Release Notes for 3.4.5:

• fix amvault
• fix taper hang
• fix memory leak in amrecover
• fix config parser when -o option
• fix compilation on FreeBSD
• fix planner looping

Release Notes for 3.4.4:

• checkdump
• Verify all copies of a dump
• diskflat device
• truncate the file when overwriting a label
• amrecover
• fix hang
• ambackup
• allow incremental backup
• tapelist file
• fix not adding label to tapelist file when creating it
• email interactivity
• improvement
• S3 device
• work with openstack keystone V2 (Juno and newer)
• labelstr
• fix matching a labelstr

Release Notes for 3.4.3:

• fix MAJOR issue: amdump can reuse the same tape in the same run
• amtape slot
• add drive selection
• compile/link with libressl
• fix portability issue
• fix for NetBSD
• fix 'Device busy' problem
• fix planner crash
• fix setregid call

Release Notes for 3.4.2:

• ambsdtar
• add a SPARSE property
• amsamba
• fix for newer samba version
• S3 device
• fix for '/' in prefix
• fix for port in S3-HOST
• fix compatibility with older version (2.4.2)
• configure device
• amanda-security.conf is now in $sysconfdir
• amgetconf
• add many build. parameter
• fix warning reported by the clang compiler
• fix compilation without SSE4_2 when configure detect it
• amtoc fix
• amlabel -f fix
• many more fixes

Release Notes for 3.4.1:

• new --without-rest-server configure option
• fix reported bugs
• build issue
• packaging issue
• amstar: fix exclude pattern
• amrecover: do not print the size too often
• amtapetype: fix error with property_set
• allow a tapedev in the a storage section
• amstatus: small fix

Release Notes for 3.4:

• Allow to put a dump on more than one storage
• Allow to specify which DLE/level go to which storage
• amdumpcan dothe vaulting operation (copy from one storage to another one)
• Use shared memory to pass data between processes
• A CRC is computed on the backup image and is verified on restore.
• Run multiple backup inparallel, there is no lock preventing concurrent run.
• Add letter based sequence to autolabel and meta-autolabel.
• And 'includefile' directive for the disklist.
• tapepool, tape are in pool
• amanda.conf (index file can be kept sorted, compressed or uncompressed)
• compress-index
• sort-index
• amanda.conf (interface section)
• add a src-ip setting.
• amanda.conf (dumptype section)
• add a retry-dump setting.
• add atag setting.
• deprecate usetimestamps, it is always "yes"
• amanda.conf (new policy section), define when a tape can be reuse or not.
A lot more powerful than the tapecycle setting.
• retention-tapes
• retention-days
• retention-recover
• retention-full
• amanda.conf (new storage section), define how to operate each changer.
Many old global setting can be set differently for each storage.
• autoflush
• autolabel
• comment
• device-output-buffer-size
• dump-selection (select which dle go to that storage)
• eject-volume
• erase-on-failure
• erase-on-full
• erase-volume
• flush-threshold-dumped
• flush-threshold-scheduled
• interactivity
• labelstr
• max-dle-by-volume
• meta-autolabel
• policy
• report-use-media
• report-next-media
• runtapes
• set-no-reuse
• tapepool
• taperalgo
• taperflush
• taperscan
• taper-parallel-write
• tapetype
• tpchanger
• amanda.conf
• labelstr can be a new MATCH-AUTOLABEL keyword, labelstr can use the autolabel variable.
• storage (default storage) You can set multiple storage, all DLEs will be sent to all storages
• amvault-storage (storage used by amvault)
• amvault
• deprecated option: --label-template, --dst-changer, --autolabel they must be set in a storage section
• new --dst-storage option to overwrite the default amvault-storage.
• amlabel
• new --pool and --storage options.
• amrmtape
• new --list-retention, --list-no-retention and --remove-no-retention options.
• amtape
• print the RetentionType in the inventory
• amadmin
• new 'retention' command'
• amfetchdump
• --init and --no-restore arguments.
• s3 device
• New READ-FROM-GLACIER and TRANSITION-TO-GLACIER properties, they allow to transition s3 objects to Glacier.
• tapelist file
• include POOL, STORAGE and CONFIG
• you can share the same tapelist file across multiple config.
• amgetconf
• New --platform argument
• New --distro argument
• ambackup/ambackupd
• New client ambackup program to start a backup of the client
• New server service ambackupd
• This protocol works even if the client is behind a NAT

