies required for Amanda. Open the terminal and run the following command:

sudo pacman -S gcc make bison flex perl-expat perl-berkeleydb

Step 2: Download and Install Amanda

Visit the Amanda website and navigate to the download page. From there, download the latest stable release of Amanda.

Once the download is complete, open the terminal and navigate to the directory where the Amanda package is saved. Extract the files from the package using the following command:

tar -xf amanda-<version>.tar.gz

Replace <version> with the version number of the Amanda package.

Navigate to the extracted directory using the cd command:

cd amanda-<version>

Configure the installation using the following command:

./configure

Start the installation using the following command:

make install

The installation may take a few minutes to complete.

Step 3: Configure Amanda

Now that Amanda is installed, we need to configure it. Navigate to the /usr/local/etc directory using the cd command:

cd /usr/local/etc

Copy the Amanda configuration file template to the amanda directory using the following command:

cp amanda/amanda-client.conf.template amanda/myhost.conf

We can now modify the myhost.conf file to configure Amanda. Open the file using a text editor:

sudo nano amanda/myhost.conf

Replace myhost with the hostname of the machine you want to backup.

In the file, you will find a list of configuration options. Modify them to suit your requirements. At a minimum, you will need to modify the following:

  • org: The organization name
  • email: The email address of the administrator
  • tape_dev: The path to the tape device
  • tpchanger: The name of the tape changer program
  • changerfile: The path to the changer file
  • tapedev: The path to the tape device

You can find detailed information about each of these options and other configuration options in the Amanda documentation.

Step 4: Start Amanda

You are now ready to start Amanda. Open the terminal and run the following command:

amcheck <config> [-t <date>]

Replace <config> with the name of the configuration file you created in Step 3. You can use the -t option to specify the date of the backup.

After successfully checking the configuration, run the following command to start the backup:

amdump <config> [-t <date>]

Replace <config> with the name of the configuration file you created in Step 3. You can use the -t option to specify the date of the backup.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured Amanda on Manjaro.