A.1 TSA Options
A.1.1 Backup Options
All backup types contain advanced options to allow you to customize your backup. You can choose specific subsets of a data set to exclude from or include in the backup session by selecting major resources, such as volumes, files, directories, or path. You can specify how to scan what you are backing up. These options allow you to perform the following tasks.
Choosing Subsets of Data to Back Up
Whenever you perform a custom backup or restore, you can use the exclude and include options to select subsets of what you want to back up.
Whether you use exclude or include usually depends on the size of the data you want to back up, compared to the size of the data you do not want to back up.
Exclude
To back up most of the file system structure or eDirectory tree structure while omitting only a small part, use the option to omit the part you do not want to back up. Everything that you do not specifically exclude is included.
After you exclude part of the structure such as a volume, directory, or container, you cannot include any subdirectories, files, or objects beneath that excluded volume, directory, or container. A list of existing mount points is maintained by SMS, by default these mount points are excluded.
Include
To back up a small part of the file system structure, use the option to specify the data you want. Everything you do not specifically include is excluded.
When you select only part of the file system structure to include (such as a volume), all directories, subdirectories, and files under that selection are included in the backup by default.
In the figure shown below, volume VOL1 is selected as an option. All other areas of the file system structure are excluded from the backup. You can exclude some subdirectories or files beneath your selection if necessary.
Figure A-1 Include option with a specific volume included, and all others excluded
The same principle applies when you specify a directory with the option. The figure below shows that all directories, subdirectories, and files under the NetUsers directory are included in the backup. All other areas of the file system structure are excluded from the backup.
Figure A-2 Include option with a specific directory included, and all others excluded
The reverse is true when you select a major TSA resource, a directory, or a file as an exclude option. All other areas of the file system structure are included in the backup.
Combining Include and Exclude Options
By combining the include and exclude options, you can control what is backed up.
For example, the following command sequence results in volume home being included in the backup with the exception of the Mary directory and the widget.exe file.
Include major TSA resources home:
Exclude directories (full path): /media/nss/HOME/netusers/mary
Exclude path/files /media/nss/HOME/netusers/karl/project/widget.exe
Figure A-3 Example combining nbackup Include and Exclude options
Scanning Data Sets
You can specify a different type of data set to be scanned.
A data set is a group of data that can be manipulated by nbackup. Each data set in the file system structure can be classified as a parent or a child, and each class includes different types of data items.
Within nbackup, a parent might be a server, eDirectory, a volume, or a directory. A child is a file, which is the lowest level of the directory structure.
The unit below a parent is not necessarily a child; it might be another parent, or the line might end with the parent. The unit above a child must always be a parent.
Figure A-4 Parent and child levels in a file system
Items in a data set for either a parent or child should be items that do not frequently change. You might choose to exclude from the backup session one or more items in the data set of your target.
Overwriting a Parent or Child
nbackup allows you to overwrite all existing parents or children. Children can be overwritten only if the date on the data set on the hard disk is more recent than the date of the data set backup.