Purge policy

Purging outdated data injected by CI pipelines results in better performance, while retaining essential data. The purging policy instructs ALM Octane to purge each pipeline's runs after a specific number of days or runs.

Overview

You can set a purging policy that retains either a set number of pipeline runs, or all pipeline runs in a set number of days.

The purging policy applies to all space pipelines. You can also set a specific policy for a particular pipeline.

Purging affects the following historical pipeline data:

  • Pipeline runs

  • Automated test runs coming from pipeline runs

  • Builds

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Enable purging

Purging is disabled by default. The site admin can enable purging using the following parameters:

Parameter Description
PR_PURGE_DISABLE Enables or disables purging.
PR_PURGE_STATE_TYPE

Sets the purging policy as one of the following:

  • None: Suspends both automatic and manual purging for the site (default) or shared space.

  • Automatic: Purges the pipeline runs based on the policy indicated in the PURGE_ STRATEGY_TYPE site parameter.

  • Manual: Allows a manual purge of the pipeline runs.

You can set this for the entire site or for a specific shared space. If you create a new shared space, it will inherit the value of the site.

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Set up a run purge policy

The site/space admin can set the default purge policy for the site/space using the parameters in the table below.

At the space level, as an alternative to the parameters list, you can set the purge policy in a form. In the space, select More Settings > Purging.

Purge policy parameters

Parameter Description
PR_PURGE_STRATEGY_TYPE The purging strategy: days_to_keep or runs_to_keep.
PR_PURGE_NUM_DAYS_TO_KEEP For the days_to_keep strategy type, the number of days to keep the runs.
PR_PURGE_NUM_RUNS_TO_KEEP For the runs_to_keep strategy type, the number of runs to keep from each pipeline.

For details on setting configuration parameters, see Configuration parameters.

Note: You can override the space's global purge policy for a specific pipeline. For details, see Create and configure pipelines.

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Run a manual purge

To clean up pipeline runs, you can trigger a manual purge.

To run a manual purge:

  1. In the Spaces area, select a space.
  2. Select More Settings > Purging.
  3. Click Purge. You can continue working while the purge is processed.

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See also: