File Inclusion / Exclusion: What Gets Backed Up

Enterprise deployments need to consider the types of files and / or folders that will be backed up. While CrashPlan PRO incorporates the best technologies to reduce overall backup size, backing up thousands of clients’ iTunes folders may not be the best utilization of enterprise storage resources.

It is important that your corporate backup policy clearly communicates what data is and is not enterprise-critical for backup. This policy in turn becomes the guiding principal when creating exception rules for CrashPlan PRO users. You’ll want to work closely with your user communities to determine what files (if any) can be omitted for backups (iTunes folders, video files, etc.), as different groups might require different files in their file selection. For example, music and video files might be omitted from Accounting backups and need to be included in backing up Advertising Marketing. Your high-level policy will drive your exception rules within CrashPlan PRO.

To create exception rules you’ll need to understand the following:

• CrashPlan PRO’s files / folders that are excluded by default
• How to add your own exclusions
• How CrashPlan PRO supports the backup_excludeItem metadata in OS X

Excluding previously selected files results in excluded files being deleted from the backup archive. The now-excluded files will not be available for restoring.

By default CrashPlan PRO has a number of safe exclusions for both Windows and Mac OS. Most are temporary files and caches, which are designed to be transient.

View what gets included and excluded by default Backup File Selection under Default Client Settings.

When CrashPlan PRO selects files for backup, it first selects files that have been identified to “include,” then it prunes out the files identified for exclusion.

For example, if you ‘include’ a directory that contains MP3s, those files will not be backed up if you have excluded .mp3 files globally.

So, take extra care when globally excluding entire file types, as there is no way to create a ‘always backup’ folder that ignores global file/folder excludes.

As with all CrashPlan PRO settings, administrators can control not only the default settings, but also whether or not users can change file selection settings for themselves. You can also decide how specific default settings work with settings the end-users have made.

• The Lock option keeps end-user from making changes to the backup selection by disabling the backup file selection controls in PRO Client.
• The Merge option adds the default settings made in PRO Server to the settings made in PRO Client.

The exclude / include features in CrashPlan PRO provide the following benefits:

• Manage the size of your backup archive by controlling what gets excluded/ included by default in the backup file selection.
• Customize what gets included for different user communities to ensure their mission-critical files are protected.
• Enforce your backup inclusion / exclusion policy by determining whether or not end-user can change their own backup file selection in PRO Client.
• Control whether or not global policies are merged with end-user selections in PRO Client.

Control What Is Being Backed Up

• PRO Server Reference - Backup File Selection
• How Metadata Works