Release Notes for 3.3.9:

• new --with-security-file configure option
  • It set the default security file.
  • default to /etc/amanda-security.conf
• security-fix
  • All previous release of amanda allow the 'amanda' user to execute any code as root, and to execute an interactive shell as root.
  • This is a security vulnerability if you do not trust the 'amanda' user.
  • There is no need to upgrade if you trust the 'amanda' user and the account is secure
    • good password.
    • secure xinetd.conf setting.
    • secure .amandahosts setting.
  • The 'amanda' user can read all files in the machine, it is what a backup program do.
  • The set of fix disable the abilities to run unwanted code as root or to write file anywhere in the filesystem.
• /etc/amanda-security.conf/etc/amanda-security.conf
  • A file that contains security setting.
  • It list all binaries amanda can execute as root.
  • restore_by_amanda_user
    • It tell if the 'amanda' user can do restore as root.
    • It allow the 'amanda' user to write files anywhere in the filesystem.
• amgtar/amstar/ambsdtar/runtar
  • Disable arguments that can fork program.
  • Verify the realpath (with symbolic link resolved) is in the amanda-security.conf file.
  • Verify the tar/star/bsdtar realpath program is secure
    • owned by root and modifiable only by root.
  • On restore, check the restore_by_amanda_user setting if not run by root.

Release Notes for 3.3.8:

• s3 devices
  • New NEARLINE S3-STORAGE-CLASS for Google storage.
  • New AWS4 STORAGE-API
• amcryptsimple
  • Works with newer gpg2.
• amgtar
  • Default SPARSE value is NO if tar < 1.28.
  • Because a bug in tar with some filesystem.
• amstar
  • support include in backup mode.
• ampgsql
  • Add FULL-WAL property.
• Many bugs fix.

Release Notes for 3.3.7p1:

• Fix build in 3.3.7.

Release Notes for 3.3.7:

• amvault
  • new --no-interactivity argument.
  • new --src-labelstr argument.
• amdump
  • compute crc32 of the streams and write them to the debug files.
• chg-robot
  • Add a BROKEN-DRIVE-LOADED-SLOT property.
• Many bugs fix.

Release Notes for 3.3.6:

• ambsdtar
  • new application that use BSD tar to do the backup.
• Many bugs fix.

Release Notes for 3.3.5:

• amtape
  • faster 'verify' command.
• fix parsing of config override arguments.
• amsamba
  • Add REGEX-MATCH property.
• amvault
  • Print progress status.
• ndmp device
  • INDIRECT property default to yes.
• Many bugs fix.

Release Notes for 3.3.4:

• amreport
  • new --format argument
  • new 'json' and 'json_raw' format.
• amanda.conf
  • new REPORT-FORMAT option.
• amtape
  • new 'verify' command.
• amadmin
  • new 'force-level-1' command.
• ampgsql
  • Add VERBOSE property.
• S3 device
  • handle DURABLE_REDUCED_AVAILABILITY for google storage.
• Many bugs fix.

Release Notes for 3.3.3:

• amdump.X log files use timestamp instead of number, amdump and amdump.1 are maintained as symlink.
• chg-disk
  • Use the changerfile for the statefile.
• s3 device
  • Support CASTOR storage
• amanda.conf
  • New REPORT-USE-MEDIA and REPORT-NEXT-MEDIA setting.
• amfetchdump
  • New --extract, --directory, --data-path and --application-property arguments. It allow to do the extraction on the server.
• --exact-match argument to many command, and '=' prefix to expression.
  • It diable use of expression for host, disk, level and datestamp on command line argument.
• All changer scripts.
  • Add LOCK-TIMEOUT property.
• Many bug fix

Release Notes for 3.3.2:

• amgtar
  • New IGNORE-ZEROS property
• amsamba
  • Fix use of subdir for restore
• s3 device
  • New PROXY property
  • New PASSWORD, USERNAME, TENANT_ID, TENANT_NAME properties
  • New STORAGE_API property
  • New S3_MULTI_DELETE property
  • New CLIENT_ID, CLIENT_SECRET and REFRESH_TOKEN properties
  • New CREATE-BUCKET property
  • New PROJECT-ID property
  • New REUSE-CONNECTION property
  • Works with swift and google storage.
• NDMP device
  • Add INDIRECT property
• amanda.conf
  • Add 'max-warnings', The maximum number of warning lines in the report.
  • Default 'columspec' changed to: HostName=0:-12:12,Disk=1:-11:11,Level=1:-1:1,OrigKB=1:-7:0,OutKB=1:-7:0, Compress=1:-6:1,DumpTime=1:-7:7,Dumprate=1:-6:1,TapeTime=1:-6:6, TapeRate=1:-6:1
• amadmin
  • Add --no-default and --print-source arguments for config and disklist command.
• amfetchdump
  • Print progress.
  • Add --decrypt, --no-decrypt, --server-decrypt, --client-decrypt, --compress, --no-compress, --server-compress and --client-compress options.
• fix for compilation with newer glib
• fix for compilation on cigwin
• Many bug fix

Release Notes for 3.3.1:

• amrecover
  • new 'settransalte' command
• amanda.conf
  • new '$s' substitution in autolabel
  • new 'max-dle-by-volume' global option
  • new 'eject-volume' global option
• diskfile
  • new '--client-verbose' argument
• all programs have a new '--version' argument
• ampgsql can take property from server configuration
• amgetconf can print one property of a section.
• s3 device
  • new S3_SERVER_SIDE_ENCRYPTION property
  • use multiple thread to speedup deleting a volume
• many bug fix

Release Notes for 3.3.0:

• The default auth is changed to "bsdtcp", if you are using the default bsd then you must add it to your configuration:
  • in amanda.conf
  • in amanda-client.conf
  • in dumptype/disklist
  • in xinetd (if no '-auth' argument to amandad)
• amdump trap crtl-c, it still send the report and do cleanup if you do one crtl-c, do it more than once to abort the run
• S3 device
  • use multiple threads to speedup the transfer
  • can connect to eucalytus and google storage
  • new NB_THREADS_BACKUP property
  • new NB_THREADS_RECOVERY property
  • new S3_HOST property
  • new S3_SERVICE_PATH property
  • new S3_SUBDOMAIN property
• chg-aggregate: new changer that use other changer sequentially
• meta-volume
• Add meta label in tapelist file
• chg-disk:
  • new NUM-SLOT property
  • new AUTO-CREATE-SLOT property
  • new REMOVABLE property
  • new MOUNT property
  • new UMOUNT property
  • new UMOUNT-LOCKFILE property
  • new UMOUNT-IDLE property
• Change in amanda.conf
  • new meta-autolabel option
  • autolabel can include org, config, barcode, meta in the label
  • new client-name option in appication and script.
• application and script in amanda-client.conf can be used to set default properties for application or script
• amlabel
  • The label argument is no longer required, an autolabel can be generated
  • new --meta option
  • new --barcode option
  • new --assign option
• amgtar, amstar: The path must be specified, it will not works with a device
• amrecover: decompression and decryption are now done on the client if compression/encryption was done on the client
• amtape: inventory print the current slot
• amanda.conf:
  • autoflush have value "no|yes|all"
  • script have single-execution setting
  • Add pre-amcheck, post-amcheck, pre-estimate, post-estimate, pre-backup and post-backup to execute-on of script
  • Add taperscan and interactivity section
  • add 'server' value in recovery-limit
  • add dump-limit in a dumptype
• amanda-client.conf
  • add amdump-server setting.
• script are searched in $APPLICATION_DIR, $CONFIG_DIR//application and $CONFIG_DIR/application
• amservice
  • add -s argument
  • is also installed on client
• new amdumpd server service, if enable, it allow client to start a backup of itself
• new amdump_client program, it is use on client to start a backup of itself
• implement restore command in amzfs-sendrecv, it can be use with amrecover
.

