AMTAPE(8)

NAME
amtape - user interface to tape changer controls

SYNOPSIS
amtape config command [ command options ]

DESCRIPTION
Amtape performs various tape changer control operations. It uses the underlying tape changer script defined for a particular Amanda configuration as specified by the config argument. Amanda maintains a notion of the ``current slot'' for each configuration. This may or may not correspond to an actual physical state of the device, but does tend to minimize searching through the tape rack: if the currently desired tape is in the current slot, it is likely that the next tape needed is in the next slot rather that at some random position in the rack. The amtape commands and their options are as follows.

reset
Resets the tape changer to a known state. It changes the current slot to the first slot and may have other device-specific side effects. Some gravity stackers need to be reset to the top position by hand. This command would in that case serve to notify Amanda that the stacker was back in the top position.

eject
If a tape is loaded in the drive, it is ejected and returned to the slot from which it was loaded.

show
shows the contents of all slots in the rack. This can be slow.

slot <slot #>
loads tape from slot <slot #>.

slot current
loads tape from current slot.

slot prev
loads tape from previous slot.

slot next
loads tape from next slot.

slot first
loads tape from first slot.

slot last
loads tape from last slot.

label <label>
searchs for and loads an Amanda tape with the given label.

taper
performs Taper's scan algorithm. This will load the next tape in the configuration's tape sequence, or a fresh tape with a suitable label.

AUTHOR
James da Silva <jds@cs.umd.edu>
University of Maryland, College Park

SEE ALSO
amanda(8)