Overview

Universal Controller maintains a record of all system activity, including:

The Data Backup / Purge feature allows you to configure automatic backups and/or purges of some or all of the Controller activity data. Depending on your organization's needs, you should schedule regular data backups. Depending on the volume of your installation, the amount of data in your Controller database could become unwieldy if you do not schedule regular purges of old data.

The data is written to XML files in the directory you specify.

Note

For instructions on how to purge user-created Controller records, see Purging Old Versions of Records.

Purge Rules for Task Instances

The following rules apply for the purging of task instances.

Task Instance Status

A task instance (including a workflow task instance) can be purged only if it is in a status greater than 99:

110 (In Doubt)
120 (Start Failure)
125 (Confirmation Required)
130 (Cancelled)
140 (Failed)
180 (Skipped)
190 (Finished)
200 (Success)

A task instance within a workflow cannot be purged until its workflow task instance has been purged.

A workflow task instance cannot be purged if one or more of its task instances is in a status other than Skipped, Finished, or Success, because that will cause the workflow to be in a status which will not qualify it to be purged (for example: Running, Running/Problems), and therefore none of the task instances within the workflow will qualify for purge.

Purging by Retention Duration

If Purge By Retention Duration has been specified for a trigger or a task, and the Purge By Retention Duration checkbox has been selected in the Data Backup / Purge Details, all task instances launched by the trigger or task are eligible to be purged from the database as soon as the retention duration time specified in the trigger or task has been met.

When a purge is run, any task instances eligible to be purged by retention duration will be purged regardless of the Days Older Than value specified in the Purge Details.

Note

The Trigger Level (Purge By Retention Duration) feature is used for selectively purging instances earlier than the System Level (Days Older Than) purge and not intended for retaining instances longer than the System Level purge. The System Level purge will not take into consideration the Retention Duration and, therefore, setting a trigger Retention Duration longer than the configured System Level purge will not retain those instances longer.

Creating a Data Backup / Purge Record

Step 1	From the Administration navigation pane, select Configuration > Data Backup / Purge. The Data Backup / Purge list displays. To the right of the list, Details for a new Data Backup / Purge record displays.
Step 2	Enter / select Details for a new Data Backup / Purge record, using the field descriptions below as a guide. Required fields display an asterisk ( * ) after the field name. Default values for fields, if available, display automatically. To display more of the Details fields on the screen, you can either: Use the scroll bar. Temporarily hide the list above the Details. Click the button above the list to display a pop-up version of the Details.
Step 3	If you want the backup / purge to run automatically, enable the Schedule field and specify how often and what time it should run. Otherwise, you can run it manually.
Step 4	Click a button to save the record. The record is added to the database, and all buttons and tabs in the Data Backup / Purge Details are enabled.

Note

To open an existing record on the list, either:

Click a record in the list to display its record Details below the list. (To clear record Details below the list, click the button that displays above and below the Details.)
Clicking the Details icon next to a record name in the list, or right-click a record in the list and then click Open in the Action menu that displays, to display a pop-up version of the record Details.
Right-click a record in the a list, or open a record and right-click in the record Details, and then click Open In Tab in the Action menu that displays, to display the record Details under a new tab on the record list page (see Record Details as Tabs).

Data Backup / Purge Details

The following Data Backup / Purge Details is for an existing Data Backup / Purge record.

Depending on the values that you enter / select for these fields, more (or less) fields may display. See the field descriptions, below, for a description of all fields that may display in the Data Backup / Purge Details.

For information on how to access additional details - such as Metadata and complete database Details - for Data Backup / Purge records (or any type of record), see Records.

Data Backup / Purge Details Field Descriptions

The following table describes the fields, buttons, and tabs that display in the Data Backup / Purge Details.

