Notes on Backup Selection Lists for UNIX Clients

• File paths that cross mount points or that the client mounts through NFS can affect the way that you must configure your backups. Before creating a backup selection list, familiarize yourself with the Follow NFS and Cross mount points attributes.
• You can back up operating system, kernel, and boot files with NetBackup. You cannot, however, create bootable tapes. Consult your system documentation to create a bootable tape.
• NetBackup never backs up the following:
• NFS files or directories, unless you set Follow NFS.
• Files or directories in a different file system if you do not set Cross mount points.
• Files or directories with path lengths longer than 1023 characters.
• Files or directories where the operating system does not return inode information (the lstat system call failed).
• Directories that NetBackup cannot cd into.
• On a disk managed by Storage Migrator, migrated files or directories where Storage Migrator does not return inode information (mig_stat fails). Note that NetBackup Server does not support Storage Migrator.
• Socket special files (named pipes are backed up).
• Locked files when mandatory locking is enabled by an application that currently has the file open.
• Busy files. If a file is open, NetBackup backs up the last saved version of the file.
• Exclude specific files from backups by creating an exclusion list on the client.
• The BUSY_FILE_ACTION and LOCKED_FILE_ACTION options in the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on the client offer alternatives for handling busy and locked files.
• On Hewlett-Packard, AIX, Sequent, and Solaris 2.5 (and later) platforms, NetBackup backs up access control lists (ACLs).
• NetBackup can back up (and restore) Sun PC NetLink files.
• On IRIX 6.x and Digital Alpha platforms, NetBackup backs up extended file attributes.
• On IRIX platforms, NetBackup backs up and restores extended attributes attached to XFS file system objects.
• On DEC OSF/1 platforms, NetBackup backs up and restores extended attributes attached to files on AdvFS and UFS file systems.
• By default, NetBackup backs up and restores Solaris 9 extended attribute files. The FlashBackup single file restore program (sfr) does not restore extended attribute files.
• By default, NetBackup backs up and restores VxFS 4.0 named data streams. The FlashBackup single file restore program (sfr) does not restore extended attribute files.
• On Hewlett-Packard and Solaris 2.5 (and later) platforms, NetBackup backs up VxFs extent attributes.
• If there are one or more trailing spaces in a backup selection list entry and a matching entry is not found on the client, NetBackup deletes trailing spaces and checks again. If a match is still not found, NetBackup skips the entry and logs a message similar to one of the following in the NetBackup All Log Entries or Problems report:

   TRV - cannot process path pathname: No such file or directory. Skipping
   TRV - Found no matching file system for pathname