Best way to use the cleanup tool?

[Jim]

Hi all,

Apologies if this has been asked recently.

I've used the WSUS Server Cleanup Wizard on our 5 separate WSUS 2003
R2 servers. I knew the tool was slow as Google told me that, but
*this* slow? I'm running it with just the first option ticked, as
advised in various groups. It is working, as the progress bar is
advancing, but it's now got 7 blue blobs of progress in three full
days of running. Slooooooow........

The server itself isn't particularly fast, nor particularly slow - 4
cores, 4GB RAM, RAID10 etc.

Is there a third-party tool which might achieve better results? Or a
command-line option which runs multi-threaded or something?

I know it's best to run this job frequently, but this particular
server is one we only just inherited and the job probably hasn't been
run since the server was installed (2 years ago).

Any advice?

Many thanks,



Jim

PS WSuS 3.0 with SP2, on SBS2003R2 x86 (3.2.7600.226)

[Dave Mills]

Post by Jim
Hi all,
Apologies if this has been asked recently.
I've used the WSUS Server Cleanup Wizard on our 5 separate WSUS 2003
R2 servers. I knew the tool was slow as Google told me that, but
*this* slow? I'm running it with just the first option ticked, as
advised in various groups. It is working, as the progress bar is
advancing, but it's now got 7 blue blobs of progress in three full
days of running. Slooooooow........

One or two hours would be more normal, that's slow, but 3 days is too long. I
have never seen this so have no idea why. I do know that the first time it takes
much longer but I have never left it more than 6 months.

Post by Jim
The server itself isn't particularly fast, nor particularly slow - 4
cores, 4GB RAM, RAID10 etc.
Is there a third-party tool which might achieve better results? Or a
command-line option which runs multi-threaded or something?
I know it's best to run this job frequently, but this particular
server is one we only just inherited and the job probably hasn't been
run since the server was installed (2 years ago).
Any advice?
Many thanks,
Jim
PS WSuS 3.0 with SP2, on SBS2003R2 x86 (3.2.7600.226)

[Harry Johnston [MVP]]

Post by Jim
I've used the WSUS Server Cleanup Wizard on our 5 separate WSUS 2003
R2 servers. I knew the tool was slow as Google told me that, but
*this* slow? I'm running it with just the first option ticked, as
advised in various groups. It is working, as the progress bar is
advancing, but it's now got 7 blue blobs of progress in three full
days of running. Slooooooow........

Do you have anti-virus software (with real-time scanning) running on this server?

Harry.

Post by Jim
The server itself isn't particularly fast, nor particularly slow - 4
cores, 4GB RAM, RAID10 etc.
Is there a third-party tool which might achieve better results? Or a
command-line option which runs multi-threaded or something?
I know it's best to run this job frequently, but this particular
server is one we only just inherited and the job probably hasn't been
run since the server was installed (2 years ago).
Any advice?
Many thanks,
Jim
PS WSuS 3.0 with SP2, on SBS2003R2 x86 (3.2.7600.226)

[Jim]

Hi Dave, Harry,

Many thanks for the replies.

The cleanup finished overnight, so approx. 5 days in total. When I run
it now it finishes in a couple of minutes.

There is AV, yes, but I had it disabled as I suspected that might be
the cause.

At least it finished eventually.....though I could have rebuilt and
re-deployed the server in that time :-)

Cheers,




Jim



On Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:18:56 +1200, "Harry Johnston [MVP]"

Post by Harry Johnston [MVP]

Post by Jim
I've used the WSUS Server Cleanup Wizard on our 5 separate WSUS 2003
R2 servers. I knew the tool was slow as Google told me that, but
*this* slow? I'm running it with just the first option ticked, as
advised in various groups. It is working, as the progress bar is
advancing, but it's now got 7 blue blobs of progress in three full
days of running. Slooooooow........

Do you have anti-virus software (with real-time scanning) running on this server?
Harry.

Post by Jim
The server itself isn't particularly fast, nor particularly slow - 4
cores, 4GB RAM, RAID10 etc.
Is there a third-party tool which might achieve better results? Or a
command-line option which runs multi-threaded or something?
I know it's best to run this job frequently, but this particular
server is one we only just inherited and the job probably hasn't been
run since the server was installed (2 years ago).
Any advice?
Many thanks,
Jim
PS WSuS 3.0 with SP2, on SBS2003R2 x86 (3.2.7600.226)

[Hank Arnold]

Wow!! Glad to see it finished, but as others have said, that's **WAY**
too long. Either you have "real time" scanning enabled or there are hard
drive problems. I would run diagnostics on the hard drive to make sure...


Regards,
Hank Arnold
Microsoft MVP
Windows Server - Directory Services
http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/personal-pc-assistant/

Post by Jim
Hi Dave, Harry,
Many thanks for the replies.
The cleanup finished overnight, so approx. 5 days in total. When I run
it now it finishes in a couple of minutes.
There is AV, yes, but I had it disabled as I suspected that might be
the cause.
At least it finished eventually.....though I could have rebuilt and
re-deployed the server in that time :-)
Cheers,
Jim
On Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:18:56 +1200, "Harry Johnston [MVP]"

Post by Harry Johnston [MVP]

Post by Jim
I've used the WSUS Server Cleanup Wizard on our 5 separate WSUS 2003
R2 servers. I knew the tool was slow as Google told me that, but
*this* slow? I'm running it with just the first option ticked, as
advised in various groups. It is working, as the progress bar is
advancing, but it's now got 7 blue blobs of progress in three full
days of running. Slooooooow........

Do you have anti-virus software (with real-time scanning) running on this server?
Harry.

