How to adjust the purge interval for the vRealize Automation postgres database ebs_event table

Products

• VMware Aria Suite

Issue/Introduction

In some cases, the ebs_event table in the vRealize Automation postgres database can grow quickly enough that it can fill the filesystem causing an outage. This article outlines how to adjust the purge interval for records in this table to prevent this from occurring.

This can be caused by a large number of event broker subscriptions being executed in a relatively short period of time.

• The default interval for retention of the events is 90 days.
• The default time for executing the event purge is 1 a.m. every day.

Note: Both of these values are adjustable.

Environment

VMware vRealize Automation 7.6.x

Resolution

1. ssh to the vRA VA.
2. Open the file /etc/vcac/vcac.properties

Notice the new entries added there:

# Configure the scheduled job for purging event logs.

# data.purge.eventlog.cron=0 0 1 * * ?

# Configure the retention period of the event logs in days.
# Setting this property will override settings done via the event log API.

# data.eventlog.retentionPeriod=90

# Configure a collection of event target types which will be ignored and not persisted.
# Setting this property will override settings done via the event log API.

# data.eventlog.blacklistedTargetypes=

Notice that the default retention period for events is 90 days. The purge job will run at 1:00 a.m. by default and events of all target types will be persisted. There is an option to blacklist some event target types to keep them from being persisted in the database.

3. Change the property values to match the environment needs.
4. Restart vcac-service /etc/init.d/vcac-service restart.

The procedure will have to be done for all vRA VA nodes of an HA environment.