How can I purge the EventSentry database to remove old data, or data that is not of interest?

Article ID: 183
Category: Database
Applies to: All Versions
Updated: 2018-11-08

You can remove data from the EventSentry database in two ways: Through the web reports with the maintenance wizard, or through the command-line utility es_db_purge.exe using the 'sa', 'root', or 'postgres' account and password.

1. Database Maintenance Wizard
The database maintenance wizard is available through the web reports, and can be accessed through the MAINTENANCE menu. The wizard allows you to delete data from selected features (e.g. delete only performance data) or selected computers, as well as delete data that is older than a given amount of days.

You can also delete data from specific features that is older than a set amount of days, and optionally further restrict this to a given computer. Please see below for some examples of what can be accomplished:

  • Remove all event log data that is older than 180 days
  • Remove all file access tracking data from a given computer
  • Remove all performance data that is older than 360 days from a given computer.

Please see the documentation for more information.

2. Database Purge Utility (es_db_purge.exe)
The database purge utility is a command-line utility that can remove data from that is older than a given amount of days. The advantage of the purge utility is that it can be scheduled to run automatically - either through the application scheduler or through another scheduling mechanism like the Task Scheduler.

While the purge utility can be restricted to only purge data from a specific feature, it is generally less flexible than the Database Maintenance Wizard (e.g., it cannot be narrowed down to remove only data from a given computer).

Please see the documentation for more information.