Release Notes for 3.2.3:

• fix split arguments and LEOM handling
• amsuntar: Add SUNTAR-PATH property
• amstar: Add ACL property
• amzfs-sendrecv: Implement restore
• vfs-device (vtapes): LEOM property default to TRUE
• fix amplot
• amrecover take correct group when foring amandad with local auth
• many others small fix

Release Notes for 3.2.2:

• Do not restore the NUL padding bytes, some program fail with them
• Fix driver doing nothing if taper crash early
• Fix taperalog *FIT no going to second volume
• Fix amrestore '-p' not going to next file
• flush even if flush threshold are not met if it save tape space
• fix crash in amtrmidx due to memory leak
• amsamba use 'Use smbclient -TF' for restore

Release Notes for 3.2.1:

• barcode are added to the tapelist file
• Faster 'amadmin find', improve speed on many programs
• device-output-buffer-size default to a minimum of 4*block_size
• ssh auth use the client-port
• Bug fixed:
• "Can't opendata output stream: Connection refused"
• Better handling of dump to tape
• Corrupted 'amdump' log file, amstatus not showing correct state
• Execute subprocess with the config overwrite
• tape-device allow to set LEOM
• Crash in robot changer
• Script output property are not sent to application

Release Notes for 3.2.0:

• Support for multiple simultaneous writes to storage devices
• Can write to all available drives in parallel.
• Works only with the new changer API.
• Useful if two or more volumes are used in a single run.
• dump direct to tape can be scheduled any time during the run, previously they were done sequencially after all dump to holding disk.
• enabled with the new 'taper-parallel-write' configuration option.
• Support for LEOM in storage devices
• allows splitting without partial parts, saving space.
• much more efficient, since parts need not be cached on disk in most cases.
• new, simpler splitting commands in the tapetype section
• part-size, part-cache-type, part-cache-dir, part-cache-max-size
• see amanda.conf(5) for details
• Amanda server configuration file changes (amanda.conf)
• new configuration keyword:
• taper-parallel-write -- How many drive amanda can write to in parallel.
• deprecated configuration keywords:
• amrecover_do_fsf
• amrecover_check_label
• The CONFIG parameter to amidxtaped is now required; this means that versions of amrecover older than 2.4.3 will be unable to recover from servers running Amanda-3.2 and later.
• The new dumptype and global parameters 'recovery-limit' can be used to limit which hosts may recover from a particular DLE. See amanda.conf(5) and amanda-auth(7) for more information.
• Several old changers have been removed - these changers will work with Amanda for the forseeable future, but are no longer included in the distribution.
• chg-chio
• chg-chs
• chg-iomega
• chg-juke
• chg-mcutil
• chg-mtx
• chg-null (use the new "chg-null:")
• chg-rait (use the new "chg-rait:{dev1,dev2}")
• chg-rth
• chg-scsi-chio
• chg-scsi
• Amvault is much improved, but still experimental:
• supports assembling split parts on the source volume and re-splitting them on the destination
• supports filtering dumps with the same syntax as amfetchdump
• a --fulls-only option skips all incremental dumps on the source
• an --export option tries to move tertiary volumes to import/export slots when completed
• command-line syntax has changed incompatibly; see manpage or 'amvault --help'
• Rewritten and improved:
• amoverview
• amcheckdump

