How can I delete the "BAD" folders in the Notification Server's Event Queues?

Products

• Management Platform (Formerly known as Notification Server)

Issue/Introduction

 

Resolution

Question
How can I remove the "Bad" folder from the Notification Server's event queues?

Important: Removing the "Bad" folders from the Notification Server's event queue folders before running the NSSetup or repairing the Notification Server from the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs could significantly reduce the amount of time the NSSetup takes to run.  All of the files in the event queue's Bad folders are addressed in the NSSetup process, but these file are not needed for the Notification to function. They are only used for troubleshooting. Having many files (multiple thousands) in the "Bad" folders will cause Notification Server Performance issues.  If you have a lot of files (multiple thousands) in the "Bad" folders and their sub folders, NSSetup process may take many hours to completed.  Some long duration examples are NSSetup taking over 24 hours to complete.

You can and probably should remove the "Bad" folders from the event folders even after the NSSetup is started. Removing the "Bad" folders will not adversely affect the NSSetup process even after it has been started.

Answer
Remove the "Bad" folders from the event queues using a Command window (DOS) rather than using the Windows Explorer. The folders and file are deleted faster with less user interaction when deleted from a Command window.

** IMPORTANT: Make sure that you don't run the "RD /s /q" at the root of the drive without a folder path or it will remove all the subdirectories and files on the drive. **

1. Open a Command Window. Click Start > Run.  Enter "CMD" and click "OK".
2. In the Command window, enter C: \  and press Enter to get to the root of the C drive (or the root of the drive your Notification Server is install on).
3. Enter "RD" (or "RMDIR" for Remove Directory) and a space. DON'T Press Enter yet!
4. In Windows Explorer, browse to the "Bad" folder under one of the event queue folders to be removed and drag it into the Command window after the "RD ".
   
   The command should now look something like:
   
   c:\rd "C:\Program Files\Altiris\Notification Server\NSCap\EvtQFast\Bad"

• To have the remove directory command remove all sub folders and file add the /s option after the "RD ".
• To have the remove directory command run without any prompts, add the /q option after the "RD ".

** IMPORTANT: Make sure that you don't run the "RD /s /q" at the root of the drive without a folder path or it will remove all the subdirectories and files on the drive. **

For the command to remove the folder, sub folders and files and run with out prompts, is should look like :

c:\rd /s q "C:\Program Files\Altiris\Notification Server\NSCap\EvtQFast\Bad"

You should run a similar command on each of the event-based folders in C:\Program Files\Altiris\Notification Server\NSCap\ that contain a Bad folder.