The Amanda client is installed on remote machines which you'd like to backup. The "server" in this case is the machine which is connected to the tape drive, and is the one responsible for initiating backups.

Download page: http://www.zmanda.com/download-amanda.php

Download Amanda client package for Debian 6: http://www.zmanda.com/download-amanda.php

wget http://www.zmanda.com/downloads/community/Amanda/3.3.1/Debian-6.0/amanda-backup-client_3.3.1-1Debian60_amd64.deb

The Amanda package depends on various other packages, install them before trying to install Amanda:

sudo apt-get install install libcurl3 xinetd libssh2-1

sudo dpkg -i amanda-backup-client_3.3.1-1Debian60_amd64.deb

The Amanda server will connect to the client as the user amandabackup using SSH. To make this process as seamless as possible, we need to configure password-less authentication using SSH keys. See the Amanda wiki on SSH auth for more details.

In a nutshell, you need to put the server's amdump SSH public key into the client's authorized_keys file. Grab it from HPC at ~amandabackup/.ssh/id_rsa_amdump.pub and then paste it into the client's ~amandabackup/.ssh/authorized_keys file:

sudo su - amandabackup
vim .ssh/authorized_keys

For more security, prepend the key entry in ~amandabackup/.ssh/authorized_keys with:

from="192.168.5.3",no-port-forwarding,no-X11-forwarding,no-agent-forwarding,command="/usr/libexec/amanda/amandad -auth=ssh amdump" 

This limits the use of this key to HPC's IP, as well as the amdump command.

Configure the client's /etc/amanda/amanda-client.conf to specify the appropriate server, config, tape, and auth settings, ie:

conf "taurustest"               # your config name

index_server "192.168.5.3"      # your amindexd server
tape_server  "192.168.5.3"      # your amidxtaped server
tapedev      "amrecover_changer"        # your tape device
                        # if not set, Use configure or ask server.
                        # if set to empty string "", ask server
                        # amrecover will use the changer if set to the value
                        # of 'amrecover_changer' in the server amanda.conf.

#   auth        - authentication scheme to use between server and client.
#                 Valid values are "bsd", "bsdudp", "bsdtcp", "krb5", "local",
#                 "rsh" and "ssh".  
#                 Default: [auth "bsdtcp"]
auth "ssh"

ssh_keys "/var/lib/amanda/.ssh/id_rsa_amrecover"                        # your ssh keys file if you use ssh auth

This is used when restoring data on the client (with amrecover).

Add the new client's disks to be backed up to the server's disk list, /etc/amanda/taurustest/disklist:

# tparvadb, web server
# must use the custom "ssh" backup type (see amanda.conf)
192.168.5.8     /       ssh-root-tar
192.168.5.8     /var    ssh-root-tar
192.168.5.8     /home   ssh-user-tar

Make sure to use the "ssh" backup types (defined in /etc/amanda/taurustest/amanda.conf), as the default root-tar and user-tar are for local disks only.

In a nutshell, you need to put the client's amrecover SSH public key into the server's authorized_keys file. Grab it from the client at ~amandabackup/.ssh/id_rsa_amrecover.pub and then paste it into the server's ~amandabackup/.ssh/authorized_keys file:

sudo su - amandabackup
vim .ssh/authorized_keys

For more security, prepend the key entry in ~amandabackup/.ssh/authorized_keys with:

from="192.168.5.8",no-port-forwarding,no-X11-forwarding,no-agent-forwarding,command="/usr/libexec/amanda/amandad -auth=ssh amindexd amidxtaped" 

This limits the use of this key to the client's IP, as well as the recovery-only commands.

From the server, make sure the new client can be accessed:

sudo su - amandabackup
amcheck -c taurustest 192.168.5.8

You should see "0 problems found".