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<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Maintaining the PDQ Deploy Database |
PDQ Deploy stores all of its data—schedules, package configurations, target lists, preference settings, credentials, deployment history, etc.—in an SQLite database file. The PDQ Deploy database is essential to the program function; therefore, it is recommended that you perform the following regular maintenance procedures to ensure optimal database performance:
•Location of the PDQ Deploy Database
•Backing Up the PDQ Deploy Database
•Cleaning Up Deployment History
PDQ Deploy stores its database locally (on the PDQ Deploy console computer) in %ProgramData%\Admin Arsenal\PDQ Deploy.
NOTE: %ProgramData%, which was introduced in Windows Vista and used in subsequent Operating Systems (Windows 7, 8.x, 10, etc), is a special Windows folder designed to hold application-wide (that is, not user-specific) data. By default, Windows marks this folder as hidden so you won't see it when using Windows Explorer. Its default location is %SYSTEMDRIVE%\ProgramData. If you are running PDQ Deploy on Windows XP or 2003 (no longer supported), the default location is %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data.
If your console performance is lagging during large deployments, you may consider moving the PDQ Deploy database to a faster disk. For information on this procedure, visit the Admin Arsenal Support page at http://support.adminarsenal.com/home and click Submit a Request, email your request directly to support@adminarsenal.com, or click Help > Support > Feedback & Support. You can also browse the Admin Arsenal forums for FAQs.
Because the PDQ Deploy database stores all package, schedule, and deployment information, it is highly recommended that you regularly backup the PDQ Deploy database. Since the SQLite database is a single file, this is fairly easy to do.
By default, the PDQ Deploy database is located at %ProgramData%\Admin Arsenal\PDQ Deploy\Database.db. To protect your system data, configure your backup software to regularly back up this file.
NOTE: To determine the location of the PDQ Deploy database, click File > Preferences or press Ctrl+Comma, then select Database. The Database field displays the path and filename for the PDQ Deploy database.
Every time PDQ Deploy runs a deployment, it records the results in the PDQ Deploy database. Each deployment record takes ~5KB of memory. While individually this is a negligible amount, given time and hundreds of deployments, the deployment history can consume significant disk space. For example, in our labs, the deployment history for 6,200 deployments required 32 MB of disk space.
To help you manage the disk space consumed by the PDQ Deploy database, you can configure PDQ Deploy to automatically purge deployment history records after a specified number of days. You can customize this value based on the number of deployments you run and how long you wish to see the results of finished deployments. The default age is 30 days, i.e. one month after the deployment finishes.
Setting the cleanup to 0 days disables automatic cleanup; PDQ Deploy never deletes the deployment results.
WARNING: Keeping this value high or setting the value to 0 may cause the PDQ Deploy database to get very large which could slow PDQ Deploy performance.
To specify how many days you want to archive deployment histories in the PDQ Deploy database before they are deleted:
1.Click File > Preferences or press Ctrl+Comma.
2.In the Preferences window, click Deployments.
3.Set the Cleanup field to the number of days you want to maintain the deployment history before they are deleted.
4.Click Close.
When PDQ Deploy deletes information from the PDQ Deploy database, it leaves empty space in the database file which takes up a few bytes. Over time, this space adds up and may impact database performance. Therefore, it is recommended that, on average, you optimize the PDQ Deploy database once a month. Optimizing the database frees up the empty space and gets rid of fragmentation.
NOTE: If you are running a high volume of deployments and you have configured PDQ Deploy to clean up the deployment history <30 days, you may want to optimize the PDQ Deploy database more frequently.
NOTE: PDQ Deploy automatically optimizes the database when the application is upgraded.
To optimize the PDQ Deploy database:
1.Click File > Preferences or press Ctrl+Comma.
2.In the Preferences window, click Database.
3.Click Optimize Database.
PDQ Deploy warns that the console and background service will be stopped, which will abort any running deployments.
4.Click OK to continue.
PDQ Deploy opens a command line window to run the optimization command.
5.When the optimization completes, press Enter to close the command line window.
PDQ Deploy automatically restarts and opens the Preferences window.
6.Click Close.
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