GOAL

The goal of this article is to provide information on a good and common question, “How do I clear the run history?” to be able to reduce the size of my MDF / LDF files.

As many of us already know, if we do not clear the run history, then we run into issues such as

è Performance of Synchronizations

è Performance of moving between Management Agents and Operations tabs in the Synchronization Server Console.

è Size of the MDF file has grown to extreme

This article has been compiled to help provide information on how to clear the run history.  We do provide several ways to clear the run history.  Let’s talk about them now.

MANUALLY

In the GUI, while viewing the run history on the Operations Tab, you can select from the Actions menu, “Clear Runs”.

In doing so, you will receive a dialog with a few choices.

è Clear All Runs: This will clear everything you see on the operations tab, essentially the run history.

è Clear Runs Before: This allows you to pick a date and time to remove that date and time and previous to that date and time.  It allows you to be able to keep some of the run history.

è Save runs before clearing them:  This box is checked by default.  It allows you to dump the run history to an XML file.

Once you configured how you want to clear the run history, you simply click Ok and then wait for it to finish clearing the run history.

 SCRIPT

The Synchronization Service engine has a WMI Provider that allows you to interface with the Synchronization Service Engine via WMI.

MSDN provides a great resource using the WMI Provider to build a script using VBSCRIPT and/or PowerShell.

MIIS_SERVER is the WMI Class that you will start with when building your script. 

ClearRuns Method is the method that you will utilize to clear the runs.

Here is an example script to clear runs based on a date.

RESOURCE KIT FOR MICROSOFT IDENTITY INTEGRATION SERVER 2003

If you have a version of the Synchronization Service Engine prior to Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager 2010, then you can utilize the Resource Kit for Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 and the MIISCLEARRUNS.EXE utility.

Download the Resource Kit 2.0 for the Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003

QUESTIONS

How can I automate the clearing of the run history?

This is actually a great question.  You will need to write a script that does the clearing of the run history.  Once you have the script compiled utilize Task Scheduler to have the script run at a specified time.

How often should I clear the run history?

The answer to this question is based on your business rules for your current identity solution.  Keep in mind, that every time a run profile is executed, a record is added to the run history. 

An example, if you have 2 management agents.  You run Full Import (Stage Only) on both, Full Synchronization on both, Export on both, and Confirming Delta Import on both Management Agents.  You execute this cycle every 30 minutes.

2 Management Agents x 4 Run Profiles = 1 cycle = 8 Records in the Run History every 30 minutes

SEE ALSO
Current Forefront Identity Manager 2010 Resources
Current Certificate Lifecycle Manager Resources
GalSync Resource Wiki
PCNS-Password Synchronization Wiki