Thanks, but will not help as I want to eventually build a dynamic local directive to solve the problem about not being able to use wild cards to skip directories in a server side directive.

Usually, for server side initiated backup use server side directives. Nevertheless, if save finds .nsr it should parse it and use it.

Full path.....

There is nothing wrong with that. .nsr is your friend then. The reason it might be broken might be related to its content. Can you paste .nsr you use?

Full description from EMC powerlink case

Snippet from local directive file. /prd/ydadb232 is the test file system.
<< /prd/ydadb231 >>
+skip: * .*
<< /prd/ydadb232 >>
+skip: * .*

From client
save -s j0xsas91.mn.nwa.com -vvvvv -f /nsr/res/j0xrus07_directive -g prd22j -b CDLBackup /prd/ydadb232
.
.
save: got prototype for /prd/ydadb232/
.
.
chdir(/prd/ydadb232)
Name=`/prd/ydadb232/', name=`/prd/ydadb232/', fname=`./'
save: found protofile spec for /:
mntasm : xfn
save: found protofile spec for /prd/:
mntasm : ydadb232
save: found protofile spec for /prd/ydadb232/:
+ skip : * .*
walk(/prd/ydadb232/, ./)
`/prd/ydadb232/' change time Tue Aug 4 21:51:37 2009
matched internal `skip' on `.' for `/prd/ydadb232/'

save: /prd/ydadb232 0 KB 00:01:15 0 files

On Networker server
Client Backup Command: save: got prototype for /prd/ydadb232/

savegrp -vvvvv -c j0xrus07.mn.nwa.com prd22j
32451:savegrp: j0xrus07.mn.nwa.com:/prd/ydadb232 level=1
7235:savegrp: Group will run up to 15 jobs in parallel
32493:savegrp: j0xrus07.mn.nwa.com:probe started
savefs -s j0xsas91-bu.mn.nwa.com -c j0xrus07.mn.nwa.com -g prd22j -p -l full -R -v -F /prd/ydadb232
j0xrus07.mn.nwa.com:/prd/ydadb232 level=1, dn=0, mx=1, vers=pools, p=12
savegrp:prd22j * j0xrus07.mn.nwa.com:Probe See the file /nsr/tmp/sg/prd22j/sso.j0xrus07.mn.nwa.com.MraWbg for output of the job.
7340:savegrp: j0xrus07.mn.nwa.com:probe succeeded.
32494:savegrp: j0xrus07.mn.nwa.com:/prd/ydadb232 started
save -f /nsr/res/j0xrus07_directive -vvvvv -s j0xsas91-bu.mn.nwa.com -g prd22j -LL -f - -m j0xrus07.mn.nwa.com -t 1254854285 -l 1 -W 78 -N /prd/ydadb232 /prd/ydadb232

On the client (j0xrus07), save command appears as
ps -eaf|grep save
root 946266 729100 0 19:05:32 pts/2 0:00 grep save
root 3166436 475244 10 19:05:06 - 0:01 /usr/bin/save -f /nsr/res/j0xrus07_directive -vvvvv -s j0xsas91-bu.mn.nwa.com -g prd22j -LL -f - -m j0xrus07.mn.nwa.com -t 1254854285 -l 1 -W 78 -N /prd/ydadb232 /prd/ydadb232

In the /nsr/res/tmp/prd22j/sso.j0xrus07.mn.nwa.com.lqaOJj file.

save: Saving files modified since Tue Oct 6 18:38:05 2009.
chdir(/prd/ydadb232)
Name=`/prd/ydadb232/', name=`/prd/ydadb232/', fname=`./'
save: found protofile spec for /:
mntasm : xfn
save: found protofile spec for /prd/:
mntasm : ydadb232
walk(/prd/ydadb232/, ./)
`/prd/ydadb232/' change time Tue Aug 4 21:51:37 2009
uasm: /prd/ydadb232/ change time not new enough: Tue Aug 4 21:51:37 2009
walk(/prd/ydadb232/lost+found, lost+found)
`/prd/ydadb232/lost+found/' change time Thu Jul 30 13:44:49 2009
chdir(lost+found/) [/prd/ydadb232/lost+found/ /prd/ydadb232/lost+found>
uasm: /prd/ydadb232/lost+found/ change time not new enough: Thu Jul 30 13:44:49 2009
uasm: /prd/ydadb232/lost+found/ change time not new enough: Thu Jul 30 13:44:49 2009
walk(/prd/ydadb232/.syscode, .syscode)
`/prd/ydadb232/.syscode' change time Thu Jul 30 13:59:40 2009
uasm: /prd/ydadb232/.syscode change time not new enough: Thu Jul 30 13:59:40 2009
walk(/prd/ydadb232/.FT_RESPONSE_TEST, .FT_RESPONSE_TEST)
`/prd/ydadb232/.FT_RESPONSE_TEST/' change time Mon Oct 12 17:32:05 2009
chdir(.FT_RESPONSE_TEST/) [/prd/ydadb232/.FT_RESPONSE_TEST/ /prd/ydadb232/.FT_RESPONSE_TEST>
uasm -s /prd/ydadb232/.FT_RESPONSE_TEST/
save: directory contents for /prd/ydadb232/.FT_RESPONSE_TEST/:
`..' fileid= 2
/prd/ydadb232/.FT_RESPONSE_TEST/: fid = <440005, 32>
walk(/prd/ydadb232/udbyda1p, udbyda1p)
`/prd/ydadb232/udbyda1p/' change time Mon Oct 12 18:16:07 2009
chdir(udbyda1p/) [/prd/ydadb232/udbyda1p/ /prd/ydadb232/udbyda1p>
walk(/prd/ydadb232/udbyda1p/dyda1p, dyda1p)
`/prd/ydadb232/udbyda1p/dyda1p/' change time Tue Aug 4 21:51:37 2009




Does not use the local directive specified by -f option on the save command.

Do not want to use a .nsr file. The directive I have is good and it is read and used when I run the save/savepnpc command manually on the client.

save -f local_directive -b tapepool -g group /prd/ydadb232
chdir(/prd/ydadb232)
Name=`/prd/ydadb232/', name=`/prd/ydadb232/', fname=`./'
save: found protofile spec for /:
mntasm : xfn
save: found protofile spec for /prd/:
mntasm : ydadb232
save: found protofile spec for /prd/ydadb232/:
+ skip : * .*
walk(/prd/ydadb232/, ./)
`/prd/ydadb232/' change time Tue Aug 4 21:51:37 2009
matched internal `skip' on `.' for `/prd/ydadb232/'

save: /prd/ydadb232 0 KB 00:01:15 0 files



When the save command is initiated from savegrp, the -f directive is never read. I have proved this by looking in the /nsr/tmp/sg/group directory for the output of the save command.

For reference though.....

cat local_directive
.
.
<< /prd/ydadb232 >>
+skip: * .*

I assume you used -f local_directive in backup command, right? Did you use it with full path to local directive file?

I did a quick test on several possible scenarios (the one like yours, the one with nsr* name of input file and the one where it is it inside NSR_HOME/bin), but none of them yield any results. Question now is only if EMC will accept that as bug and will it claim this is RFE. I believe it should be seen as bug because normally scheduled backup from server checks for .nsr and if you have opportunity to use something else (like central repository where you dynamically specify what to skip) that should work. But I also assume this is rarely used by NW community as same dynamic list can be achieved by server side directive (which is always preferable) and perhaps engineering will take a stand that when scheduled they only support .nsr. Good luck with your case.

Thanks. I hope they address it as a bug since it is a documented feature.