How to re-create faillog and lastlog so that backup software sees a smaller file?

Issue

• Is it possible to re-create the sparse files /var/log/faillog and /var/log/lastlog, so that the size may go down.

• Many backup applications don't treat sparse files as it is, and copy it as normal files onto the destination.

• For example, IBM TSM treat sparse files as normal files while copying.

• In cases were the nfsnobody ID is a high value, the sparse files /var/log/lastlog and /var/log/faillog can appear to be very large, when listed using 'ls -l'.

NOTE : ls -s should show the actual size since it prints the output according to the blocks used.