CITES Backups Home > Support > Configuring your TSM client

How to configure your client

The client is controlled by a local 'options' file called dsm.opt for Windows, TSM User Preferences for Macintosh, or in the case of Unix clients, two files called dsm.sys and dsm.opt. The option(s) file is normally found in the TSM client install directory. Windows and Macintosh clients have a client setup wizard that helps you create the proper files and you can also modify the file later by choosing Edit > Preferences in the TSM client GUI. There is some minimal information you will need to know, before you get started.

TSM server address

Use:

128.174.5.131

Nodename

This is either the FQDN of your machine, or a unique name that you will use to register your machine for backups. In the case of DHCP, make sure that you choose a unique name, that identifies your machine to you and your department. For example:

johns-laptop1.physics.uiuc.edu

Note that the nodename does not have to be in the DNS, but it does have to be placed in the options file, and must match what you use to register with the TSM server.

A sample configuration file (dsm.sys, with comments):

SERVERNAME		SYSTEM1
* The server name starts this stanza and can be any unique name
* It will be referenced in the dsm.opt file on Unix systems.
* This identifier lets you communicate with multiple servers 
* with different paramerters.  It must match a simular line
* in the dsm.opt file, depending on the platform.

TCPSERVERADDRESS	128.174.5.131
* This is the actual address of the TSM server at CITES.

NODENAME		willies-laptop4.tam.uiuc.edu
* This is a unique identifier that will be registered with
* the TSM server.  Along with the password, this will allow 
* you to backup and restore files.  The nodename does not
* need to be in the DNS.  If this option is omitted,
* your hostname will be used by default, which may 
* not be a good thing.

PASSWORDACCESS		Generate
* This will generate an encrypted password and store it on 
* your system after the first session.  With this set
* you will not have to enter the password again

ERRORLOGNAME		TSMerror.log 
* This is the name of the error log.  You should specify the 
* full directory path as well.

ERRORLOGRETENTION	30 D
* The number of days to keep things in the error log. NOTE: The 'D' does not 
* mean 'days', but 'Delete'.  Any entries in the log that are more than 30 days
* old are deleted.  See the client documentation for more options.

SCHEDLOGNAME		TSMschedule.log
* Only if you are running the scheduler process.  This
* should also specify a full path name.  All the log information
* from the scheduler process will go here.

SCHEDLOGRET		30 D
* The number of days to keep old scheduler log information.  It
* is a good idea to keep old log entries at least as long as
* your backup criteria, but 30 days works.  If you have a 
* very large number of files to backup daily, you may need to
* cut this down a bit. Again, the 'D' means Delete.

A sample options file (dsm.opt, with comments):

* note that on Windows and Macintosh systems, the .sys and .opt
* files are combined into either a 'options' file or a
* 'preferences' file.

SERVERNAME		SYSTEM1
* The server name here, must match a servername 
* in the dsm.sys file.

DOMAIN / /var /usr /home  or a windows version: 
DOMAIN C: F:
* The domain statement identifies the filesystems or
* disks in the case of Windows or Macs that will
* be backed up.  You can't specify a directory here, unless you
* have created a special stanza called VIRTUALMOUNTPOINT listing
* the directory, which allows the client to treat it as a 
* filesystem.  You can have multiple DOMAIN statements.

SUBDIR			YES
* This tells the client that it is OK to traverse down into
* the filesystem to search for files to backup.

EXCLUDE			"?:\...\cache\...\*"
* this exclude statement windows tells the client
* to NOT backup any file on any disk that is
* in any directory called cache
* A simular statement for Unix would just leave off the
* ?: wild card disk designator.
* You can have as many exclude statements as you wish, but
* they are parsed from the bottom up.  There is additional
* help on include/exclude statements in this document below.

There are many additional options that can be specified for both the system and option files. You should refer to the client documentation for your platform for more information.

How to include and exclude files

On Windows and Macintosh clients, the include-exclude list is kept in the options file (dsm.opt for Windows; TSM User Preferences file for Mac) that you created when you installed the TSM client software.

On Linux and UNIX clients, to find your include-exclude list, open your dsm.sys file and identify which file the INCLEXCL option points to; your machine's include / exclude list is kept in the file referenced by INCLEXCL.

You can make changes to your include and exclude list either by using the TSM client's GUI (just choose Edit > Preferences) or by editing the appropriate file directly with your favorite text editor.

