> db's. With this new client the SQL DB files were being treated as if
> they were flatfiles 

What does this mean? "as if they were flatfiles"

> and were getting backed as a such which 
> increased the amount of time and space to backup. I opened up a 
> ticket with EMC and they confirmed that Networker 7.6.2 to 7.6.4 
> have a bug which is causing the issue and is currently being looked 
> into. In the mean time they offered 3 options. Use 7.6.1, use 
> directives to exclude the SQL DB files 

We have always excluded SQL DBs and logs(the .MDF and .LDF file) from a 
filesystem backup, because those files are held open by the SQL process. 
So the only way to get a valid backup of a SQL MDF file is to either use 
the special SQL Module (which requires a separate license), or have the 
SQL server create flat file copies of the MDFs (a .BAK file, usually), and 
you backup that file, instead - this does not require an extra license.

I'm on NW 7.6.2, but we've done the above method for over 5 years, with no 
issues. My backups don't fail, and my recovers of databases (either as a 
flat file .BAK, or a .MDF using the SQL Module) work.

What are you recommending to do that is different from the procedure I 
describe above? What part am I misunderstanding?