18.3.1 Tuning Delete Log Purging

Before purging the delete log database, you need to be very aware of the end users you are serving. If your end users are using Communications Express, the default parameter settings should be adequate. If , however, they are using client user interfaces that store a local copy of the events and tasks, such as the Connector for Microsoft Outlook, or the Sync Tool, then you must adjust the settings of the automatic purge configuration parameters to fit their needs. Typically, they need the delete log to include up to 30 days or more of entries. This will cause the size of the delete log to increase dramatically. A failure to make this adjustment could cause problems with the database. The purge interval should also be adjusted to fit the needs of the users. For instance, there might not be a point in running purge every minute when your Delete log database is holding 30 days of data before it will be allowed to be purged. Things will age out daily, though, so a daily purge would be reasonable.

Similar problems can occur running cspurge manually. If too much is removed from the Delete log, it can cause users of the Connector for Microsoft Outlook and the Sync Tool to get out of sync with the server database.

Waiting too long to purge the Delete log database can cause the files to grow very large. Then, when a giant purge occurs, daily transaction logs grow greatly, reflecting the fact that each item purged is a transaction recorded in those logs and then archived to the archive and hot backups. These large anomalies in the transaction logs can make it appear as if there is a system problem and cause time to be lost figuring out what happened.