Need help creating rules

[Daniels]

Please see later post for explanation of the situation.

Edited May 6, 2010 by Guest

[Maser]

Just a couple of quick questions:

 

1) Are the "yyy" and "zzz" folders *uniquely named* for the source? Or are you looking to not backup something common like "iTunes Music" but only one user?

 

2) Are the folders such that you can't put an option-8 character on them to mark them private from the backup on the *client* side?

 

 

In general, though, you "include" what you *want* to backup, and "exclude" what you don't want to backup.

 

It might be easier for you to set it up that way.

[rhwalker]

Here is the way I have the rule set up:

Exclude

|---Any are true

|-----All are true

|-------Source name is xxx

|-------Folder name is yyy

|-------Folder name is zzz

 

The question becomes what will this rule select for backup?

Well, you haven't shown the "include" part, so there is no way to tell. However, the rule as written will "exclude" nothing.

 

It's boolean logic. There is no way that

"folder name is yyy" can be true at the same time that "folder name is xxx" is true.

 

So, the "all is true" condition will never be satisfied, causing nothing to be excluded.

 

Steve Maser gives the right approach, and there are examples in the Retrospect 8 Users Guide starting on page 208. Here's a link to the Retrospect 8 User's Guide:

Retrospect 8 Users Guide

 

Russ

[Daniels]

Here is the situation I have and what I would like to have happen.

 

I have a computer named xxx with two folders yyy and zzz that do not need to be backed up. yyy and zzz are uniquely named folders and are unique to xxx.

 

Basically I am trying to set up rule that when xxx gets backed up it skips over yyy and zzz as well as the cache files via the built-in rule.

 

Once I can figure out one client I can create rules for the other clients which also have unique folders to skip.

 

However since I do not want to write a script for each client I will need to combine all rules for each client into one encompassing rule which can contain the cache rule.

 

In boolean logic it would be:

 

Exclude only if (client is xxx and (folder is yyy or folder is zzz)) or cache files

 

Any help on how to create this rule would be greatly appreciated.

 

This would be an alternative to using the option-8 option giving us a little more control.

Edited May 6, 2010 by Guest

[Maser]

So, I'd do it similar to this...

 

Make a rule

 

In the "include" section --

 

Any of the following are true

Saved Rule includes "All Files Except Cache Files"

 

 

In the *Exclude* section, it would read something like this:

 

Any of the following are true

All of the following are true

Source host name is xxx

folder name is yyy

All of the following are true

Source host name is xxx

folder name is zzz

 

 

*Or* depending on what yyy and zzz really are, you could be very explicit and just say (as an example) in the Exclude section

 

Any of the following are true

Folder Mac Path contains /users//yyy

Folder Mac Path contains /users//zzz

 

 

However, the above would only work if you are sure that there's only one computer that has /users/ on it

 

 

Because all my clients have unique "users" accounts on them, I do it the latter way.

 

If I had the same account on multiple machines, I'd probably do it the former way.

[Maser]

The tabs I painstakingly put in there didn't show, but the exclude section "all of the following are true" are indented to just include the next two lines.

 

Basically making a series of "all" statements for your specific hosts...

 

 

[Daniels]

I will have to use the first method since the folders are not in uniform directories such as the user's folders.

 

When I combine each clients rule into one encompassing rule do I put conditions for the saved rules in the include or exclude sections?

 

Unfortunately I have a client that has 20 folders that need to be skipped so it would be nice to a feature where you could "any are true" and/or "all are true" inside another "any" or "all".

 

Something like this:

any are true

[]source is xxx

[][]any are true

[][][]folder name is yyy

[][][]folder name is zzz

 

One other quick question if a folder and/or file has the option-8 character do I need to add the option-8 condition to the rule or will Retrospect automatically skip the folders and/or files?

 

Edited May 7, 2010 by Guest

[Maser]

You have to enable the option-8 character on the *client* application. I don't believe this private box is checked by default (it's been a while since I installed a client fresh...)

 

But the engine app will automatically recognize that.

 

I'm not really sure about your logic question, though. I'd have to think about it.

 

 

Any chance the user could just put those 20 folders into one big folder and you just list that?

 

If you could be more explicit about the path of the 20 folders, maybe I could offer a better option...

[Daniels]

I just checked all my clients and only one had the option unchecked so now I can remove it from the rule.

 

As for the logic the idea is nested conditions so to here is a better example using if statements:

 

if sourcename is xxx then

[]if folder name is yyy or zzz then

[][]do not backup

[]end folder if

end sourcename if

Basically the difference between what you gave me and what I want is that in the former you have specify the sourcename for each folder as opposed to specifying the sourcename once and just listing the folders for each source.

 

As for the clients with a large number of folders I could have the users move them into multiple folders however it would be nice if I did not have to do this and could set up the logic as shown above. After checking there are only 19 with 8 in folders in the user's home directory, another 8 on the root of the hard drive, and 1 in Users:Shared directory.

 

I also have a few clients with 8, 9, or 10 items that need to be excluded and those I do not have the full path for.

Edited May 7, 2010 by Guest

[Maser]

Yeah -- I'm really not sure. If I can find the time to test, I'll see what I can come up with (but maybe somebody else will chime in...)

 

As for the stuff on the *root* drive -- are you looking to exempt backing up the OS folders on the root drive (the 8 folders on the root you mention above...)

 

Might you be able to get away with some of this by only specifying certain "favorite folders" for some of these clients instead?

[Daniels]

I already skip over System folders such as System and Applications however the folders on the root are additional folders that need to be skipped for back up. The other folders that exist on other clients are personal items and/or large disc images that we do not need to back up. I am little confused by what you mean when you say "favorite folders".

Edited May 7, 2010 by Guest

[ferthalangur]

I am having a miserable time trying to get the Rules Editor to create a complex rule, to include specific directories for special hosts. Is it possible to create a rule of the form:

 

Includes

Any of the Following

All of the Following

Hostname is "Foo"

Directory Selection Rule

All of the Following

Hostname is "Bar"

Directory Selection Rule

 

I can get exactly 1 level of "All" in the Includes section of a rule ... and to do this, I change the default "Any" to "None" and then it creates the next level indentation with "All" and the top level reverts to "Any." Any attempt to add additional "All" clauses fails miserably.

 

The backup policy I'm trying to implement is that certain directories get backed up for all Mac clients (and that's one rule) and certain directories get backed up for all Windows clients (and that's another rule) and then there are certain hosts that have special directories that also get backed up (that is the rule I am trying to write). Then, in theory, my Master Rule includes all three of the above rules. (e.g.:

Includes

Any of the following

All of the following

Saved Rule includes "Mac Backup Rule"

Saved Rule includes "Windows Backup Rule"

Saved Rule includes "Special Host Additions"

 

_rob_

 

[Daniels]

I can get exactly 1 level of "All" in the Includes section of a rule ... and to do this, I change the default "Any" to "None" and then it creates the next level indentation with "All" and the top level reverts to "Any." Any attempt to add additional "All" clauses fails miserably.

 

I have found the exactly same bug and already reported in the bug sub-topic.

 

Since the rule I am trying to implement is the inverse of your example in that I am trying to exclude files as opposed to including I would put the conditions in the exclude section?

 

After thinking out your example it actually is the easiest way to go since if users add personal directories I would only have to add the new directories to the directory selection rule.