The server will index data as soon as it arrives.  Because a great deal of data can move through the server it is designed to purge data files based on the overall data in the server and the age of the specific files.

Data Retention Options

There are three options that work together:

• Keep X days of data:  A minimum number of days of information to keep even if all subscribed Loupe Desktops have retrieved the information, provided there is sufficient space.
• Purge data older than X days:  The maximum age of session data files to be kept even if all subscribed Loupe Desktops have not retrieved them.
• Never use more than X MB of disk space:  This space limit will be enforced even if that means dropping sessions that are younger than the age limits.

By default, session data files are deleted from the server once they have been sent to all subscribed Loupe Desktops and have been present on the Server for the minimum number of days.  Even if they haven't been sent to a Loupe Desktop (typically because that Loupe Desktop hasn't retrieved data in a while) they will be deleted when they are older than the Purge age.

The disk space limit is treated like a hard limit to the purge process and overrules the age settings.  Between purges the repository will grow without bound, so as much as an hour's worth of additional disk space  as well as transfer cache may be required. 

How to Set the Minimum Age

You will generally want to have the minimum age reflect how long you want to have data be available in case you run into a problem and need to drill into the details.  After this age the data is eligible for pruning even if the server hasn't hit its size limits.

What if data isn't being pruned?

If the Loupe Service is stopped then data will continue to arrive but not be pruned (since all pruning is done by the service).  If you notice server disk space is growing unexpectedly make sure the service is running.

When and How Data is Deleted

The windows service installed with the Server (called the Loupe Team Service) performs all data pruning activities.  Pruning is performed once a day around midnight and whenever the service is restarted. Pruning is given a priority when the server starts so typically disk space will free up within a few minutes of the service starting.

How much disk space should I have?

The server uses disk space for a few things:

• Data Retention:  This is capped at the end of each day to the limit you specify, but may grow by as much as one day's worth of data between prunings.
• Transfer Cache:  When sessions are being transferred they are copied into a cache.  This cache has a limit of 2GB of size and keeps data for at least 15 minutes.  In extraordinary cases it may exceed its limit if you are transferring extremely large sessions, but will rebound into the limit within minutes of the transfers completing.
• Mailbox Transfer:  When retrieving sessions from a remote mailbox they will be copied locally before they are merged into the repository.  This space isn't specifically limited but sessions exist only for a short time until they are imported into the repository.
• Upload Cache:  As sessions are being uploaded they are first uploaded into a temporary area until the upload is complete.  This space isn't specifically limited but at most contains one partial session per remote client uploading data.

Taken together, we recommend having at least enough disk space to fit the repository data retention setting plus 2.5GB.  If the repository data retention setting is less than 2GB then the space reserved by cache can be similarly reduced.