Exporting and deleting archived data


You can manage your production system efficiently by periodically extracting archive data (for example, archive data that is more than 5 years old). Using this feature, you can efficiently manage the production system and optimally utilize the available infrastructure and resources. You can reduce the database size by periodically extracting archived data.

Exporting and deleting archived data is not done frequently. You should do it at least a couple of times every year to save database disk space and to meet your retention policy requirements. To manage the size of archive forms that become large over time as they continue to accumulate archived records, you can export the forms, save them to a different location, and delete them from the disk. 

After the data is archived, you can permanently remove a specific range of archive data from your system. Exporting and deleting old archive data is to be carried out to align with your data retention and records management life cycle policies.

Important

In a server group environment, the export and delete operation runs on the server on which the entry was created. However, if the Mid Tier is connected to a load balancer, then the create entry operation could be sent to any of the servers in the group that are behind the load balancer.  If you need the export and delete operation to run on a specific server in the group, then you must specify the server before you create an entry into the AR System Archived Data Management form.

You can perform the following actions to export and delete archived data:

  • For SaaS subscribers, export the archived data to an SFTP server and delete the archived data.
  • For on-premises subscribers, move the older archived data from the archive forms to a set of .csv files in the AR System db folder. A separate .csv file is created for each archive form. You can then delete the older archived data.

Archive data management operations

You can export data only in CSV format. The following operations are available:

  • Export and Delete—Copies the archived data, which is the same age or older than the Age in Days value to a set of .csv files and then deletes the exported data from the archive form for all policies. This option is available for on-premises subscribers only.
  • Export—Copies archived data, which is equal to or older than the Age in Days value to the .csv files, but leaves the data on the archive form. This option is available for on-premises subscribers only.
  • Delete—Deletes archived data, which is equal to or older than the Age in Days value from the archive forms. This option is available for SaaS and on-premises subscribers.
  • Export to SFTP and Delete—Exports files to a Secured File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) location and deletes the data from the archived form. This option is available for SaaS and on-premises subscribers.
    Before using the Export SFTP option, make sure that the following parameters in the Centralized Configuration are set:

 

Best practices for exporting and deleting archived data

  • Do not perform the export operation during peak hours or while doing upgrades. Although you can cancel an archiving run after it starts, you cannot cancel an export operation. 
  • Exporting and deleting archive data is an asynchronous operation. To trigger the operation, the AR System Archive Manager console creates an entry in the AR System Archived Data Management back end system form. The workflow defined on this form, hands off the job to an internal plug-in that runs in the background. 
  • In a server group environment, the export and delete operation runs on the server on which the operation was created. However, if the mid tier is connected to a load balancer, the job could be sent to any of the servers in the group that are behind the load balancer. 
  • If you need the export and delete operation to run on a specific server in the group, you must point the mid tier directly to that server before you start the operation.

To export archive data

  1. Log on to the Mid Tier.
  2. Open AR System Administration > AR System Archive Manager Console.
    The following image shows the AR System Archive Manager Console: 
    The AR System Archive Manager console
  3. From the Operation list, select one of the following options:
    • Export and Delete
    • Export
    • Delete
    • Export to SFTP and Delete
  4. In the Age in Days field in the System Archive Export section, enter the age of the archive.
  5. Click Export.
    The Export function creates a directory under the following path and writes the exported files to that directory: <ARInstallationDirectory>/ARServer/Db
    ​​​​​
    The data is lost if the pod restarts.

    The Export Successfully message is displayed when the export job is successfully submitted to the Archived Data Management form. You can monitor the Status of the archive job by opening the Archive Data Management form. 

Result

When the export is complete, the Result field displays the directory containing the exported archive having the <AGGAA5V0HGXU0ANJECBEAAAFI4HFYR> format. If the operation fails, the Result field displays an error message with information about why it failed. You can see detailed error logs in the arextension.log file located in the ARInstallationDirectory/ARServer/Db directory.

The following image shows the archived data on an SFTP location:

SFTP-Results.png

 

 

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