Amdump fails to create level 0 dumps

This article is a part of the Troubleshooting collection.

Problem

Amanda fails to create level 0 dump but creates incrementals.

Solution

Look at the amdump(8) logs at /etc/amanda/<configuration>/amdump.1 log for errors

One of the possible reasons can be spotted as, from amdump logs

DELAYING DUMPS IF NEEDED, total_size 17273355, tape length 16974848 mark 15
 delay: machine.company.com / 20051017 0 [dump larger than tape, 17273214 KB,
 full dump delayed] now at level 3
 delay: Total size now 6615786.

Level 0 dump size estimate is 17273355, which exceeds the tape size. So Amanda creates incrementals.

• Reduce the size of DLE "/" by splitting DLE into multiple DLEs
• Exclude the some of files being backed up