Exclusion lists for Linux clients

Similar to all client types, exclusion lists can be created for full, differential, and incremental backups of Linux clients. Wildcards are not supported for Linux clients. For more information, see Uses for selection lists.

The following topics describe Linux exclusion lists:

     Additional considerations for Linux excludes

     Default exclusions from file-level backups of Linux clients

Additional considerations for Linux excludes

Note the following considerations when applying exclusions to Linux clients:

     By default, the system excludes certain Linux directories from backup. For details, see Default exclusions from file-level backups of Linux clients .

     Exclusions for Linux clients omit the files from the backup but do not prevent the system from checking these excluded files for changes when identifying data for incremental or differential backups. If you are excluding directories containing large amounts of highly changeable data, it is recommended that you also implement the exclusion in KB 816. 

     The maximum number of files you can exclude is 256. The maximum number of directories you can exclude is also 256. The maximum total number of exclusions is 512. If these limits are exceeded, the list is ignored and the backup runs without excluding files.

Default exclusions from file-level backups of Linux clients

By default, certain directories and files are excluded from file-level backups of Linux. These exclusions are in addition to any exclusions you have applied to the Linux client’s backups.

Note: If you need to include any of the system-excluded directories in your environment, see KB 815.

Default Linux directories excluded from backup:

     any network mounts

     /proc

     /sys

     /var/tmp

     /home/*/.gvfs

     /var/lib/nfs

     /rpc_pipefs

     /lib/modules/*/volatile/*

     /usr/bp/incremental_forever