Backup Files growing quickly in Size (4263315)

In the SMA there might be a concern over backup files growing quickly in size on versions 10.0 & 10.1.

The pattern observed is the INVENTORY table size increases drastically.

This situation is being investigated under ID K1-20843 and should be addressed in a future release. 

UPDATE: This has been fixed with the release of SMA 10.2. If you currently have this issue, follow the steps below, and upgrade as soon as possible after it's been remediated.

To address this issue do the following steps:

1. Run a Size report and check the size of INVENTORY.idb
2. Review Backup Size historically
3. Review Agent Inventory Check-in Rate
4. Clean up Database (workaround)

Run a Size report and check the size of INVENTORY.idb

Follow the How To - Size Report article for more details and search for INVENTORY.idb

Verify if INVENTORY.idb has an unusual size. This will be different for each System Management Appliance and sizes may vary.

NOTE: If this file is greater than 10Gb it can be considered as large.

Use the following details as examples when searching for INVENTORY.idb in a Size Report.

Files larger than 100Mb

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-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 9.5G Jan 6 02:21 /kbox/kbackup/20200104_k1_incr_10.0.290_20200106.tgz

-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 9.2G Dec 31 02:21 /kbox/kbackup/20191228_k1_incr_10.0.290_20191231.tgz

-rw------- 1 mysql mysql 8.8G Jan 6 11:30 /kbox/mysql/var/KBSYS/INVENTORY.ibd

Review Backup Sizes historically

Go to Settings | Control Panel | Backup Settings

Review if there is drastic change in Backup Sizes. Do this from the Onboard Backups list or Offboard Backups to confirm backup files growing in size.

Review Agent Inventory Check-in Rate

Go to Settings | Provisioning | Communication Settings

Recommend Best Practices for Performance ensuring the appliance has the right settings for an optimal performance. Especially Agent Inventory Interval, with the recommended standard of 12 hours.

Clean up Database (workaround)

After confirming Backups are growing quickly due to Inventory please suggest to schedule down time to clean up the Database to address bloated tables.

Go to Settings | Appliance Updates and click on “Reboot and Check Database”

NOTE: This is a work-around. It will reduce the size of the tables, but backups can grow again. To avoid faster growth, please ensure the inventory interval is set to the least aggressive rate necessary for your environment. A more permanent solution should be available in a future release.

The "Reboot and Check Database" option will reboot the SMA and proceed to review the Database and fix tables. This will take longer than a usual reboot.

Confirm Backup Size has reduced

KACE SMA Performance Considerations and Best Practices (234057)

How to Reboot or Shut Down (312916)

How To - Size Report (188861)