diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1870d6f..f4f5714 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,3 +3,6 @@ build
 datadb.egg-info
 dist
 test.ini
+datadb.key
+*__pycache__*
+
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5aa804c..1b3b97c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -86,6 +86,13 @@ Restore operations have a degree of sanity checking. Upon a successful restore,
 
 Command line usage is agnostic to the underlying transport protocol used.
 
+### Testing
+
+The following environment variables can be used to ease testing:
+
+* DATADB_CONF=./example.ini
+* DATADB_KEYPATH=./datadb.key
+
 ## TODO
 
 * Fix hard coded stuff mentioned above
diff --git a/datadb/__init__.py b/datadb/__init__.py
index 3b93d0b..27fdca4 100755
--- a/datadb/__init__.py
+++ b/datadb/__init__.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "0.0.2"
+__version__ = "0.0.3"
diff --git a/datadb/datadb.py b/datadb/datadb.py
index e79662e..7d2ffef 100755
--- a/datadb/datadb.py
+++ b/datadb/datadb.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from enum import Enum
 import subprocess
 from requests import get,put,head
 
-SSH_KEY_PATH = '/root/.ssh/datadb.key'
+SSH_KEY_PATH = environ["DATADB_KEYPATH"] if "DATADB_KEYPATH" in environ else '/root/.ssh/datadb.key'
 RSYNC_DEFAULT_ARGS = ['rsync', '-avzr', '--exclude=.datadb.lock', '--whole-file', '--one-file-system', '--delete', '-e', 'ssh -i {} -p 4874 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no'.format(SSH_KEY_PATH)]
 DATADB_HTTP_API = 'http://datadb.services.davepedu.com:4875/cgi-bin/'
 
@@ -93,6 +93,12 @@ def backup(profile, conf, force=False):
     if dest.scheme == 'rsync':
         args = RSYNC_DEFAULT_ARGS[:]
         
+        # Excluded paths
+        for exclude_path in conf["exclude"].split(","):
+            if not exclude_path == "":
+                args.append("--exclude")
+                args.append(exclude_path)
+        
         # Add local dir
         args.append(normpath(conf["dir"])+'/')
         
@@ -114,7 +120,15 @@ def backup(profile, conf, force=False):
         # CD to local source dir
         # create tarball
         # http PUT file to backup server
-        args_tar = ['tar', '--exclude=.datadb.lock', '-zcv', './']
+        args_tar = ['tar', '--exclude=.datadb.lock']
+        
+        # Excluded paths
+        for exclude_path in conf["exclude"].split(","):
+            if not exclude_path == "":
+                args_tar.append("--exclude")
+                args_tar.append(exclude_path)
+
+        args_tar += ['-zcv', './']
         args_curl = ['curl', '-v', '-XPUT', '--data-binary', '@-', '{}new_backup?proto=archive&name={}&keep={}'.format(DATADB_HTTP_API, profile, conf["keep"])]
         
         print("Tar backup call: {} | {}".format(' '.join(args_tar), ' '.join(args_curl)))
@@ -164,6 +178,7 @@ def main():
     restore_postexec=
     export_preexec=
     export_postexec=
+    exclude=
     ----------------------------
     
     Each [section] defines one backup task.
@@ -193,6 +208,8 @@ def main():
     
     *export_postexec*: Shell command to exec after pushing data
     
+    *exclude*: if the underlying transport method supports excluding paths, a comma separated list of paths to exclude. Applies to backup operations only.
+    
     """
     
     conf_path = environ["DATADB_CONF"] if "DATADB_CONF" in environ else "/etc/datadb.ini"
diff --git a/example.ini b/example.ini
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a484d9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example.ini
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+[testing_rsync]
+uri=rsync://datadb.services.davepedu.com/testing_rsync
+dir=/Users/dave/Downloads/rtest/src
+keep=1
+auth=
+restore_preexec=
+restore_postexec=
+export_preexec=
+export_postexec=
+exclude=c,d
+
+[testing_archive]
+uri=archive://datadb.services.davepedu.com/testing_archive
+dir=/Users/dave/Downloads/rtest/src
+keep=1
+auth=
+restore_preexec=
+restore_postexec=
+export_preexec=
+export_postexec=
+exclude=c,d