Reduce Client Activity

CrashPlan PRO default configurations strike a careful balance between backup speed and CPU performance. There are some occasions, however, when these settings might cause a specific CrashPlan client to work too hard such that a user might detect diminished performance. Here are some factors that might be causing the situation:

• unnecessary files are being backed up
• files are changing rapidly and are being backed up too often
• files that are not ready to be backed up are being processed

If you are considering using regular expressions, review the regular expressions article.

Review to the client's backup files log to see which files are being backed up. You change the files in the backup set by editing the file selection or by using regular expressions

1. In PRO Server, navigate to the client whose backup set you want to modify.
2. From the navigation menu, choose Client Settings.
3. In the Included Files field, remove the folders or directories that you don't want included in the scan.
4. In the Excluded Files field, enter the folders or directories that you want excluded.
5. In the User exclude patterns area, enter the regular expression that applies to the files you want to exclude.
6. In the Admin exclude patterns area, enter the regular expression that applies to the files you want to exclude.
7. Click Save.

1. In PRO Client, choose Settings > Backup.
2. Click Change File Selection (next to Files and folders to backup).
3. In the File Selection window, clear the check boxes for the folders you want you no longer want included in your backup set.
   NOTE: Keep in mind that unselected selected items are no longer available to be restored.
4. Click Save.

1. In PRO Client, choose Settings > Backup.
2. Click the Configure button for Filename patterns to exclude.
3. In the Backup Exclusions window:
   • Enter the folder that you want to exclude or click the Regular Expression check box and enter the pattern to exclude.
4. Click + to add the folder or pattern to the list.
5. Click Save.

When real-time file watching is enabled CrashPlan PRO waits 15 minutes (default delay) after detecting a change before backing up the file. This delay prevents CrashPlan PRO from continuously processing data if there are applications that write all the time.

Changing the delay also applies in situations where you are downloading very large files. Extending the delay an hour or two forces the client to wait a sufficient time to allow larger files to be written.

You can change the delay setting in PRO Server or in PRO Client.

It is not possible to configure a delay on a per file or folder basis.

1. In PRO Server, navigate to the client whose backup set you want to modify.
2. From the navigation menu, choose Client Settings.
3. In the Outbound Backup Preferences area, change the Back up changed files after: setting.
   Increase the delay to have CrashPlan PRO wait longer before backing up after detecting changes.
4. Click Save.

1. In PRO Client, choose Settings > Backup.
2. Change the Back up changed files after: setting.
   Increase the delay to have CrashPlan PRO wait longer before backing up after detecting changes.
3. Click Save.

During a very large download, CrashPlan PRO processes the the downloaded files the entire time, causing increased CPU cycles. Because CrashPlan PRO ignores the contents of temporary folders, you can avoid this drag on backup as a result of downloads by directing the download to a temporary folder.

1. Before you start downloading, create a tmp folder.
2. Download the file.
3. Move the file(s) from the tmp folder to one that is protected by CrashPlan PRO.

• Using Regular Expressions