There are a number of administrative tasks in a WorldServer deployment:
WorldServer creates many database objects to represent different elements (projects, tasks, segmented documents, and so on). A set of cleaners deletes these obsolete objects periodically, in a process known as
Garbage Collection, to reclaim database space.
Some created objects are deleted as soon as they become obsolete, but most are not. There are good reasons for this. For one, deleting objects can be a time-consuming procedure that ties up resources. For another, it is not always immediately clear when an object becomes obsolete.
For example, when an asset is translated in the WorldServer Browser Workbench, it is segmented into the Segmented Document structure. This structure is used internally as long as the corresponding asset does not change. When the asset does change, a new segmented document structure is created and the old one is left in the database, marked for garbage collection.
Garbage collection consists of several cleaners, each of which cleans up a particular area in the WorldServer schema. You can schedule the cleaner tasks separately if you like. The cleaners should not run at the same time and should be dispersed over a period of time. If they are scheduled at the same time, only one will run, then the next and is better to schedule them at different time intervals to control the order of execution.
By default, WorldServer garbage collection starts running every night at 12:45 AM. You can modify cleaner schedules from the page.
- For stand-alone WorldServer instances, schedule changes are updated automatically.
- In clustered WorldServer environments, other WorldServer instances must be restarted to notice schedule changes.
- General Cleaner
Runs several smaller cleaners as a group on a regular schedule for WorldServer garbage collection.
The list of cleaners included in the general cleaner follow. The metadata cleaner, projects cleaner, and
segmented assets cleaner can be run on the same scheduler.
- - Translation Memory Attribute Cleaner
- Cleans up custom attributes on Translation Memory that have been removed in WorldServer. It
removes orphaned TM attribute columns from all partitioned TM tables in the database. Dropping
all TM attribute columns from all TM tables is a lengthy process that is relegated to this Garbage
Collector Cleaner. - - Completed Background Task Cleaner
- Collects all completed background tasks. This cleaner runs at garbage collection time and removes
any background tasks which were completed at least 7 days ago. This time interval can be
adjusted. - - Expired Sessions Cleaner
- Cleans expired sessions from the database. Every time a user logs into WorldServer, a session is
created for that user. If the session is not accessed for a certain configurable amount of time, the
session expires and the user must log into the system again. The session expiration time can be
set using the session_timeout property in general.properties. - - Workflow Doctor
- Repairs many known types of workflow corruption.
- - Term Database Attribute Cleaner
- Cleans up custom attributes on Term Databases (TDs) that have been removed in WorldServer. It
also removes orphaned TD attribute columns from all partitioned TD tables in the database, a
rather lengthy process. - - Workflow Cleaner
- Removes obsolete workflows that are not in use by tasks and which can no longer be accessed in
any way. These are usually historical workflows which have been replaced by newer versions, and
which no active tasks in the system are executing.
- Metadata Cleaner
Cleans up the following WorldServer objects: AIS properties, AIS ACLs, AIS locks, linkage, default workflows, and change detection. This cleaner can also be run by the general cleaner as part of garbage collection. - Projects Cleaner
Removes projects and tasks that have been completed for the designated periods of time. This cleaner can also be run by the general cleaner as part of garbage collection. - Segmented Assets Cleaner
Cleans up marked segmentation data in workflow-based and ad-hoc assets. This cleaner can also be run by the general cleaner as part of garbage collection. This can be scheduled to run once a week during a time when there is no activity, possibly early Saturday or Sunday morning. Check with the customer on when there is no activity on the system as many sites have users on during the weekend.
Note: The Garbage Collector does not clean actual files or folders. It runs on the Database only.
