It is possible to include certain files and exclude others from backup using include/exclude rules. This article covers excluding files. We have a similar article on how to include files for backup.

The default include/exclude rules are intended to make sure that ALL your significant files are backed up. As a result, you may find that more files are being backed up than you feel is warranted. But be cautious! Customizing the include/exclude rules introduces the risk of eliminating critical data that should have a backup. Also, excluding files from backup may rule out the possibility of using TSM to restore the full contents of a volume in the event of a disk failure.

It is important to first understand how these rules are processed in TSM. Before proceeding, please read How EZ-Backup Processes Includes & Excludes.

When the customizations are complete, please double-check the include/exclude rules to be sure that all critical data will be included in the backups. (See Checking Include/Exclude Rules). 

To exclude certain files/directories from backup, you’ll edit the dsm.opt file. You can edit it manually with any text editor (such as Notepad), or via the TSM Backup Archive GUI as follows:

1. Open the TSM Backup Client (Start - (All) Programs - Tivoli Storage Manager - Backup Archive GUI).
2. From the Edit menu, select Client Preferences.
3. Click the Include-Exclude tab.
4. Click Add.
5. Under Category, select Backup.
6. Under Type, select Exclude. (Note: “Exclude.dir” will exclude all files and the directory structure under the directory selected. It can not be overridden by a subsequent Include statement. Please be very cautious if using “exclude.dir.”)
7. Under File or Pattern, click Browse and navigate your directory structure until you find the file you want to exclude. (Note: You may also manually type in an exclude rule, but please be careful! When using wildcards, be sure to check that the includes/excludes rules are not excluding something you want backed up. For example, if you would like to exclude the files in the Microsoft Office directory and all of its subdirectories, type the following in the File or Pattern field: "*:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\...\*" (Type all of that, including the quotation marks.) If you use this exclusion, be sure that you do not save personal documents in your Microsoft Office folder. No files in the Microsoft Office directory or its subdirectories will be backed up using the above exclude rule.)
8. Click Add. The new exclude statement will be added to the bottom of your include/exclude list, which means it will be executed first, before all the others. Include statements above this exclude statement in the list will not include files that have been excluded with this statement.
9. Click OK, and OK again when prompted to “Please restart client for new preferences to take effect.”
10. Close the Tivoli Storage Manager.
11. If you are using the TSM Scheduler service, it must be restarted as well.

For more information on includes and excludes, check the TSM Installation and Users’ Guide. (See Chapter 2: Configuring Storage Manager — Subtopic: Creating an Include-Exclude List.)