Archiving or deleting checkpoints

To reduce clutter and free up disk space, you might need to archive or delete old checkpoints periodically. The number of checkpoints that are stored to disk especially adds up when automatic delta checkpoints are enabled and checkpoint depth is high. The product automatically deletes delta checkpoints when the number of checkpoints reaches the checkpoint depth. If you want to preserve delta checkpoints, you must archive checkpoints before they are automatically deleted.

Before you begin

You have full or delta checkpoints stored to file system locations and want to archive checkpoints to save the configurations or delete checkpoints that you no longer need.

About this task

The product does not have an automated function for archiving. However, you can easily archive checkpoints as needed by moving checkpoint directories to a separate disk or location.

Two locations in the product installation hold information for configuration repository checkpoints:

Profile cell_name/repository/checkpoints subdirectories hold checkpoint metadata

Checkpoint metadata is located under the relative path cell_name/repository/checkpoints of the profile configuration directory. The default path for the configuration root is profile_root/config so the typical location is profile_root/config/cells/cell_name/repository/checkpoints.

Profile /checkpoints subdirectories hold checkpoint contents

The contents of checkpoints are located, by default, under the profile_root/checkpoints directory.

These locations contain subdirectories, one for each checkpoint. Subdirectories for full checkpoints have the user-specified checkpoint name. Delta checkpoint subdirectories are named Delta-sequence_number, where the sequence numbers increase with time of creation. Older delta checkpoints have smaller sequence numbers and newer delta checkpoints have larger sequence numbers.

You must archive both the checkpoint metadata and content directories to store a checkpoint for later restoration. Similarly, you must delete both the checkpoint metadata and content directories to delete a checkpoint.

You can delete checkpoints using the Delete option on the administrative console Repository checkpoints page. To access the page, click System administration > Extended repository service > Repository checkpoints.

You can also use the wsadmin deleteCheckpoint command to delete checkpoints. See the topic about the RepositoryCheckpointCommands command group for the AdminTask object.

• Archive full checkpoints.

  Because full checkpoints are self-contained, you can archive them in any order. To archive a full checkpoint, copy or move the metadata and content directories for the full checkpoint to an archive location.

• Delete full checkpoints.

  You can delete full checkpoints in any order, if you need to delete checkpoints to free up disk space. To delete a full checkpoint, delete the metadata and content directories for the full checkpoint.

• Archive delta checkpoints.

  You must archive the oldest delta checkpoint first and work forward to newer delta checkpoints. Archive the delta checkpoint with the lowest number first, that is the oldest checkpoint, and then archive the next oldest checkpoints in sequence.

  To archive delta checkpoints, copy or move both the metadata and content directories for the oldest delta checkpoint to an archive location. Then, repeat for the next oldest checkpoint. Alternatively, you can create an archive file, such as a compressed tar or zip file, from the checkpoint directories and then delete the checkpoint directories.

• Delete delta checkpoints.

  You must delete the oldest delta checkpoint first, that is the delta checkpoint with the lowest number. Then, delete the next oldest delta checkpoint, and so on until you delete all the checkpoints that you no longer need.

What to do next

When recovering a delta checkpoint from an archive location, start with the most recently archived delta checkpoint. Move or unzip the checkpoint directories back to their original locations. To use delta checkpoints for recovering changes or for tracking changes, you need an unbroken chain of delta checkpoints. Do not lose any archived checkpoints and only recover them in the reverse order in which they were archived.