Configuring log retention (purging) for your Vidispine API service in Vidinet
Applies to
The following how-two article describes en Vidispine API environment where the size database needs to be managed by automatically purging.
update - previous Vidispine did not have a configuration table / or had one without values - confirm
this article is generally about how to control the database logs in size by time values.
Problem description
Your Vidispine API instance in Vidinet logs transactional events into four different log streams: Auditlog, Joblog, Transferlog, and Changelog. These log streams will be purged automatically in the Vidispine API instances created after 25 October 2018, but not before this date. Because of this, a database can (if not) properly managed - grow to an unnecessarily large size.
Summary
This how-to article will describe how to configure the number of log entries using time units not only in Vidispine API instances created before 25 Oct 2018 but also how to customize the default values in Vidispine instances created after 25 Oct 2018.
The requirements for this how-to article is:
a verified installation of Vidispine API / Vidinet.
experience in managing and configuring the Vidispine API service in Vidinet using tools like for example POSTMAN and XML
Table of contents
Log values in Vidispine API service in Vidinet
The following log purging values are used by default for Vidispine instances in Vidinet:
Log Name | Description | Default purge time (minutes) |
Audit Log | Logs all user interactions with Vidispine | 43200 |
Job Log | Logs all Vidispine jobs | 43200 |
Transfer Log | Logs all file movements in and out of storages | 1440 |
Change Log | Logs changes to items, collections et cetera, only used in multisite scenarios | 1440 (age and forceage) |
Configuring and updating the Vidispine API instance.
You can view the applied configuration for your Vidispine API instance on https://<yourAPIurl>/API/configuration/purging. By default, purged log entries will be sent to devnull (by setting directory to <value>empty:/</value>)
Vidispine API instances created before 25 October 2018.
Update your configuration accordingly. The Vidispine recommended default values above is a good start.
Vidispine API instances created after 25 October 2018.
Update your configuration accordingly. Adjust any Default purge time (minutes) in order to force an earlier or later purging of the Vidispine database.
Vidispine API instances created prior to 25 October 2018 has not been configured for log purging, meaning that the log will grow indefinitely. In order to keep your database size on reasonable levels, we recommend configuring database purging according to the above table. Detailed instructions on how to do this can be found here.
Instead of deleting old log entries you can configure offloading logs to an S3 bucket, read more here: