Amanda: Classic Backup That Still Knows Its Job
Before backup became a cloud service with a subscription model, there was Amanda — short for “Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver.” And while it may not come with sleek dashboards or marketing slogans, it’s still one of the most trusted, scriptable, and storage-efficient backup solutions in the UNIX world.
Amanda isn’t flashy. It’s a command-line-first tool built to handle large-scale tape and disk-based backups across multiple machines. It’s been around for decades, and there’s a reason it’s still alive: it works, and it doesn’t get in the way.
If you need a dependable backup system that favors control over convenience, Amanda delivers.
What Amanda Does Right
| Capability | Why It Still Works Today |
| Centralized backups | Coordinate backups across dozens (or hundreds) of hosts |
| Tape and disk support | Designed for tape libraries, but supports disk, optical, and hybrid use |
| Open formats | No proprietary compression — you can restore even without Amanda |
| Native scheduling | Handles backup windows, load balancing, and retries automatically |
| Compression & encryption | Supports parallel compression and GPG encryption at rest |
| Agent-based model | Lightweight clients for UNIX, Linux, Windows (via Samba or Zmanda agent) |
Compared to Other Tools
| Tool | Use Case | Amanda’s Angle |
| Zmanda | Enterprise UI over Amanda core | Amanda is the CLI foundation Zmanda builds on |
| Bacula | Enterprise backup with database | Amanda is lighter and easier to audit or debug |
| Veeam Agent | Image-based backup with GUI | Amanda is more manual but also more flexible |
| UrBackup | Continuous backup via agents | Amanda works better for scheduled, batch-style backup |
| rsnapshot | Simple rsync-based snapshots | Amanda handles larger, multi-host setups with ease |
Installation Overview
Amanda is available in most major Linux package repos.
On Debian/Ubuntu:
“`
sudo apt update
sudo apt install amanda-server amanda-client
“`
On RHEL/CentOS:
“`
sudo yum install amanda
“`
Initial setup steps:
1. Define backup sets in /etc/amanda/
2. Configure client list, tape/changer paths or disk targets
3. Set up cron jobs for regular runs
4. Use amdump, amrecover, amcheck for management and restores
Config is entirely file-based. Most admins script their backup cycles using native tools and cron.
Real-World Usage
Weekly tape rotation for critical Linux servers in secure facilities
Department-level backup jobs to large disk arrays, with checksums and logs
Mixed-site environments where bandwidth is tight but control is critical
Education/research setups where open tools are preferred for auditing
Disk-to-disk-to-tape (D2D2T) setups with automated aging policies
Amanda isn’t for casual users. But in sysadmin hands, it’s a battle-tested tool that asks little, delivers consistently, and respects the UNIX way of doing things: clearly, scriptably, and without surprises.