Field Name	Description
Details	This section contains detailed information about the record.
Name	Name of this backup specification.
Description	Description of this record. Maximum length is 255 characters.
Table	Specifies which records you want to back up and/or purge: Audit Activity History
Days Older Than	Allows you to specify the minimum number of days you wish to retain data. The process will run according to the schedule you specify, only processing data that is older than the number of days you specify in this field.
Backup	If enabled, the process will write all the selected data to XML files.
Export Path	If Backup is enabled, specifies the path to the directory to which you want the backed up data written. The data must be backed up to a location on the server's file system. It is written to a separate XML file for each record type, as shown in the following examples: Note If no path is specified, the system default path (opswise_backups under the Tomcat directory) is used, unless an alternate path is specified in the Universal Controller system property Data Backup/Purge Export Path. If a path is specified but does not exist as an "absolute" path, it will be assumed to be a "relative" path from Tomcat home.
Purge	If enabled, the process will purge the selected data from your Universal Controller database.
Purge By Retention Duration	Specification for whether task instances qualifying to be purged by retention duration should be purged.
Schedule	If enabled, displays additional fields that allow you to specify an automated backup and/or purge schedule. If you do not select schedule, you must manually run the backup / purge process.
Next Scheduled Time	System-supplied; If Data Backup/Purge is enabled; the next scheduled time the that backup / purge process will run, based on the specifications in your schedule.
Every # Days	If Schedule is enabled, specifies the frequency (in number of days) of the backup / purge process. Default is 1.
Time	If Schedule is enabled, specifies the time of the backup / purge. Use 24:00 hour time. Note When enabling a Data Backup / Purge, or updating the Time for an enabled Data Backup / Purge, the backup / purge process will be scheduled for the specified Time on the current day if the current time is on or before the specified Time. Otherwise, the backup / purge process will be scheduled for the specified Time on the next day.
System Notification	Specification for whether or not to receive system notifications for Data Backup / Purge operations. Options are: --None -- Operation Failure Operation Success/Failure Operation Success Note In order to receive system notifications, you must provide an email address in the Administrator Email Address system property and select the Use for System Notifications field on an Email Connection.
Metadata	This section contains Metadata information about this record.
UUID	Universally Unique Identifier of this record.
Updated By	Name of the user that last updated this record.
Updated	Date and time that this record was last updated.
Created By	Name of the user that created this record.
Created	Date and time that this record was created.
Buttons	This section identifies the buttons displayed above and below the Data Backup / Purge Details that let you perform various actions.
Save	Saves a new record in the Controller database.
Save & New	Saves a new Data Backup/Purge record in the Controller database and redisplays empty Details so that you can create another Data Backup/Purge record.
Save & View	Saves a new Data Backup/Purge record in the Controller database and continues to display that record.
New	Displays empty (except for default values) Details for creating a new record.
Update	Saves updates to the record.
Enable	Enables these Backup / Purge instructions so that they will be processed by the Controller.
Disable	Disables these backup / purge instructions so they will not be processed by the Controller.
Run	Manually runs the backup / purge instructions.
Terminate	Terminates a running Data Backup/Purge operation.
Delete	Deletes the current record.
Refresh	Refreshes any dynamic data displayed in the Details.
Close	For pop-up view only; closes the pop-up view of this record.
Tabs	This section identifies the tabs across the top of the Data Backup / Purge Details that provide access to additional information about the record.
Audits	Lists audits created for all scheduled runs of this data backup / purge operation.

Running a Data Backup / Purge Manually

If you want to manually run a data backup or purge, either:

On the Backups list, right-click the Name of the Data Backup / Purge that you want to run and click Run.
Display the Details of the Data Backup / Purge that you want to run and click the Run button.

Importing Backed Up / Purged Data into the Controller

If you want to import any of the XML files created by a Data Backup / Purge, you can copy the XML file(s) into the bulk export output path and run bulk import. See Running an Import.

Returning Virtual Resources for Purged Task Instances in Failure Status

Task instances that have their Hold Resources on Failure field enabled will hold their renewable virtual resources if the task instance is in Failed status.

However, when these task instances are purged, the virtual resources are returned.

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