Amanda DLT Tape Label
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Amanda is a slightly idiosyncratic
but outstanding network backup system. Many companies use DLTs for
backups. This is a heavily modified
version of the DLT tape label template shipped with Amanda. There
are quite a few new things here.
- Better aesthetics. Helvetica makes it a bit lighter on the eye, and a few extra
shades of grey make it look even better. There are also bolder lines.
- More information and better arranged (for my own setup,
anyway). The label section shows the tape label (duh), Amanda version
and date in full. There's a square section for marks, logos, stickers
et cetera. The rear (top) section shows whatever Amanda wants us to
show. Usually this is the total backup size, percentage of tape used,
overall compression ratio and the number of filesystems on tape. The
filesystem table shows tape file numbers (in case you want to seek
them manually with
mt), hosts, filesystems, dump size in
megabytes, compression ratio and dump level.
- Re-arranged column format. On the original Amanda labels,
partition listings run all the way down to the bottom of the sheet,
then go to the right column. I've reversed this
behaviour. This template has two two-column pages, and both columns
of each page are completed before partition lists overflow to the next
page. This way, more partitions are normally visible without opening
the tape case.
- No scissors needed. I can't be bothered with them. It gets
tedious. You can print the template out on A4 paper and fold it
according to the included instructions.
- The tape label is watermarked behind the filesystem listings. Some
people find it useful, especially when they have tapes lying on their
sides.
The template was basically modified by hand by scavenging code
from the EXB 8500 tape label.
You can download the template
here. It's completely unsupported, but if you find it
useful, I'd love an email (send it to alexios (at)
bedroomlan (dot) org)!