NSR(5)NSR(5)NAMEnsr - NetWorker directive file format
DESCRIPTION
This man page describes the format of .nsr directive files. These
files are interpreted by save(8) and Application Specific Module (ASM)
programs, during NetWorker backup processes. This format is also used
in the directive attribute of the nsr_directive(5) resource.
Directives control how particular files are to be backed-up, how
descendent directories are searched, and how subsequent directives are
processed. For each file backed-up, any ASM information required to
recover that file is also backed-up. This enables recover(8), or any
ASM directly invoked, to recover a file correctly, even if the current
directives have changed since the file was backed-up. See uasm(8) for
a general description of the various ASMs.
The .nsr directive file in each directory is parsed before anything in
that directory is backed up, unless NetWorker is being run in ignore
mode. Each line of a .nsr directive file, and each line of the direc‐
tive attribute, contains one directive. Any text after a "#" character
until the end of the line is treated as a comment and discarded.
Directives appear in one of three distinct forms:
[+] ASM [args ...] : pattern ...
save environment
<< dir >>
The three forms are referred to as ASM specifications, save environment
directives, and << dir >> directives, respectively.
Use ASM specifications (name and any arguments) to specify how files or
directories with a matching pattern are backed-up. When a pattern
matches a directory, the specified ASM is responsible for handling the
directory and its contents. Any pattern or ASM arguments requiring
special control or white space characters should be quoted using double
quotes (").
A colon (:) is used as the separator between the ASM specification (and
any arguments) and the pattern specification list. The pattern list
for each ASM specification consists of simple file names or patterns.
The pattern cannot be ".." and must not contain any "/" characters (all
names must be within the current directory). The string "." can be
used to match the current directory. Standard sh(1) file pattern
matching (*, [...], [!...], [x-y], ?) can be used to match file names.
If a "+" precedes the ASM name, then the directive is propagated to
subdirectories. When a directory is first visited, it is searched for
a .nsr file. If one is found, it is then read. Each .nsr file is only
read once. When starting a save at a directory below /, any .nsr files
on the normalized path of the current working directory are read before
any files are saved to catalog any propagated directives.
The following algorithm is used to match files to the appropriate ASM
specification. First the .nsr file in the current directory (if any)
is scanned from top to bottom for an ASM specification without a lead‐
ing "+" whose pattern matches the file name. If no match is found,
then the .nsr in the current directory is re-scanned for an ASM speci‐
fication with a leading "+" whose pattern matches the file name (for
clarity, we recommend placing all propagating ("+") directives after
all the non-propagating directives in a .nsr file). If no match is
found, then the .nsr file found in the ".." directory (if any) is
scanned from top to bottom looking for a match with an ASM specifica‐
tion that has a leading +. This process continues until the .nsr file
in the "/" directory (if any) is scanned. If no match is found (or a
match is found with an ASM specification whose name is the same as the
currently running ASM), then the currently running ASM will handle the
save of the file.
Use save environment directives to change how ASM specifications and
future .nsr files are used. The save environment directives do not
take any file patterns. They affect the currently running ASM and sub‐
sequent ASMs invoked below this directory. There are three different
possible save environment directives that can be used:
forget
Forget all inherited directives (those starting with a "+" in
parent directories).
ignore
Ignore subsequent .nsr files found in descendent directories.
allow Allow .nsr file interpretation in descendent directories.
The << dir >> directive can be used to specify a directory where subse‐
quent ASM specifications from the current .nsr file should be applied.
This directive is intended to be used to consolidate the contents of
several .nsr files to a single location or directory. The dir portion
of this directive must resolve to a valid directory at or below the
directory containing this directive or subsequent ASM specifications
will be ignored. Relative path names should be used for file names to
ensure the interpretation of subsequent ASM directives is consistent,
even if a directory is mounted in a different absolute part of the
filesystem.
There must be a << dir >> as the first directive in a directive file
used in conjunction with the -f option to save(8), savefs(8) or with an
ASM program. Also, when << dir >> directives are used in this manner,
whether first or later in the file, absolute path names should be used
to ensure appropriate interpretation. Absolute path names should also
be used for each directory specified within the directive attribute of
the NSR directive resource (see nsr_directive(5)).
When a << dir >> directive is used, subsequent directives are parsed
and logged for later use. When a directory specified by dir is opened,
any save environment directives specified for that directory (for exam‐
ple, allow, ignore, and forget) are processed first. If the ASM is not
currently ignoring .nsr files and a local .nsr file exists, the file is
read and processed. Finally, any of the non save environment direc‐
tives specified for that directory are handled as if they where
appended to the end of a .nsr file in that directory. If multiple <<
dir >> specifications resolve to the same directory, then the corre‐
sponding save directives are handled logically in "last seen first"
order.
EXAMPLES
Having a /usr/src/.nsr file containing:
+skip: errs *.o
+compressasm: .
will cause all files (or directories) located in the /usr/src directory
named errs or *.o (and anything contained within them) to be skipped.
In addition, all other files contained in the /usr/src directory will
be compressed during save and will be set up for automatic decompres‐
sion on recover.
Having a /var/.nsr file containing:
compressasm: adm .nsr
null: * .?*
causes all files (or directories) and their contents located within the
/var directory and anything contained within them (except for those
files located in the /var/adm directory and the .nsr file itself) to be
skipped, although all the names in the directory would be backed-up.
In addition, since compressasm is a searching directive (see uasm(8)),
the files contained within the /var/adm directory will be compressed
during backup and will be set up for automatic decompression on
recover.
The following is an example of using the /.nsr file as a master save
directive file for the entire filesystem by using << dir >> directives
to consolidate the various ASM save directives to a single location:
# Master NetWorker directive file for this machine
<< ./ >>
# /mnt and /a are used for temporary fs mounting
# and need not be saved
skip: mnt a
+skip: core errs dead.letter *% *~
# Don't bother saving anything within /tmp
<< ./tmp >>
skip: .?* *
<< ./export/swap >>
swapasm: *
# Translate all mailboxes. Also, use mailasm to save each
# mail file to maintain mail file locking conventions and
# to preserve the last file access time.
<< ./usr/spool/mail >>
xlateasm: .
mailasm: *
# Allow .nsr files to be interpreted in /nsr, even if we
# are currently ignoring .nsr files. NetWorker
# applications (such as nsrindexd) set up their own private
# .nsr files which save index files more intelligently.
<< ./nsr >>
allow
# We can rebuild any .o files in /usr/src
# from sources except those in /usr/src/sys.
<< ./usr/src >>
+skip: *.o
<< ./usr/src/sys >>
forget
FILES
.nsr save directive file in each directory
SEE ALSOsh(1), nsr_directive(5), nsrindexasm(8), nsrmmdbasm(8), recover(8),
save(8), savefs(8), uasm(8).
NetWorker 7.3.2 Aug 23, 06 NSR(5)