AMANDA is a slightly unusual but outstanding network backup system. Many companies use DLTs and SDLTs 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 æsthetics. 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 created by scavenging Postscript code from the EXB 8500 Label, which was made in turn by modifying the default AMANDA Postscript label for 8mm tapes.

You can download the template here. It's completely unsupported, but if you find it useful, I'd love to hear. Drop me a comment below!