Release Notes for the 3.1.x release series:

• config
• The 'rawtapedev' keyword was removed, and the 'label_new_tapes' keyword was deprecated.
• New warnings for dangerous splitting configurations
• changer
• We have many changers implementing the new changer API. The new changers are faster, more reliable, and have many new features. One new features is that the changer keeps track of which label is in which slot, allowing it to locate a tape faster. But with some changers (new chg-multi or chg-robot without a barcode), it doesn't get automaticaly notified if you change the volume in a slot. In this case, you must notify the changer of it with the 'amtape update' command:
• amtape DailySet1 update 3-8
• amtape DailySet1 update 3-8=
• amtape DailySet1 update 3=DailySet003
• See amanda-changers(7) for more information.
• ndmp, dvdrw
• New Amanda devices - see amanda-devices(7) for more information.
• amsamba
• The default amandapass file for the amsamba application is $CONFIG_DIR/amandapass, but it is /etc/amandapass for program GNUTAR. Don't forget to move the file if you switch to the amsamba application.
• ampgsql, amsuntar, amraw
• New applications to back up PostgreSQL databases, Solaris systems, and raw device files, respectively.
• amtape
• Amtape's behavior has changed; see NEWS
• amrmtape
• Rewritten with new command-line interface; see NEWS
• amdevcheck
• New --label and --properties options give more information about device
• amreport
• New, more natural command-line interface (try 'amreport $config')

Release Notes for 2.6.1p2:

• amtapetype: new -p option
• Bug Fixes
• S3 device driver
• amcheckdump
• file not removed from holding disk
• sendbackup compatibility with a 2.4.2 server
• handle EROFS error from tape device
• zfs snapshot name us the diskname
• fix fd allocation in amandad
• crash in amflush

Release Notes for 2.6.1p1:

• amplot: better output.
• Don't include genversion.h in distribution tarballs.
• Bug Fixes
• S3 device driver
• rait device driver
• amstatus
• configure
• application-api
• compilation on some platform
• others small bug

Release Notes for 2.6.1:

• Application API: Allow to easily write wrappers around any backup program, See the 'amanda-applications' man page.
• amgtar: Use GNU tar, it is a lot more configurable than the GNUTAR program. See 'amgtar' man page.
• amstar: Use star to do a backup, it work only on a partition. See 'amstar' man page.
• amsamba: Use smbclient to backup a cifs share, see amsamba man page.
• amzfs-sendrecv: Do a backup of a ZFS filesystem with 'zfs send'.
• Script API: Allow to run script before and after amanda process, see the 'amanda-scripts' man page.
• amzfs-snapshot: Do a snapshot of a ZFS filesystem, then 'amgtar' application will backup the snapshot. See 'amzfs-snapshot' man page.
• script-email: Simple script to send email. see 'script-email' man page.
• Changer API v2.0: perl-based changer interface supporting concurrent use of multiple devices and changers.
• currently operating in "compatibility mode," calling old changer shell scripts.
• under active development.
• Xfer API: generic library to move and filter data with maximal efficiency.
• can read from and write to arbitrary devices, files, etc.
• only used in some applications.
• Amanda archive format: A simple archive format that an application can use to create backup image.
• 'amarchiver' program to manipulate file in amanda archive format.
• Many improvements to report better error message to user.
• amtape subcommands 'slot prev' and 'slot last' are removed.
• Dozens more perl libraries, with more stable interfaces.
• Bug fixes and improvements.
• amgetconf '--client' option to retrieve config from amanda-client.conf on a client.
• Amanda configuration file changes
• new application-tool section
• new script-tool section
• new device section
• new changer section

Amanda Web Pages

• Amanda wiki
• Backup & Recovery (O'Reilly 2007) has a chapter dedicated to Amanda.