NAME
amanda-compatibility - Compatibility between Amanda versions
NETWORK COMPATIBILITY
Amanda has used several on-the-wire protocols to communicate between
the server and backup clients, and not all of them have been
compatible.
Versions of Amanda prior to about 2.3 used a different protocol which
is not compatible. 2.3 is very old so this is not of general interest.
The Amanda 2.4 series all use the same protocol. This protocol has
support for extensibility. Generally upgrading clients or servers along
the 2.4 branch does not cause difficulty.
Amanda 2.5.0 uses the same protocol as 2.4. One can use a 2.5.0 server
with 2.4 clients and a 2.4 server with 2.5.0 clients.
Kerberos4 authentication in 2.5 is compatible with 2.4. In 2.5,
kerberos4 encryption is broken, at least for the server.
Amanda 2.5.1 introduced a new recover protocol. Backup communication
works with any combination of versions, but 2.5.1´s amrecover cannot
communicate with an older server. Use oldamrecover on 2.5.1 and higher
clients when communicating with an older server.
Amanda 2.6.0 and later are completely compatible with 2.5.1.
To restore a dump created with the tapesplit_size option using
amrecover, you need at least a 2.5 server and late-2.4 client.
(Extracting that backup using only shell, mt and dd is also possible.)
UPGRADES
The recommended course for Amanda upgrades is to upgrade the server
first, and test backups and restores before upgrading clients. Consult
the changes described below for the relevant span of versions to
determine what adjustments, if any, are required. Also see the NEWS
file shipped with each Amanda release for more detailed information.
Amanda 3.1
Although it is a significant rewrite, there are no incompatible changes
in this release.
Old-style changer scripts are deprecated in this release. While they
remain available, they may be removed in a future release. Consider
upgrading to one of the new changer scripts. Users of chg-zd-mtx are
particularly encouraged to consider the much more intelligent
chg-robot. See amanda-changers(7) for more information.
The following configuration configration keywords are deprecated. This
is currently a warning, but will become an error soon.
· label_new_tapes - use autolabel
Amanda 2.6.1
There are no incompatible changes in this release, but consider
switching to some of the new applications instead of the old GNUTAR and
DUMP programs.
The following configuration configration keywords are deprecated. This
is currently a warning, but will become an error soon.
· tapebufs - use device-output-buffer-size instead
· rawtapedev - use tapedev instead
· file-pad - this is no longer optional, and all files are padded
Amanda 2.6.0
amverify and amverifyrun are removed and replaced with amcheckdump(8).
Both amdd and ammt are removed.
Some Amanda files are now installed in new amanda/ subdirectories:
libraries are now installed in $libdir/amanda and internal programs are
now installed in $libexecdir/amanda.
The amandates file, previously at /etc/amandates, is now at
$localstatedir/amanda/amandates. You may want to move your existing
/etc/amandates when you upgrade Amanda.
GLib is now required to build and run Amanda.
SEE ALSO
amanda(8), amanda.conf(5)
The Amanda Wiki: : http://wiki.zmanda.com/
AUTHOR
Dustin J. Mitchell <dustin@zmanda.com>
Zmanda, Inc. (http://www.zmanda.com)