Delete old tasks, events and statistics data in vCenter Server 5.x, 6.x, 7.x and 8.x

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 8.0
• VMware vCenter Server 7.0
• VMware vCenter Server 6.0
• VMware vCenter Server 5.0

Issue/Introduction

Managing the Tasks, Events and Statistics stored in vCenter Server database is a common responsibility of the VMware Administrator. This KB will use scripts to help with this operation and keep vCenter Server's database healthy.

Avoiding to do this can lead to other performance and instability problems of the vCenter Server and other components which depend on vCenter's operation.

Environment

• vCenter 6.x
• vCenter 7.x
• vCenter 8.x

Resolution

Reducing the historical data of tasks, events and statistics records by using a script for each type of database.

Important: Download the scripts for supported database types in the Attachments section on the right panel of this article. Use WinSCP or similar tools to transfer file in case of vCenter Server Appliance. (To enable WinSCP file transfer refer: Error when uploading files to vCenter Server Appliance using WinSCP)

These scripts work for vCenter 5.x, 6.x, 7.x and 8.x databases.

Process to reduce the historical data:

To reduce the data, perform these steps:

1. Stop the vCenter Server service
2. Back up the vCenter Server database
3. Run the script for the correct database

Stop the vCenter Server service

• If installed vCenter Server on a Windows machine:
  
  Stopping, starting, or restarting VMware vCenter Server 6.x or Higher
  
  
• If deployed the vCenter Server Appliance:
  
  Stopping, Starting or Restarting appliance services

Back up the vCenter Server database

• For MS SQL and Oracle databases, see database vendor's documentation.
• For information about backing up the embedded vPostgres database, see Backup and Restore options in vCenter Server 6.x/7.0.x - Overview

Understanding the scripts’ parameters

The scripts contain three main parameters:

•    TaskMaxAgeInDays

o    Deletes tasks older than the specified number of days

•    EventMaxAgeInDays

o    Deletes events older than the specified number of days

•    StatMaxAgeInDays

o    Deletes statistics older than the specified number of days

The possible values for all the parameters are:

•    -1 = Does not delete data. Ex. TaskMaxAgeInDays = -1, means that no task records will be deleted.
•    0 = Deletes all data. Ex. TaskMaxAgeInDays = 0, deletes all task records.
•    >1 = Deletes data older than the number entered. Ex. TaskMaxAgeInDays = 10, leaves the task records gathered within the last 10 days and deletes all the records gathered before that.

Run the script for the database

• vPostgres for Windows
• vPostgres for vCenter Appliance
• For Microsoft SQL Server
• For Oracle

vPostgres for Windows

a. Log in to the machine in which vCenter Server is running.
b. Download the  2110031_Postgres_task_event_stat script attached to this KB article.
Note: For vCenter 6.5 and later download 2110031_Postgres_task_event_stat_new.sql
c. Run the script by using psql and when prompted provide the vCenter Server user password.

C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vPostgres\bin\psql -U <vCenter Server database user> -v TaskMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -v EventMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -v StatMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -d database-name <DATABASE> -t -q -f download-path\2110031_PostgreSQL_task_event_stat.sql

For 6.5 and later:

C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vPostgres\bin\psql -U <vCenter Server database user> -v TaskMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -v EventMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -v StatMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -d database-name <DATABASE></DATABASE>-t -q -f download-path\2110031_PostgreSQL_task_event_stat_new.sql

Note: To find the database password locate the vcdb.properties file in the %VMWARE_CFG_DIR%\vmware-vpx\ folder and open the file using a text editor. In the vcdb.properties file, locate the password of the vc database user and record it.

vPostgres for vCenter Appliance

Run this command to execute the script:

/opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -v TaskMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -v EventMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -v StatMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -d VCDB -t -q -f <download-path>/2110031_Postgres_task_event_stat.sql

For 6.5 and 6.7:

/opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -v TaskMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -v EventMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -v StatMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -d VCDB -t -q -f <download-path>/2110031_Postgres_task_event_stat_new.sql

For 7.0 and later:

/opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -v TaskMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -v EventMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -v StatMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -d VCDB -t -q -f <download-path>/2110031_Postgres_task_event_stat_reset_event_sequence.sql
Note: After execution of the script event id sequence will be reset. Event ids for new events will start
from 1.     

Microsoft SQL Server

1. Log in to the Microsoft SQL Server machine as an administrator.
2. Download and save the 2110031_MS_SQL_task_event_stat script attached to this Knowledge Base article.
3. Open the command prompt and run the script:

sqlcmd -S <IP address or FQDN of the database machine>\<instance_name> -U <vCenter Server database user> -P <password> -d <database name> -v TaskMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -v EventMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -v StatMaxAgeInDays=<days to keep> -i <download-path>\2110031_MS_SQL_task_event_stat.sql

Oracle

1. Log in to the Oracle machine
2.  Download and save the 2110031_Oracle_task_event_stat script attached to this Knowledge Base article.
3. Log in to sqlplus with the vCenter Server database username and password:
   
   sqlplus <vCenter Server database user>/<password>
   
   
4. Run the script:
   
   @ <PATH></PATH>/2110031_Oracle_task_event_stat <days to keep tasks> <days to keep events> <days to keep stats>

Note: The order of the task, event and stat days is critical for the correct script execution.