How do I exclude files and directories from NDMP backups?

This Wiki is brought to you by Backup Central, where you can find the Mr. Backup Blog, Forums, and a mailing list for each forum!
Backup FAQs	Service Providers	Backup Software	Backup Hardware	Backup Book Wiki	Free Stuff	Miscellaneous

From a NetApp engineer (via Rob Worman):

The way to exclude files on NetApp when using NetBackup with NDMP is to use an entry in the file list that sets the EXCLUDE NDMP environmental variable.

For example, if you wanted to exclude a directory named /vol/vol1/A, but wanted to dump the rest of the volume, your NetBackup class file list would look like this:

SET EXCLUDE = A

 /vol/vol1

To exclude multiple files or directories, you would use commas to delimit the field:

SET EXCLUDE = A,B,C

 /vol/vol1

The rules are stated as being the same as they are for native dump commands. The exclude list is specified relative to the dump path. If a directory name or file name contains a space, you probably need to enclose the string in quotes:

SET EXCLUDE = 'file with space in name'

 /vol/volx

Take a look at the ontap manuals for DUMP for more information.