Inclusion and exclusion list combinations for Windows clients

Beginning with version 7.2, combinations of inclusion and exclusion lists are supported for full, incremental, and differential backups of Windows clients. Wildcards are not supported for full, differential, and incremental inclusion lists. 

As with inclusion lists for Windows clients, both the Unitrends appliance and the Windows agent must be version 7.2 or higher, and the selection lists applied to the full backup must also be applied to all subsequent incremental and differential backups. For full, differential, and incremental backups, you can select includes and then specify excludes at either the Enterprise or client level. For selective backups, you can select includes and then specify excludes at the Enterprise level only.

The following topics describe Windows inclusion and exclusion lists used together:

     Windows full backup with an inclusion and exclusion list combination

     When to use inclusion and exclusion list combinations

     To specify includes and excludes for Windows clients

Windows full backup with an inclusion and exclusion list combination

The following graphic demonstrates how data is protected when an inclusion list and an exclusion list are used together. The inclusion list determines the files to include, in this case the C: drive, and then the exclusion list is used to exclude a subset of the included files, in this case all .tmp files.

Windows_Selection_Lists.png

When to use inclusion and exclusion list combinations

Example uses for inclusion and exclusion list combinations for Windows full, differential, and incremental backups include:

     Include a training folder that contains training videos, then exclude all Word and PowerPoint files within the folder. For example, the training department is updating all of their training videos due to new requirements, and they want to back up all of their video-related files except for companion Word and PowerPoint documents.

     Include a particular volume, then exclude a folder within that volume. For example, you want to backup your C: drive, but you want to exclude the C:\Status Reports folder.

To specify includes and excludes for Windows clients

Note: To perform integrated bare metal recovery or Windows instant recovery, boot and critical system volumes must be included in the backup. Do not use selection lists unless you are sure these volumes will be included. See Using selection lists with WIR and integrated BMR for details.

1        Create an inclusion list for the Windows client.

     To create the list at the client level, see To specify includes for full, differential, and incremental backups of Windows clients.

     To create the list at the Enterprise level, see To create a selection list.

2        Create an exclusion list for the same Windows client.

     To create the list at the client level, see To specify excludes.

     To create the list at the Enterprise level, see To create a selection list.