FTView Datalogging to SQL Express. How to purge database

Hi all,

I am logging data via ODBC to a 2008 RS SQL express database. In FTView File Management I have set it up to purge record after 6 months. This is not working and my DB has now reached its limits.

Has anyone seen this before? Does it actually work or must I handle the purging externally via a stored procedure or scripting?

Thanks in advance.

Trevor

Hi
I maybe out of date but i recall you cannot purge the empty records unless the database is closed.

cjd1965 said:

Hi
I maybe out of date but i recall you cannot purge the empty records unless the database is closed.

Click to expand...

Ok. Sounds reasonable. Have you any idea how to make this happen?

You can clean out old records by using running an SQL statement every now and then, for instance in the task scheduler in Windows. You can do this on the fly, so no need to shut anything down.


SQL Express is just a standard database from Microsoft. A free, scaled down version of their SQL server with some limitations on storage and memory use.

Hi Pete
Thanks for that info. I tried about 10 yrs ago and found i could delete the records but not 'compact' the database to removed the null entries when it was open

Pete.S. said:

SQL Express is just a standard database from Microsoft. A free, scaled down version of their SQL server with some limitations on storage and memory use.

Click to expand...

found i could delete the records but not 'compact' the database to removed the null entries when it was open

Click to expand...

I see this a lot as we generate a LOT of data. In SQL express you can not scheudle this automatically with the database tools, in the full version you can. We end up having to manually backup, compress, and delete old records - on a weekly basis.

When you right click on the database (not table) tree to perform these functions, the GUI that comes up will tell you the % free space. In our case, when it gets below 1%, the machines will stop.