The Archive Clean-up Wizard is used to remove unnecessary versions of archived files from the database, thereby clearing space. Removed versions are deleted from the database, but the version number and associated notes are retained in archive for the purposes of record keeping. The Archive Clean-up can be run manually from the FactoryTalk AssetCentre Client, or it can be scripted to run automatically (e.g., as a Windows Task.)
Launching FactoryTalk AssetCentre
In this section you will launch the FactoryTalk AssetCentre Client, if it’s not already open.
1. From the Start menu select Programs → Rockwell Software → FactoryTalk AssetCentre Client → FactoryTalk AssetCentre Client. You can also double-click the FactoryTalk AssetCentre Client icon on the desktop:
After a few seconds, you should see a software interface that looks similar to this:
Create Archive Clean-up Configuration File
To create a configuration file for use with the manual or scripted utility, the Archive Clean-up Wizard must be run from the FactoryTalk AssetCentre client.
1. Open Tools → Archive Clean-up Wizard
2. Click Next
3. The wizard will provide general information on the archive. Click Next.
4. The wizard will now prompt for the files that will be cleaned up as part of this operation.
5. Browse through the asset tree to AssetCentre → Files → Studio 5000 → Projects → Batch_CLX.ACD and click Add to list
6. Click Next
7. In the Keep field, enter the number 10, and select today’s date in the right-most date field.
This will configure the clean-up utility to remove all but the 10 most recent versions.
Note: Selecting the Advanced option allows the user to specify settings for each file in the configuration.
The user may select from date range, as seen here, or version range (e.g., versions 2-20.)
8. Click Next
9. Click Save Configuration
10. Navigate to C:\Lab Files\Archive Clean-up and save the configuration as Cleanup.
11. Click Save.
12. Click Cancel.
Note: To run the utility manually, simply click the Start button here. In the next section, the configuration file will be used as part of the scripted utility, so the utility will not be run manually at this point.
13. Open C:\Lab Files using the shortcut on the desktop.
14. Open the Archive Clean-up
15. Right-click on the newly created Cleanup.xml and select Edit.
16. Locate the <END DATE> section. Remove today’s date and replace it with NOW.
Note: Using now allows the configuration file to be used multiple times without being constrained to a particular date range. Now can also be used in conjunction with -# to indicate a certain number of days ago.
For instance, now -10 indicates 10 days ago. An example of this could be used to say keep 0 versions that are more than 10 days old.
17. Save the changes and exit out of Notepad.
Configure Clean-up Utility Login Information
When run outside of the FactoryTalk AssetCentre client, the Archive Clean-up Utility makes use of stored credentials. This section will show how to configure those credentials.
1. If it’s not already open, open C:\Lab Files using the shortcut on the desktop.
2. Open the Archive Clean-up folder.
3. Double-click Configure_Security.bat
Note: The Configure_Security batch file has been created for use with this lab to simplify the typing needs.
To launch the security configuration screen, the archive clean-up utility’s executable file (located in the AssetCentre Server\bin directory) must be launched with the /c command.
4. The security configuration screen will appear. Enter Username of ‘labuser’ and a Password of ‘rockwell’
Click the Test button to ensure that the credentials are entered correctly.
5. Click OK to continue, which will close the dialog and complete the security configuration.
Run the Archive Clean-up Utility
This section of the lab will use the scripted Archive Clean-up utility and the configuration file created in previous sections to clean up the AssetCentre archive.
1. Double-click the Launch_Utility.bat file.
Note: The Launch_Utility batch file has been created for use with this lab to simplify the typing needs. To launch the utility normally, the archive clean-up utility’s executable file (located in the AssetCentre Server\bin directory) must be launched with a reference to the configuration file. For example:
RA.FTAC.ArchiveCleanUp.exe "C:\Lab Files\Archive Clean-up\Cleanup.xml"
2. A command prompt window will be displayed as the utility completes (approximately 15 seconds.)
3. When the command prompt window disappears, the utility has completed.
View Archive Clean-up Utility Results
1. Open the Logs tab and select Event Log
2. Use the Message filter to search for messages containing Archive
3. Double-click the paper clip icon in the top entry and click view
4. The log file will indicate all changes made. Notice that the first version of the file was kept, but all other versions were removed. The archive clean-up utility can remove any version except the first and last version of a file.
5. Scroll to the end of the log and notice that the final 11 versions were not deleted. The configuration file specified that 10 versions should be kept, and since the utility cannot delete the first or last version of a file, those two versions are not counted toward the total number to be kept.
6. Close the log file and attachment dialog.
7. Browse in the Asset Tree to AssetCentre → Files → Studio 5000 → Projects → Batch_CLX.ACD and open the Archive tab.
Note: While the versions have been removed from the database, thereby freeing up hard drive space, the version information in the FactoryTalk AssetCentre archive remain for future reference.