How to clean up Orphaned NPrinting database file folders

[Frank_S]

A NPrinting App deleted from the NPrinting Web Console does not delete the app(s) hard disk folder and folder contents within the "c:\programdata\nprinting\apps" folder. As a result hard drive space is used up unnecessarily.

Environments Affected and Cause:

• NPrinting February 2018 and higher versions upgraded from NPrinting 17 (and earlier versions) on the same server computer
• Clean up mechanism added from February 2018 and later versions.
• NP App Files and folders from NPrinting 17 will not be cleaned up via the internal cleanup mechanism found in newer versions of NPrinting. The following procedure enables clean up of orphaned database entries, NP App files and folders from NP 17 and older versions.

Workaround to mitigate this issue:

! Caution: Before proceeding to delete ANY NPrinting apps, please ensure to perform a backup of your NPrinting database as per How to BackUp and Restore Qlik NPrinting Repository Database from End to End. Deleting an App will delete all associated connections, reports, templates etc. 

Ensure to check and confirm with your team that the NP App is definitely no longer used!

After deleting a no longer used NPrinting App within the NPrinting Web Console

• Perform a backup the NP repository.
• Delete the contents of the apps folder here: "c:\programdata\nprinting\apps" (do NOT delete the 'apps' folder itself...only the contents. NPrinting server will not automatically recreate the apps folder so be VERY careful not to delete it).
• Restore the NP database. (This will restore only the database, files and folders required for day to day normal NPrinting operations).

In summary:

• The above restore does NOT restore apps and apps folder that have been deleted in the NPrinting Web Console prior to the backup in point 1 above.
• The result is that disk space is recovered since orphaned app folders are not restored in the NP database restore process.

How to Clean up NPrinting Database references created prior to the introduction of the NPrinting internal clean up mechanism in NP February 2018 and later versions.

1. Restore NP backup in a test environemnt
2. Open PGAdmin and connect to the NPrinting Database
3. Run the SQL code attached with this article
4. Take a backup
5. Restore the cleaned up backup in the test environment and test to validate that the old references no longer exist.

Note: these steps will not clean up folders that are associated with NPrinting App which are still in use on the NP server. NP server has a built in clean up mechanism which was included with NPrinting Feb. 2018 and all newer versions that routinely cleans up disk space and database references based on Days to Keep and Reports to Keep sent in the NPrinting Publish Task.

To free up additional disk space from the NP computer:

• Use the built-in windows 'disk cleanup' tool to remove old logs, windows update installers etc
• check each user profile in the c:\users folder and clean up each temp folder in each user on the the NPrinting server. ie: C:\Users\useraccountname\AppData\Local\Temp
• Uninstall unnecessary programs ie: unrelated to NPrinting functionality.
• Remove all unnecessary installation files from user profile desktops or c:drive locations and move to a different local or network drive.
• Move older NPrinting backup files out of c:\program data\nprinting to a different drive or network location

The information in this article is provided as-is and to be used at own discretion. Depending on tool(s) used, customization(s), and/or other factors ongoing support on the solution below may not be provided by Qlik Support.