Condense is a built-in system job and therefore does not require creating it.
Condense jobs are scheduled to run automatically by default, but you may also run them manually.
In the main web interface view, go to Job Monitor in the sidebar.
Hover over the Condense job record. Two buttons will appear on the right end of the record. Click to start a new instance of the job. A Run Job prompt dialog will appear.
Select Yes to run the Condense job. The job will run immediately.
Open the Catalog tab from the Function Tab bar, and in the Catalog Operations section, click Condense.
In the task panel, click Run Condense Job or Run and Monitor Condense Job. The Catalog Condense job runs. If you select Monitor, you can monitor the job while it runs.
You may also open the Condense menu and select Run [Ctrl+R] or Run and Monitor [Ctrl+M].
You will be prompted with warning messages, including the following:
Tip. For more actions, select . A drop-down menu will appear, with options such as Hold All Instances, Release, Run instance log collection and Run job log collection.
Click Yes. The Condense job will start. If you have selected Run and Monitor, you can go to the Monitor Jobs tab to see the job’s progress.
Note. The Condense job is an operation to reduce the size of the Catalog by eliminating unneeded information such as expired backup jobs. It is essential for the proper functioning of the DPX and must be executed regularly.
Whenever you back up data, you increase the size of the Catalog resources used to protect data. A large Catalog with many expired backups consumes unnecessary storage space on the master server and is time-consuming to back up.
Every backup job has a retention period that defines the number of days a backup image is kept in the Catalog. Every backup job has a tape retention period that defines the number of days a backup image is kept on a media volume and in the Catalog. This period is initially set to a default value, such as 90 days, but you can change it later.
See also. To extend the retention period of Catalog jobs, see Job Functions: Managing Catalog Expiration Cycles in the DPX 4.9.x User’s Guide. Some functions described therein are only available through the desktop interface.
When you condense the Catalog, Catalog data for backups that have passed their retention period are removed from the Catalog, freeing space on the master server. At the same time, storage used for Block backups is freed up. For tapes, when all backups on a tape have passed their retention dates, the tape status is changed to free and the tape becomes available for re-use.
Important. Condense is the primary Catalog maintenance operation. Perform it every day. Condense provides the following important functions:
Identify media volumes where all jobs have passed their retention period. The Condense operation marks such volumes as free for reuse and frees backup storage to save space.
Reduce the size of the Catalog.
Remove expired snapshots of Catalogic DPX from the NetApp storage systems or Catalogic DPX Open Storage Service.
During the Condense operation, DPX checks the Catalog to identify backups that have exceeded their retention time. If the retention period specified in the backup definition has passed, DPX evaluates the associated Catalog records and frees up those resources. The Condense operation does the following:
Sets tape media VOLSERS to empty and moves them to their designated media pools as needed.
Deletes on-disk data for block-level backups.
Purges file history and other metadata from the Catalog, freeing up space.
Cleans up metadata on Block backup clients related to change journal tracking.
The Condense operation checks for resources that can be freed and coordinates the necessary actions to free them. This action only occurs during Condense operations.
You can recycle expired media volumes back to an alternate pool when a Catalog Condense operation is performed. For more information, see the Alternate Tape Pools > Recycle Expired Tape section in Adding a Media Pool in the DPX 4.9.x Reference Guide. Alternatively, you can drag and drop media volumes from one media pool to another compatible media pool. See Moving Media Volumes in the DPX 4.9.x Reference Guide.
It is strongly recommended to condense the Catalog every day. Do this after the Catalog backup completes, and schedule the condense for a time when there is relatively low backup activity.
Tip. Ensure adequate free space on the master server. For very large Enterprises, the Catalog Condense function can require as much as 2.5 GB of free space on the partition where DPX is installed.
Running the Condense operation regularly is an important maintenance function. You can use the Schedule feature to schedule the Condense operation to occur at an off time and on a regular basis.
Open the Catalog tab from the Function Tab bar, and in the Catalog Operations section, click Condense.
Click Schedule Condense Job in the task panel to open the Job Schedule dialog box.
The dialog box contains three tabs:
Use the Schedule tab to define the dates and times for running this job.
Use the Exceptions tab to list any exceptions to the schedule of this job.
Use the Preview tab to view all jobs, as scheduled for a specified future date.
Select the Schedule tab. A schedule definition for a job may include several job schedule elements, as defined for a variety of repeating intervals.
Edit the job schedule:
Click New.
In the Edit Schedule dialog, select a frequency. The recommended frequency is Daily, preferably at a time when the Catalogic DPX master server is not running backup jobs or has a lighter load of backup processing.
Fill in the relevant details. The following table shows the fields for Daily:
Click Apply. The new job schedule element appears in the Schedule Description list at the top of the window.
To define additional requirements for this schedule, click New, then repeat this part of the process.
To exclude any prescheduled runs of this job, select the Exceptions tab. Add exclusion description items one by one:
Select the Skip Run if Holiday check box to not run a scheduled job on a holiday. See Configuring Holidays in the Reference Guide.
In the New Exception Box, use the display calendar to select a date to exclude. In the display calendar, dates that appear in red identify run dates scheduled for this particular job.
To exclude certain job elements scheduled for that date, click Select one or more entries to exclude, then select the desired jobs from the entries listed in the box. To exclude all job elements scheduled for a selected date, click Exclude whole day.
Click Apply. The exclusion description item is added to the Schedule Description list.
To define additional exceptions for this job, click New, then repeat this part of the process.
Click OK. Remember to resave the job definition.
| Frequency | Field | Definition |
|---|---|---|
Daily
Run at [Time]
Enter the start time for this job.
On [Date]
Select the start date for this job from the display calendar.
Repeat every [Days]
Indicate how often to repeat this job. For example, select 3 to run the job every three days.
End Date
This field is optional. To enable this field, select the check box, then select and end date for this job from the display calendar.
