StoragePoint 6.1 - Reference Guide

Unused BLOB Retention Settings

The Unused BLOB Retention is a setting on each profile that specifies how many days after being orphaned that a BLOB file should be retained. So instead of deleting the BLOB immediately after being orphaned, the Unused BLOB Cleanup Job will retain the BLOB for a specified number of days.

This setting is important for synchronizing the BLOB store around the backup/restore cycle. The Unused BLOB setting allows for restoring older backups of the content database without restoring backups of the file store. Backups of the content database as old as the retention setting can be safely restored without also restoring the file store. This setting is particularly important if the backup cycles of the content database and file store are not synchronized.

The Unused BLOB retention setting also allows for item level restore using other Metalogix products. In this case, the BLOB retention must be set to the maximum number of days in the past that deleted items can be restored. So, for example, if the retention is set to 180 days, then any SharePoint documents or list items deleted in the last 180 days could be safely restored.

In certain situations, sites may be deleted, but kept in an indefinite hold in a secondary recycle bin. SharePoint still marks this site as deleted, and therefore, the Unused BLOB Cleanup job may mark the BLOBs of that site for deletion, if the profile retention policy has been met. So even though the site is still within the restore window for the recycle bin, the BLOBs may not be. It is important to correlate these timeframes when configuring profiles and recycle bin retention policies. For more information, please contact Quest Support.

Job Execution Frequency

The Unused BLOB Cleanup Job should be run on a regular basis to keep the file store from becoming cluttered with orphaned BLOB files. When creating a new profile, it will default to weekly. However, how frequently it should run depends on several factors:

·How active is the SharePoint site? If the site has users performing lots of check-in/checkout activity or deletion of files, then the file store could see large numbers of orphaned BLOB files start to accumulate.

·How large are typical files in use on the site? If very large files are being manipulated or uploaded to the site, then the BLOB store could see a sizeable amount of space devoted to orphans. However, if the files are small, then this may not be a major concern.

·How big is the content database? If the content database has large numbers of documents, then the Unused BLOB Cleanup job make take several hours to run. This means that the job must be carefully scheduled around backup/restore and other maintenance windows.

·How many content databases are there in the farm? If there are a large number of content databases in the farm, then each will need its own Unused BLOB Cleanup Job scheduled. These need to be carefully scheduled to avoid overloading the WFE servers or database servers.

·How much “slack” space does the BLOB store have? If the BLOB store has plenty of room to expand (and then shrink once the cleanup job runs), then running the Unused BLOB Cleanup Job less frequently may be viable option. However, if space is tight, then the job may need to be scheduled to run more often.

Unused BLOB Cleanup

This job will remove BLOBs from the BLOB store(s) associated with the storage profile that are no longer referenced in SharePoint. It can be configured to run Daily or Weekly at a certain time. This job is scheduled by default when a profile is created. The job can also be run immediately by clicking Remove Unused BLOBs Now. Please refer to Unused BLOB Cleanup Job Considerations for more information.

·If Large File Support is enabled, the Unused BLOB Cleanup job scans all content for orphaned BLOBs. This can be disabled by selecting No in the first dropdown.

·If a Site Collection has recently been deleted, SharePoint doesn’t delete it until the Gradual Site Delete timer job has been run. The Unused BLOB Cleanup job may return errors until the deleted site collection is removed by SharePoint. It is recommended that the Gradual Site Delete timer job be run manually, after deleting a Site Collection.

·If the filter is used on a Manually Initiated Job (Remove Unused BLOBs Now), it will not be retained for scheduled jobs, unless the timer job is saved.

·Due to SQL limitations, adding a hierarchy scope eliminates the system cache from the scope of the timer job. To remedy this, run the job without a filter.

To configure the Unused BLOB Cleanup job:

1.Note the Timer Job Scope (at the top of the page) of the Storage Profile selected.

2.Select Yes or No for Include Large File Scanning. Yes will include the BLOBs and stubs created while using the Large File Upload in the scan for content to be removed. No (default) will ignore them.

3.(Optional) If Yes was selected for Include Large Files, click the Scan Only Large Files to only analyze Large File Uploads within the profile.

4.Select the Never, Daily, or Weekly on option.

5.For Weekly, select the day of the week from the supplied dropdown.

6.For Daily or Weekly, select the start window time from the between dropdowns and the end window time form the and dropdowns.

7.(Optional)  On the on Server dropdown list, select the WFE server to run the job on.

8.(Optional) Click the Show link next to Job Filter. Click Change to open the scope selection window. By default the entire scope of the profile is included. Select a scope from within the profile scope to narrow down the amount of data the timer job will have to process. Click Ok.

Use the Change link to modify a filter and the Clear link to remove a filter.

9.(Optional) On the Job Filter dropdown, select one, multiple, or all (default) endpoints.

10.(Optional)  Click the Show link next to the Advanced Job Settings to view notification settings.

11.Under the Send Completion Notice: header, select whether the email notification should go out Always, or Only when errors occur.

12.(Optional)  In the To section:

a.Check the Default Notifications Contacts box to have a completion email sent to the email address entered in General Settings. Note that for this feature to work, the Default Notification field on General Settings must contain a valid email address.

b.In the Additional Contacts box, enter a semi-colon delimited list of other email addresses that should receive the notification.

13.Click Save to save the configured job schedule.

14.(Optional)  Click Remove Unused BLOBs Now, to begin the timer job immediately.

The Unused BLOB Cleanup Job summary, found on the Job Status page, will provide details on what was removed, marked for future deletion, and what is still in use.

The Unused Blob Cleanup summary will reset the counts after each run and are not cumulative.

Unused BLOB Cleanup – Analyze & Estimate

To display an estimate of the number of BLOBs no longer in use and therefore ready to be removed:

1.Click Analyze and Estimate.

2.The estimates for all content databases covered by the scope of the profile will be displayed, showing how many BLOBs could be removed by running the timer job.

3.Click Back to return to the Timer Jobs screen.