How to Exclude Files from Backups
Valid for versions 82 through the latest version
Version: 82
Last modified: April 17, 2023
Overview
You can exclude files or directories from backups in two ways:
- Exclude items from all users’ backups (Global Exclude)
- Exclude items from a specific user’s backups (Local Exclude)
Both global and local exclude files apply to:
- Backups generated in WHM (WHM » Home » Backup)
- The Download a Full Website Backup feature in cPanel (cPanel » Home » Files » Backup)
Important Notes:
- Home Directory backups created in cPanel ignore exclude files.
- Backups created using
/scripts/pkgacctalso ignore exclude files. - Exclude files only apply to content inside a user’s home directory.
Global Exclude File
To exclude files or directories from backups for all users, add the paths to:
/etc/cpbackup-exclude.confThis file excludes paths relative to the directory from which the backup script runs.
Default global exclusions include:
*/.wysiwygPro_*
*/core.[0-9]
.MirrorSearch
.cpan
.cpanel/caches
.cpanel/datastore
.cpcpan
.sqmailattach
access-logs
public_ftp/.ftpquota
Local Exclude File
To exclude files or directories from a specific user’s backups, add the paths (relative to the user’s home directory) to:
/home/username/cpbackup-exclude.confIf the file does not exist, create it:
touch /home/username/cpbackup-exclude.confNotes:
- Paths must be relative to the user’s home directory.
- If you specify a directory, all files inside it will be excluded.
- Do not include leading or trailing slashes or periods.
Example
To exclude the directory /home/username/example/ and the file /home/username/dir/example.php, your exclude file should contain:
example
dir/example.php
Conclusion
Using global and local exclude files gives you precise control over what gets included in user backups. This is especially useful for excluding cache files, logs, temporary data, or large directories that do not need to be backed up.