Selector help please

[jon.thew]

Hi all. Noob to the forum. Quick background, we have retrospect Single Server 7.6.111 on win 2k3 ent. We use it to backup clients as well as a few servers and disk arrays.

 

I am in the need of some assistance with selectors. I want to do a very simple Folder exclude on a client that is being backed up. Basically he has a folder on his desktop that is huge and it doesnt need to be getting backed up. I have tried both ways, either creating a selector, and picking "Include Everything" but always exclude files matching "name exactly matches "said folder", selecting all enclosed items"

 

Or

 

If I just modify the proactive backup he is included in, and do the same, it still backs up the folder.

What am I missing here?

 

I have tried deleting the snapshots associated with the client, and when it creates the new backup, it still grabs said folder. Under "volumes" I have defined only the "Documents and Settings" folder as part of the backup set, so it wont touch any other part of the C: drive. Could that be the culprit?

 

I have tried everything I can think of.

 

Help, thoughts, suggestions?

 

Thanks

[rhwalker]

Jon,

 

Could you post a screen shot of the selector so that we can see exactly what you have, showing the include and exclude choices?

 

Because you are new to the forums, it may be necessary for Robin to enable your account to post attachments. See:

Forum attachment rules change

 

Sometimes, when testing selectors, it is best to set up a simple immediate backup using that selector, and preview the files to be backed up without starting the backup.

 

Russ

[Lennart_T]

Why use a selector?

 

I think it would be easier to go to the client, open the Retrospect Client, select the "access" pane and exclude the folder there.

[Sburk]

Why use a selector?

 

I think it would be easier to go to the client, open the Retrospect Client, select the "access" pane and exclude the folder there.

 

This would probably be the easiest.

 

Or just move the folder off the desktop on his machine. Then he could create a shortcut on his desktop if he wants. If you're selecting to backup only Documents and Settings, of course that's going to include the users desktop folders.

 

I think your selector option should work as well, so I'd definitely bring that to the attention of an EMC support person as a possible bug.

[jon.thew]

Could you post a screen shot of the selector....

 

Here are 2 shots of the selector I created and have been testing with. I have been testing now with my client and getting the same results:

 

 

I think it would be easier to go to the client, open the Retrospect Client, select the "access" pane and exclude the folder there.

 

I am testing this now (honestly never knew that was there, Thanks!).

 

Or just move the folder off the desktop on his machine. Then he could create a shortcut on his desktop if he wants.

 

Yes, this would be the easiest. Unfortunately, given said persons role at the company, it's do as asked, and figure it out. :angryred:

 

So, I think I can get away with doing the selective access from the client, but would still like to know where I am a miss using the selector. Let me know if you need any more screenshots or info.

 

Thanks!

 

[jon.thew]

Double post, sorry.

Edited October 23, 2009 by Guest

[jon.thew]

:angryred: i must have hit submit too many times...

Edited October 23, 2009 by Guest

[rhwalker]

What happens if you change "match" to "contains" ?

 

I assume that you tried your test with at least one file in the DoNotBackup3 directory?

 

I seem to recall some oddness on this point, perhaps because the matching string is being compared with a leading or trailing \ or / . It's been so long ago, but if I look at all of my successfully working selectors, I note that the enclosing folder selectors have "contains", not "match".

 

I do agree, though, that your selector seems to be correct, even according to the Knowledge Base article:

Using Selectors

 

Russ

Edited October 23, 2009 by Guest

[jon.thew]

What happens if you change "match" to "contains" ?

I assume that you tried your test with at least one file in the DoNotBackup3 directory?

I seem to recall some oddness on this point, perhaps because the matching string is being compared with a leading or trailing \ or / . It's been so long ago, but if I look at all of my successfully working selectors, I note that the enclosing folder selectors have "contains", not "match".

I do agree, though, that your selector seems to be correct, even according to the Knowledge Base article:

Using Selectors

 

Russ

 

I haven't tried "contains". I have changed the selector and will test on my client. Yes, there was a 200 mb .pdf inside the folder. I did recall reading somewhere that retrospect doesnt backup folders, but the contents within so I made sure to put something in there. Ill report back what happens once retrospect catches up on its polling.

 

Thanks again.

 

Edited October 23, 2009 by Guest

[jon.thew]

Ok, so after changing my selector to "contains" I amd still getting said folder (files within) backed up. Im not really sure why my selctors are not working. Any other suggestions?