Post by Jim
The server itself isn't particularly fast, nor particularly slow - 4
cores, 4GB RAM, RAID10 etc.
Is there a third-party tool which might achieve better results? Or a
command-line option which runs multi-threaded or something?
I know it's best to run this job frequently, but this particular
server is one we only just inherited and the job probably hasn't been
run since the server was installed (2 years ago).
Any advice?
Many thanks,
Jim
PS WSuS 3.0 with SP2, on SBS2003R2 x86 (3.2.7600.226)

[Lawrence Garvin [MVP]]

Wow!! Glad to see it finished, but as others have said, that's **WAY** too
long. Either you have "real time" scanning enabled or there are hard drive
problems. I would run diagnostics on the hard drive to make sure...

Actually.. several hours is not unlikely at all if:
* It has never been run before and the server has been operational for some
time
* Definition updates are synchronized
* Definition updates are auto-approved
* Superceded updates are still approved, or have never been manually
declined
* The first option is run by itself without first having run the other
options.

My recommendation for using the Server Cleanup Wizard (particularly for a
first time execution on a veteran machine) is a multi-pass methodology as
follows:

1. Delete all stale computer entries. (Option #2)

When analyzing updates for computers that have reported those updates as
needed, each computer entry in the computer table must be joined to every
update to analyze status. Removing dead computer entries from the list
significantly reduces the number of joins that must be made for those
analyses.


2. Expired and Superseded updates. (Options #4 and #5)

This pass does not require the removal of any data, merely the flip of the
Declined flag on the update definition. It generally runs very quickly. The
"expired" updates option is based on a single flag value; the "superceded"
updates option has to be joined with computers and groups (for approvals),
but only involves a subset of the updates table (those with
isSuperceded=True).


3. Unused updates and update revisions. (Option #1)

This pass actually deletes metadata from the database. It's the deleting of
data that is time consuming because indexes must be rebuilt/reorganized
anytime data is deleted from a database. Note, however, that the only
updates that are deleted are those that are expired, or those that are older
revisions. In addition, the search for these updates is somewhat resource
intensive because it involves joins to computers and group (for approvals).
The first part of the pass is only a subset (isExpired), but the second part
of the pass has to evaluate every update for the presence of revisions and
evaluate the approval status on each of those revisions.

It's possible that reorganizing the indexes prior to running this step
(using the Database Maintenance script documented in the Ops Guide) can
speed it up; however, in the end, you'll still likely invest the same amount
of time on the entire process.


4. Unneeded update files. (Option #3)

After all of the metadata has been properly classified (Declined or
Deleted), then it's appropriate to clear out the filesystem.


BIG NOTE: If you've enabled auto-approval rules for Definition Updates, you
should be running the Server Cleanup Wizard on a *weekly* basis. Forefront
Client Security updates generate 10-12gb of file content per week, all of
which has an average lifespan of about 6 hours. By running the SCW on a
weekly basis, you can keep the FCS definition files down to about four
generations of files, and significantly reduce your overall file storage
consumption.

[Hank Arnold]

Some great advice and information. Thanks, Garvin....


Regards,
Hank Arnold
Microsoft MVP
Windows Server - Directory Services
http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/personal-pc-assistant/

Post by Lawrence Garvin [MVP]

Post by Hank Arnold
Wow!! Glad to see it finished, but as others have said, that's **WAY**
too long. Either you have "real time" scanning enabled or there are
hard drive problems. I would run diagnostics on the hard drive to make
sure...

* It has never been run before and the server has been operational for
some time
* Definition updates are synchronized
* Definition updates are auto-approved
* Superceded updates are still approved, or have never been manually
declined
* The first option is run by itself without first having run the other
options.
My recommendation for using the Server Cleanup Wizard (particularly for
a first time execution on a veteran machine) is a multi-pass methodology
1. Delete all stale computer entries. (Option #2)
When analyzing updates for computers that have reported those updates as
needed, each computer entry in the computer table must be joined to
every update to analyze status. Removing dead computer entries from the
list significantly reduces the number of joins that must be made for
those analyses.
2. Expired and Superseded updates. (Options #4 and #5)
This pass does not require the removal of any data, merely the flip of
the Declined flag on the update definition. It generally runs very
quickly. The "expired" updates option is based on a single flag value;
the "superceded" updates option has to be joined with computers and
groups (for approvals), but only involves a subset of the updates table
(those with isSuperceded=True).
3. Unused updates and update revisions. (Option #1)
This pass actually deletes metadata from the database. It's the deleting
of data that is time consuming because indexes must be
rebuilt/reorganized anytime data is deleted from a database. Note,
however, that the only updates that are deleted are those that are
expired, or those that are older revisions. In addition, the search for
these updates is somewhat resource intensive because it involves joins
to computers and group (for approvals). The first part of the pass is
only a subset (isExpired), but the second part of the pass has to
evaluate every update for the presence of revisions and evaluate the
approval status on each of those revisions.
It's possible that reorganizing the indexes prior to running this step
(using the Database Maintenance script documented in the Ops Guide) can
speed it up; however, in the end, you'll still likely invest the same
amount of time on the entire process.
4. Unneeded update files. (Option #3)
After all of the metadata has been properly classified (Declined or
Deleted), then it's appropriate to clear out the filesystem.
BIG NOTE: If you've enabled auto-approval rules for Definition Updates,
you should be running the Server Cleanup Wizard on a *weekly* basis.
Forefront Client Security updates generate 10-12gb of file content per
week, all of which has an average lifespan of about 6 hours. By running
the SCW on a weekly basis, you can keep the FCS definition files down to
about four generations of files, and significantly reduce your overall
file storage consumption.