Old content still exists LiveUpdate Administrator distribution centers after purging

Products

• Endpoint Protection

Issue/Introduction

Old update files exist on LiveUpdate Administrator (LUA) distribution centers despite successful purge events. No errors or warnings are listed in the logs for the purge.

Environment

LUA 2.3.3

Cause

If the distribution center is not able to purge the files at the time of the scheduled purge for any reason, the files will remain. On versions previous to 2.3.4, the LUA server marks all files as successfully purged if any files are successfully purged.

Common reasons for content files to be left behind after a purge are:

• The files are part of more than one Product Version Language (PVL) and are still considered the latest content for one of their associated PVLs.
• The files are part of the most recent set of hub deltas for a product using Microdefinitions technology.
• The files were being accessed by clients at the time of the purge.
• The files were locked by another application at the time of the purge (commonly, this is by a copy tool, backup software, or search indexing).

Resolution

This problem is fixed in LiveUpdate Administrator (LUA) 2.3.4. For information on how to obtain the latest build of LUA, read Downloading LiveUpdate Administrator.

Note: If you experience this problem prior to migrating to LUA 2.3.4, you must manually clear the contents from the distribution center and recreate it before migration.

To work around, or manually resolve this problem before migration:

1. Log in to the LUA console.
2. Click Download & Distribute > Schedules.
3. For each distribution schedule associated with the affected distribution center:
   1. Select the distribution center and click Edit.
   2. Make note of the name, status, description, product, and schedule for each scheduled distribution and click OK.
   3. Select the distribution center and click Delete.
   4. Click Confirm Delete.
4. Click Configure > Distribution Centers.
5. Select the affected Distribution Center and click Edit.
6. Make note of the name, description, Locations, and Product List information for the distribution center, and click OK.
7. Select the affected Distribution Center and click Delete.
8. Click Confirm Delete.
9. Manually delete the contents of the distribution center from the file system.
10. On the LUA console, click Configure > Distribution Centers > Add.
11. Recreate the distribution center using the settings noted above.
12. Click Configure > Download & Distribute > Schedules > Add.
13. Recreate the distribution schedule using the settings noted above.

In many cases, "old" files are present by design.  Different product have different dependencies which mean that old contents still might be in use, based on how updates are published for those PVLs (Product Version Language ID's).  Additional information is available in the Connect Forum article Managing LiveUpdate Administrator 2.x Space Usage.

It is not recommended to manually delete "old" files from a LiveUpdate Administrator 2.x Distribution Center.  This may put the product's database out of synchronization.  Only after careful examination that files have not been requested for one month by any of the appropriate clients (SEP for Mac clients, when judging SEP for Mac files) would it be safe to delete them. Instructions for how to verify this can be found in the Connect Forum article Using IIS Logs to Check LiveUpdate Administrator 2.x Health.