 

Thanks

[rhwalker]

That's a real head scratcher.

 

And your selector looks like:

 

Include everything

 

but always exclude files matching

{folder, including enclosed folders} name contains pattern DoNotBackup3

 

Correct?

 

Sure that there isn't some odd hidden character in that name, or a trailing space, or some such?

 

And you are using this selector as the only selector on the backup, rather than using another selector to select this selector? It can get confusing with double negatives if you exclude based on an exclusion selector, etc.

 

I'm scratching my head, here. Works for me.

 

Russ

[jon.thew]

Yes, my selector looks very similar, im thinking maybe a version difference. See below for more screen shots:

 

Here is the slector, I have tried all 3 options, Match Patter, Contain, and Match with no success.

 

A quick shot of the selector in the list:

 

A shot of the proactive script with the selector applied:

 

Here is where I think you may be on to something when you say "It can get confusing with double negatives if you exclude based on an exclusion selector, etc." Does this mean that I need to actually add the selector under "Include" instead of "Exclude" on the proactive script? If so, that may be the smoking gun. Ill try that and report back if I have any luck.

 

Thanks again for all your help so far.

 

[jon.thew]

Yes, my selector looks very similar, im thinking maybe a version difference. See below for more screen shots:

 

Here is the slector, I have tried all 3 options, Match Patter, Contain, and Match with no success.

 

A quick shot of the selector in the list:

 

A shot of the proactive script with the selector applied:

 

Here is where I think you may be on to something when you say "It can get confusing with double negatives if you exclude based on an exclusion selector, etc." Does this mean that I need to actually add the selector under "Include" instead of "Exclude" on the proactive script? If so, that may be the smoking gun. Ill try that and report back if I have any luck.

 

Thanks again for all your help so far.

 

[rhwalker]

And your selector looks like:

 

Include everything

 

but always exclude files matching

{folder, including enclosed folders} name [color:red]contains[/color] DoNotBackup

 

Correct?

Nope, that's why I wanted to see your selector. You have "match pattern" rather than "contain". See the next-to-last choice in the selector option drop-down (between "end with" and "match"), then re-read my troubleshooting suggestion above to change "match pattern" to "contain".

 

I have tried all 3 options, Match Patter, Contain, and Match with no success.

Ok, if you have tried it with "contain", then that eliminates that problem.

 

Here is where I think you may be on to something when you say "It can get confusing with double negatives if you exclude based on an exclusion selector, etc." Does this mean that I need to actually add the selector under "Include" instead of "Exclude" on the proactive script? If so, that may be the smoking gun. Ill try that and report back if I have any luck.

Yep. Your last screen shot shows that is the problem. Your "test" selector is doing the logic. You need to "include" the "test" selector, not "exclude" it. The way you have it, you are only backing up files that you don't want to back up.

 

Also, you might want to read the manual on pattern matching, and its difference from "match" and "contains". Because you seem to be changing the name of the folder from "DoNotBackup1" to "DoNotBackup2", etc., you might either want to wildcard the end of the pattern (if you do a pattern), or else look for a folder name that "contains" "DoNotBackup", depending what choices you want to give to the user.

 

Russ

Edited October 28, 2009 by Guest

[jon.thew]

So even after changing my selector to "include" rather than "exclude" I still get the same results. So I thought I would simplify my testing and not use the selector, and just go to the proactive script and exclude from there. Below is what I have tested with, and even after "forgetting" and grooming so I have no backup, it still wants to grab the folder and it's contents. Please have a look below and let me know if you think I am missing something. Thanks

 

Here it shows the folder being backed up:

 

No selector, now just excluding from the proactive script:

 

Upper level detail of the exclude:

 

The actual exclude:

 

 

Hopefully I can avoid double posting this time. I don't know what the hell Im doing wrong there,,, anyways, any help is always appreciated.

 

Thanks

[rhwalker]

Looks right to me.

 

Perhaps you are chasing a bug that has been fixed. I note that you are running an old version:

 

Quick background, we have retrospect Single Server [color:red]7.6.111[/color] on win 2k3 ent.

Current version is 7.6.123. Updates are here:

Retrospect updates

 

Russ

[jon.thew]

Thanks. Ill schedule a maintanence window and get up to the latest Rev and report back if I still have the same issue.

 

Thanks again for all your help so far.