backuppc exclude syntax (SMB)

Question

I am trying to do a full backup of a Windows Server 2008 R2 machine using backup PC (via SMB). My server is running Scientific Linux 6.1, with Backup PC 3.2.1.

I have changed the local security policy on the server 2008 machine to allow me to connect via smb, however, every time I do a full backup, I get about 80 errors. All the errors are similar to:

NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED listing \Documents and Settings\*

These are all junction points that Windows 7 and 2008 use for backwards compatibility (you can't actually double click to open them).

I have tried excluding a bunch of ways in case my syntax was wrong (via the web gui).. and nothing seems to actually exclude it from scanning those files. For example:

\Documents and Settings\*
\Documents and Settings\
\Documents and Settings
\Documents\ and\ Settings\*
\Documents\ and\ Settings\
\Documents\ and\ Settings

I'm running out of ideas. My other exclusions seem to work.. but I don't want it even looking at these, let alone the

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 13 '11 at 18:43

2

Try doubling the initial backslash. Also, don't bother trying to escape the spaces with backslashes: that doesn't work. For example, the following setting (entered through the BackupPC web GUI) works for me:

\\Documents and Settings

Although the "Official" BackupPC documentation is generally very good, it really does fall short in this case. Fortunately, there are "unofficial" docs available through the BackupPC wiki that fill in some of the gaps. In particular, the Tips and Tricks page contains a lot of good information for admins and end-users.

answered Dec 13 '11 at 18:43

Steven Monday

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Thank you, that was helpful! however, I'm still having trouble with some other folders that are not at the root, for example: NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED listing \ProgramData\Application Data\* I can't figure out the syntax to exclude this.. any ideas? – Brian Dec 13 '11 at 20:38
@Brian: So `\\ProgramData\Application Data` doesn't work? I must admit, I haven't ever needed to exclude subdirectories, so if that doesn't work, I don't have anything else to suggest, sorry. – Steven Monday Dec 13 '11 at 22:28

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 13 '11 at 22:50

0

You should be using the Linux/Unix directory syntax for exclusions - i.e. use slashes instead of backslashes like this:

/ProgramData/Application Data

answered Dec 13 '11 at 22:50

the-wabbit

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Perhaps it could depend on the version of `smbclient` that BackupPC is using? I don't know. All I know for certain is that I've never had any luck using forward slashes for exclusions on SMB shares. For me, the only successful exclusions have used backslashes. – Steven Monday Dec 14 '11 at 02:22

backuppc exclude syntax (SMB)

2 Answers2