UBI Documentation

Compression Options

The TSM client is able to compress files before sending them to the server.  This may reduce the amount of data stored on the server for your nodes.  If your network connection is slow, it may also reduce the length of your backup session.

Enabling Compression

Compression can be enabled in the GUI as follows:

  1. Make sure to run the GUI as an administrative user, or you may not have the permissions required to modify the options file.
  2. Select “Client Preferences” in the “Edit” menu.
  3. Select the “Backup” tab.
  4. Check the “Compress objects” checkbox.
  5. Click the “OK” button.

Alternatively, you can edit your options file manually, using a text editor.  Your options file is located in your TSM client install directory.  On Windows, edit the file “dsm.opt”.  On other operating systems, edit the file “dsm.sys”. Add the following line:

COMPRESSION YES

 

IBM Documentation: Compression

 

Incompressible objects and COMPRESSALWAYS

There are some files which TSM will not be able to efficiently compress.  In particular, files which are encrypted or which have already been compressed are not easily compressible. When TSM attempts to compress these files, the resulting file may be larger than the original.  By default, TSM will always use the resulting file, even if it is larger.  This may cause your backups to be larger than is necessary.  This behavior is controlled by the COMPRESSALWAYS option.

COMPRESSALWAYS can be disabled in the GUI as follows:

  1. Make sure to run the GUI as an administrative user, or you may not have the permissions required to modify the options file.
  2. Select “Client Preferences” in the “Edit” menu.
  3. Select the “Backup” tab.
  4. UNCHECK the “Continue compressing if object grows” checkbox.
  5. Click the “OK” button.

Alternatively, you can edit your options file manually, using a text editor.  Add the following line:

COMPRESSALWAYS NO

 

IBM Documentation: Compressalways

 

Exclusion from Compression

If you have a large amount of data which you do not expect to be easily compressible, you may wish to exclude it from compression entirely.  This will prevent your client from wasting time attempting to compress these files only to have the resulting file be larger.  You can disable compression for individual files or patterns using EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION statements.

In the GUI, this is done as follows:

  1. Make sure to run the GUI as an administrative user, or you may not have the permissions required to modify the options file.
  2. Select “Client Preferences” in the “Edit” menu.
  3. Select the “Include-Exclude” tab.
  4. Click the “Add…” button.
  5. Select a Category (Backup or Archive).
  6. Select a Type of “Exclude.Compression”.
  7. Browse for a file, or enter a pattern (see below).
  8. Click the “OK” button.

Alternatively, you can edit your options file manually, using a text editor.  Your options file is located in your TSM client install directory.  On Windows, edit the file “dsm.opt”.  On other operating systems, edit the file “dsm.sys”. Add lines following this pattern:

EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION [PATTERN]

Where [PATTERN] is a path to a file, or a pattern (see below).

Using Patterns

The following wildcards are available:

  • Any Operating System:
    • ?  – Any single character other than “” or “/”.
    • *  – Zero or more characters other than “” or “/”.
  • Windows
    • ?:  – Any drive letter.
    • …  – Zero or more directories.
  • Linux / Unix / OSX
    • /…/  – Zero or more directories.

Examples

On Windows, to disable compression for some common incompressible file types:

EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION ?:...*.zip
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION ?:...*.rar
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION ?:...*.7z
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION ?:...*.docx
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION ?:...*.xlsx
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION ?:...*.pptx
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION ?:...*.vsdx
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION ?:...*.jpg
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION ?:...*.jpeg
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION ?:...*.png
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION ?:...*.gif
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION ?:...*.mp3
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION ?:...*.iso
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION ?:...*.jar
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION ?:...*.cab

On Linux, to disable compression for some common incompressible file types:

EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.zip
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.rar
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.7z
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.gz
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.tgz
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.bz2
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.lzma
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.Z
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.odt
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.ods
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.odp
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.odg
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.jpg
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.jpeg
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.png
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.gif
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.mp3
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.iso
EXCLUDE.COMPRESSION /.../*.jar

IBM Documentation: Controlling compression processing

IBM Documentation: Include and exclude groups of files with wildcard characters

 

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