Hi,
If you have specified directives from both server and client side then the directive on the server side will be enforced and the directive from client side will not work. If you want to skip the /nsr/tmp directory you can create a local directive on the client. For that you need to create a file .nsr and place it in /nsr on UNIX system or a file nsr.dir on windows system. The content of the file should be what you want to skip.

so far my knowledge goes this is the case. always global directives are enforced over local directives.
Order of precedence of global and local directives
If there is a conflict between directives, global directives are enforced over local
directives. And on Windows hosts, NetWorker User program local directives are
enforced over local directive files (nsr.dir files).

So say if I have a server side directive through networker. Even if there is nothing in that directive excluding the /nsr/tmp directory, the client side directive that excludes that directory wouldn't be enforced?

Not sure about that, can you paste the contents of the global directive.

That makes sense, however, why would the /nsr/tmp directory not get excluded even if it is in the global directive?

/nsr/tmp does have by default skip directive. Here is example done on Solaris using 7.4SP3.

[root@hcrvelin]/nsr/tmp# cat .nsr
skip: * .?*
[root@hcrvelin]/nsr/tmp#

[root@hcrvelin]/nsr/tmp# nsrinfo hcrvelin | grep tmp
[root@hcrvelin]/nsr/tmp#

[root@hcrvelin]/nsr/tmp# cp /etc/hosts .
[root@hcrvelin]/nsr/tmp# ls -ltr hosts
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root other 2910 Oct 3 21:39 hosts
[root@hcrvelin]/nsr/tmp# save -v /nsr/tmp
3817:save: Using hcrvelin as server
-2:save: save: got prototype for /
-2:save: save: got prototype for /dev/
-2:save: save: got prototype for /var/
-2:save: save: got prototype for /
-2:save: save: got prototype for /
-2:save: save: got prototype for /
-2:save: save: got prototype for /
-2:save: save: got prototype for /
-2:save: save: got prototype for /
-2:save: save: got prototype for /
chdir(/nsr/tmp)
Name=`/nsr/tmp/', name=`/nsr/tmp/', fname=`./'
32240:save: found protofile spec for /:
mntasm : vol
66135:save: NSR directive file (/nsr/tmp/.nsr) parsed
walk(/nsr/tmp/, ./)
walk(/nsr/tmp/sec, sec)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `sec' for `/nsr/tmp/sec'
walk(/nsr/tmp/product.res.lck, product.res.lck)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `product.res.lck' for `/nsr/tmp/product.res.lck'
walk(/nsr/tmp/nsrladb.lck, nsrladb.lck)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `nsrladb.lck' for `/nsr/tmp/nsrladb.lck'
walk(/nsr/tmp/nsrdb.lck, nsrdb.lck)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `nsrdb.lck' for `/nsr/tmp/nsrdb.lck'
walk(/nsr/tmp/.nsr, .nsr)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `.nsr' for `/nsr/tmp/.nsr'
walk(/nsr/tmp/res.lck, res.lck)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `res.lck' for `/nsr/tmp/res.lck'
walk(/nsr/tmp/ofd256, ofd256)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `ofd256' for `/nsr/tmp/ofd256'
walk(/nsr/tmp/mondlck.16659, mondlck.16659)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `mondlck.16659' for `/nsr/tmp/mondlck.16659'
walk(/nsr/tmp/nsrmmdbd.lck, nsrmmdbd.lck)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `nsrmmdbd.lck' for `/nsr/tmp/nsrmmdbd.lck'
walk(/nsr/tmp/mmdb_ofd256, mmdb_ofd256)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `mmdb_ofd256' for `/nsr/tmp/mmdb_ofd256'
walk(/nsr/tmp/general.lck, general.lck)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `general.lck' for `/nsr/tmp/general.lck'
walk(/nsr/tmp/indication.lck, indication.lck)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `indication.lck' for `/nsr/tmp/indication.lck'
walk(/nsr/tmp/savejobs.lck, savejobs.lck)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `savejobs.lck' for `/nsr/tmp/savejobs.lck'
walk(/nsr/tmp/ssninfo.lck, ssninfo.lck)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `ssninfo.lck' for `/nsr/tmp/ssninfo.lck'
walk(/nsr/tmp/sd_products.res.lck, sd_products.res.lck)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `sd_products.res.lck' for `/nsr/tmp/sd_products.res.lck'
walk(/nsr/tmp/.nsrim, .nsrim)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `.nsrim' for `/nsr/tmp/.nsrim'
walk(/nsr/tmp/nsrcpd.lck, nsrcpd.lck)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `nsrcpd.lck' for `/nsr/tmp/nsrcpd.lck'
walk(/nsr/tmp/cpdb.lck, cpdb.lck)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `cpdb.lck' for `/nsr/tmp/cpdb.lck'
walk(/nsr/tmp/sg, sg)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `sg' for `/nsr/tmp/sg'
walk(/nsr/tmp/hosts, hosts)
32246:save: matched internal `skip' on `hosts' for `/nsr/tmp/hosts'
uasm -s /nsr/tmp/
6679:save: Connecting directories...
32240:save: found protofile spec for /:
mntasm : vol
uasm -s /nsr/
32240:save: found protofile spec for /:
mntasm : vol
32246:save: matched internal `mntasm' on `proc' for `/'
32246:save: matched internal `mntasm' on `tmp' for `/'
32246:save: matched internal `mntasm' on `net' for `/'
32246:save: matched internal `mntasm' on `home' for `/'
32246:save: matched internal `mntasm' on `xfn' for `/'
32246:save: matched internal `mntasm' on `vol' for `/'
32246:save: matched internal `mntasm' on `oracle' for `/'
32246:save: matched internal `mntasm' on `appl' for `/'
uasm -s /

save: /nsr/tmp 3 KB 00:00:11 3 files
[root@hcrvelin]/nsr/tmp#

[root@hcrvelin]/nsr/tmp# nsrinfo hcrvelin | grep tmp
/nsr/tmp/, date=1223062811 Fri Oct 03 21:40:11 2008
[root@hcrvelin]/nsr/tmp#

So, content of /nsr/tmp does not get saved (but subfolder would as default directive is such)

<<"C:\Program Files\Legato\nsr\tmp">>
+skip: *
<<"C:\Program Files\Meditech\Print\CS Print Spool\">>
+skip: *
<>
+skip: *.dat
+skip: *qlk
+skip: *.log
+skip: *.log.*
+skip: *.lck
+skip: *1948
+skip: *.tmp
+skip: *.lon
+skip: *.shd
+skip: *.xdb
+skip: *\mondlck.*
+skip: *.lp3
+skip: *.itl
+skip:*.wdb
+skip: *.edb
+skip: *.iad
+skip: *.mdf
+skip: *.iex
+skip: *.ldf
+skip: *.ndf
+skip: *.sdb
+skip: *.ct*
+skip: *.dbf
+skip: *.lock
+skip: *.stm
+skip: *.old
+skip: *.shm
+skip: *.stf
+skip: *.pid
+skip: *\1728
+skip: C:\Program Files\ZipTie Server\birronixtm*
+skip: *.manager
+skip:*.instance
+skip: F:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Symantec\Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition\7.5\vd2a5e02.wdb
+skip: *.cab
+skip: *_NSR
+skip: *.chk
+skip: *.fil
+skip: *lock
< >
+skip: *

The problem ended up being that the directive was too long