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Storage Management

Updated: 21 May 2010 | 7 comments
Jonathan L's picture
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This issue has been solved. See solution.

As I'm down to the last 50GB (7.5%) of storage space I'm going through a task to clean up data. I've added some addition global exclusions, and I've changed the values to keep snapshots for 15 days, deleted files for 90 days, and only keep 3 days worth of revision history of PST files. I then ran the Server Space Management task and it removed about 70GB from the database, increasing the free space to 120GB. This was yesterday. After the clients had run their usual backups over night and this morning I'm instantly back at 55GB free space.

I've therefore run a query from the Server Reports to find the accounts that are using the most space- the following is an example for one computer:

Computer Name User Name Cluster Name Real Space Used (MB) Compressed Space Used (MB) Common Space Used (MB) Unique Space Used (MB) Compression Ratio
COMPUTER USER SERVER 304091.37 24251.48 96800.32 207291.05 12.539085

However, when I run a client report on the files backed up by the client above I get the following result:

Name Login Name Extension Number of Files KBytes Mbytes
COMPUTER USER *.* 60342 46521452 45431.10547

This suggests the client is using about 45GB which, bearing in mind the user has an 80GB hard disk, is about right. The only revision history of files I can see causing so much unique space to be consumed is PSTs but obviously I've already changed the number of revisions to keep- this users PSTs total 12GB so that accounts for 36GB but what about the other 170GB unique space?

Is there a way to completely remove all revision history as a one-off job, so only the current version is stored- effectively creating a new starting point for revisions? Will this help?

Thanks and regards,

Jonathan

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Jonathan L's picture
26
Nov
2009
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Additional

As a note, I'm aware that the unique space shown is obviously not the same as the actual compressed space used. However, I'm just concerned why 65GB of the 70GB I thought I'd cleaned up, only in historical data, suddenly re-appeared overnight.

Jonathan L's picture
26
Nov
2009
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Jonathan L's picture
26
Nov
2009
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Delete job summaries from yesterday afternoon

These are the last couple of delete jobs from yesterday; I can't find the first report that was another 8GB or so.

Delete job summary for 'SERVER' Start time: 11/24/09 17:11:31 Stop time: 11/24/09 19:11:55 Disk space reclaimed (MBs): 54828 Status: Job completed. Computers affected: XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX

Recovery Solution Server space management job summary for 'SERVER' Start time: 11/24/09 19:42:53 Stop time: 11/24/09 21:08:56 Disk space reclaimed (MBs): 7042 Status: Job completed. Computers affected: XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX

KSchroeder's picture
30
Nov
2009
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What RS version?

Jonathan,
Maybe I missed it, but what RS version are you on?   If you're not on SP3 for 6.2 already, you may want to look at upgrading.  SSM was reworked in SP3 (and  hotfix #14/19 for SP2) to improve compaction and usage of sparse files.  Is the free space you're seeing actually on-disk, or what the Storage Management tab shows on the cluster properties?

Have you run the "largest filetypes" reports to see if particular filetypes are consuming a lot of space?  You may also want to verify that all your clients are actually getting the proper RS policy; we had some machines where somehow they RS Agent policies weren't being applied and the client was using the default RS exclusions/retention settings...I think this was due to a broken Altiris Agent.

Thanks,
Kyle
Symantec Trusted Advisor

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Jonathan L's picture
01
Dec
2009
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Hi Karl- sorry, should've

Hi Karl- sorry, should've said- version is 6.2 SP3.

The largest file report returns PSTs, then the usual CABs, DLLs and EXEs- gotta love windows installer cache... :(

I'll check the client policies- thanks for the pointer.

Regards,

Jon

Jonathan L's picture
08
Jan
2010
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Thanks Karl- it was an issue

Thanks Karl- it was an issue with the policies.

The RS server has two main policies:

1. Default Recovery Agent Settings

2. Default Agent Settings for Cluster (inherits from 1)

Both 1 and 2 had specific exclusions setup so I removed all explicit exclusions and retention policies from 2 and added everything in to 1. This seemed to resolve the conflict and over the xmas period the Server Space Mangement job removed 150GB of data.

Kevin Brainard's picture
24
Jan
2010
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Jonathan,   Can you share

Jonathan,

  Can you share with me what you did to specify only to retain 3 days worth of .pst files?