Backup files are smaller in size after ACS 5.2 upgrade to ACS 5.3

[vciric]

After ACS upgrade from 5.2 to 5.3 we have noticed that backup files are significantly smaller in size. For example before the upgrade they were:

285633099 2011-10-23 22:01 Meduza-ACS-111023-2200.tar.gpg

285809254 2011-10-24 22:01 Meduza-ACS-111024-2200.tar.gpg

And after upgrade:

124234429 2011-10-25 22:00 Meduza-ACS-111025-2200.tar.gpg

124234425 2011-10-26 22:00 Meduza-ACS-111026-2200.tar.gpg

What could cause this behavior?

How we can be sure if backup files have been regular after the upgrade?

[jrabinow]

There is no "more aggressive behavior" in terms of the backup

I think can find more details on this in following CDETS which was included in ACS 5.2 patch 6

CSCto47203: ACS 5 runs out of disk space

Issue was that a purge of M&T data would only happen if a backup of the data had been previously performed. If no backup of the data had been performed the database could go endlesly and would not purge.

This is now changed to that when hits a high water mark a purge will always happen irrespective of whether there was a previous backup. This change is in 5.3 as well

[vciric]

Thanks for your reply.

So, this is regular behavior of ACS 5.3?

[jrabinow]

Do your backups include configuration data only or also M&T data?

[vciric]

The issue is concerning only scheduled ACS configuration data backup.

There is no change in backup file size of view database after the ACS upgrade to 5.3

[jrabinow · Accepted solution]

So what I wrote is true but does not apply in your case

I think there were also some fixes made that reduce the size of the transactions table. Trnasaction records relate to records related to config changes and manage notification of these changes to secondaries and run time components. Transactions are stored in the config database but do not contain configuration data.

In 5.2 they were not cleaned well and this is improved in 5.3.

Can't find all related CDETS at the moment but here is an example;

CSCth78269 ACSTRANSACTIONS table is not cleaned properly during bulk operations 

As you can see before the upgrade your backup file size was growing and after the upgrade size is constant

I think you should be good. Only way to confirm 100% is by restoring the data