http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/263737.htm

Although not the standard, some customers find a need to automate or otherwise schedule a User Archive type of backup job.

This article describes how to accomplish this on a Windows machine, however, for a UNIX system, the same process would be used except to use a shell script and cron job rather than a batch file and an "at" job.

First, add a User Archive schedule to an active policy through the NetBackup Administration console. Without an User Archive schedule configured in a policy, the archive from command line will not work. Make sure to configure a proper open backup window and retention period. If the archive goes to a different set of tapes or different storage unit, use the Override settings on the Attributes tab of the User Archive schedule to change these values.

Second, create a .bat file to execute through AT or a similar scheduling product. The batch file will contain the command line:

bparchive -p policy-name -s schedule-name -L c:\data\archive_results.txt -f c:\data\filelist.txt

The -p specifies the policy name. If this is not specified, the NetBackup server uses the first policy it finds that includes the client and a user archive schedule. The -s specifies the schedule name. If it is not specified, the NetBackup server uses the first user archive schedule it finds in the policy it is using.  -L specifies a log file. The -f specifies a list of files. Particular files can be specified in that list, including wildcards, as supported by the OS.

Example file list:

filelist.txt
-------------
c:\data\ftp
c:\data\test\*.*

With this file list, c:\data\ftp is archived to the specified storage unit, including all files and subdirectories under c:\data\ftp. Upon successful completion of the job, the c:\data\ftp directory is removed along with all files and subdirectories.

Using the wildcard of *.* the c:\data\test directory and all files and subdirectories are archived to the specified storage unit, however, upon successful completion, only the files and subdirectories of c:\data\test are deleted. The c:\data\test directory remains.

As alluded to earlier, this job must initiate from the command line and be scheduled by AT or a similar scheduling service for NT/2000. Even though the job is initiated from the command line, the archive job will show up in the Activity Log on the master server.

To restore archived files, open the Backup, Archive, and Restore GUI and use the Select for Restore pulldown to select Restore From Archived Backup...  
This will then show only a list of archive backup images.

For more information on User Archive type of backups, see the NetBackup System Administrator's Guide.