Excluding a directory using exclude.dir

exclude.dir is coded just like any other exclude, except that it must not terminate with a backslash or a backslash-asterisk combination. And if the directory specification includes blanks, it must be enclosed in quotes.

Look over these examples on how to use exclude.dir statements in your options file.

Exclude "Temporary Internet Files" folder at root of C: drive

Use:

exclude.dir "c:\Temporary Internet Files"

Remember:

• if you are specifying a folder that include blanks, enclose it in quotes

Exclude any directory named "Temporary Internet Files" located anywhere on the C: drive

Use any one of these three examples (assuming you are using Windows):

exclude.dir "c:\...\Temporary Internet Files"

exclude.dir "c:\...\temporary internet files"

EXCLUDE.DIR "C:\...\TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES"

Notes:

• case insensitive on case insensitive platforms (In other words, this example does not apply to UNIX)

Exclude any directory named "temporary internet files" on any drive

Use:

exclude.dir "*:\...\temporary internet files"

Exclude any directory beginning with "temp" (or "TEMP", or "Temp", or "tEmP", etc.) on any drive

Use:

exclude.dir "*:\...\temp*"

Examples of what not to do

Example # 1

Don't use: exclude.dir \temporary Internet Files\...\*

Reason: it ends with a backslash-asterisk combination, and does not specify a drive letter (assuming Windows here) and the specification contains blanks, but is not quoted.

Example #2

Don't use: exclude.dir "c:\temporary internet files\*"

Reason: it ends with a backslash-asterisk combination.

Bare minimum exclude file recomended for Windows

Note that this sample file serves as a good starting point, but modifications will probably be required. Also note, that the TSM client honors Windows registry entries for certain files that should not be backed up.   See the client documentation for more information.

Exclude "*:\macintosh volume\*"
Exclude "*:\macintosh volume\*.*"
Exclude "*:\macintosh volume\...\*"
Exclude "*:\macintosh volume\...\*.*"
Exclude "*:\microsoft uam volume\*"
Exclude "*:\microsoft uam volume\*.*"
Exclude "*:\microsoft uam volume\...\*"
Exclude "*:\microsoft uam volume\...\*.*"
Exclude "*:\...\EA DATA. SF"
Exclude *:\...\pagefile.sys
Exclude *:\IBMBIO.COM
Exclude *:\IBMDOS.COM
Exclude *:\MSDOS.SYS
Exclude *:\IO.SYS
Exclude *:\...\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\*.*
Exclude *:\...\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\...\*
Exclude *:\ffastun*.ff?                         Office 97 find fast
Exclude.dir "*:\Program Files\Network Associates\VirusScan NT"  Don't backup virus files!
Exclude.dir *:\Recycle*                         Don't backup trash
Exclude.dir *:\I386                             Don't backup Dell NT install
Exclude.dir *:\winnt\system32\wins              Don't backup dynamic
Exclude.dir *:\temp                             Don't backup tmp files
Exclude "*:\...\Temporary Internet Files\*" Don't backup webcache
Exclude "*:\...\Temporary Internet Files\*.*" Don't backup webcache
Exclude *:\...\Cache\*                  Netscape webcache
Exclude *:\...\Cache\*.*                Netscape webcache
*
* Windows 2000 specific Excludes
*
Exclude *:\*.crmlog                     Com app dynamic data
Exclude *:\hiberfil.sys                 Power management laptop
Exclude "*:\Documents and setting\...\index.dat" IE file
Exclude *:\winnt\csc\*                  Client side cache
Exclude *:\winnt\csc\*.*                Client side cache
Exclude *:\winnt\debug\*                Debug files
Exclude *:\winnt\debug\*.*              Debug files
Exclude *:\winnt\netlogon.chg           Logon dynamic file
Exclude "*:\winnt\Registration\*.clb"   Com dynamic data
Exclude "*:\winnt\system32\DTCLog\MsDTC.log"    DTC Log

Sample exclude file for Linux or generic UNIX with Netscape or Mozilla

Note that this sample file serves as a good starting point, but modifications may be required.

exclude.dir /dev
exclude.dir /proc
exclude.dir /.../tmp
exclude.dir /.../Cache
exclude.dir /.../cache
exclude.dir /.../.Trash
exclude.dir /bin
exclude.dir /lib
exclude /opt/.../*
exclude /.../core
exclude *.bak
exclude *.swp
exclude *.o
exclude ~*