By default, CodeGuard excludes many types of files that can unnecessarily take up space in our customers' backups. Below we have listed the patterns we use to exclude these files. If you would like to remove or add an exclusion rule for your website, please contact support.

Note: In the patterns below, asterisks (*) are used to represent wildcard characters.

Cache files

Cache files are temporary files that are generated dynamically to reduce bandwidth usage and server load. They help speed up your website, but they can also unnecessarily take up space in your backups. Because cache files are temporary and can be regenerated as needed, we exclude many types of cache files from your backups.

*/cache/Gantry*/*-cache-Gantry-*
*/cache/com_content/*
*/cache/docid_?*.pageCache.*
*/cache/jw_sig/jwsig_cache_*
*/cache/jw_sigpro/jwsigpro_cache_*
*/cache/sigplus/*
*/cache/smarty/cache/*
*/cache/smarty/compile/*
*/cache/t3_assets/*
*/cache/t3_pages/*
*/cache/timthumb_ext_*
*/cache/timthumb_int_*
*/cache/zend_cache*
*/captcha/cache/?*.php
*/fv-gravatar-cache/*
*/plugins/db-cache-reloaded-fix/cache/*
​*/public_html/templates_c/%%*
*/scripts/cache/*
*/smarty_v2/compile/*.tpl.php
*/system/cache/cache.product.*
*/var/tmp/*
*/var/session/*
*/vgmod/vgcache/*
*/web/content/administrator/cache/*
*/web/content/cache/*
*/web/content/libraries/joomla/cache/*
*/wp-content/plugins/wp-file-cache/*.cache
*/wp-content/uploads/headway/cache/*
*cache/com_k2/*
*cachefs/*
*dbcache/*
*gt-cache/*
*lightspeed/*
*minifycache/minify_*
*objectcache/*
*var/cache*
*var/compiled/*
*var/full_page_cache/mage*
*w3tc/*
*wp-content/cache/*
​​

Log files

Log files can be a useful tool for debugging when things go wrong, but they are not needed to restore a website. To reduce the size of backups, we exclude the following types of log files from your backups.

*access-logs/*
*awstats/*
*error_log*
*webalizer/*
*/.cpanel-logs
*/access-logs/*
*/logs/access_log*
*/logs/tasklog*
*/webalizerftp/*
*/web/content/logs/*

OS-specific files

Operating systems often create files to keep track of OS-specific metadata that are not necessary to restore your website. We exclude these files to reduce the size of your backups.

*/__MACOSX/*
*/dev/.udev/*
*proc/*
/sys/*

Other temporary files

In addition to excluding log, OS, and cache files, CodeGuard also excludes other temporary files as well. These are files that are only used for a short period of time or that are generated dynamically by your server.

*.lock
*.thumb
*/public_html/temporary/%%*
*/session/sess_*
*/uploads/gravity_forms/captcha-*
*/web/content/tmp/*
*/www/temporary/%%*
*wpcf7_captcha/*

Backup files

In order to avoid duplication and avoid potential conflicts, we do not back up directories created by other backup solutions.
*.lock
*wp-content/infinitewp/backups/*
*backup-db/*

CodeGuard test restore file

During a test restore, CodeGuard stores a temporary file to your server. We do this to ensure that we will be able to read from and write to your server in case we need to perform an actual restore. After the test restore, we remove the file. We exclude this file from your backups because it is not a part of your website.

*/codeguard_temporary_test_restore_file.html

Mandatory exclusions

CodeGuard relies on the Git revision control system for much of our differential backup logic. We exclude certain Git files that can cause issues with our backup processes. The content of Git repositories will still be backed up.

*.git*