Sitecore App Service Backup Problems and solutions

 

 

1.       Backup Size crossing the threshold

a.       Problem

The Microsoft threshold for backups is 10 GB.

Sometimes there are situations encountered where the Web App size has crossed this limit and because of which the backups would fail.

b.       Solution

All files from /App_Data are either:

 

·         Temporary files for caching purposes

·         Diagnostic data for debugging purposes

They shouldn't affect any Sitecore functionalities if they are not restored from the backup files.

But in case if there are any missing files from /App_Data in the future, some of them would automatically populate itself with data.

 

Create a Backup Filter

1)       Create a file named _backup.filter in D:\home\site\wwwroot through Kudu console (https://<app-name>.scm.azurewebsites.net/DebugConsole)

2)      Add the following file paths in to the _backup.filter file

 

\site\wwwroot\App_Data\debug \site\wwwroot\App_Data\DeviceDetection \site\wwwroot\App_Data\diagnostics \site\wwwroot\App_Data\logs \site\wwwroot\App_Data\mediaIndexing \site\wwwroot\App_Data\packages \site\wwwroot\App_Data\serialization \site\wwwroot\App_Data\Submit Queue \site\wwwroot\App_Data\tools \site\wwwroot\App_Data\viewstate \site\wwwroot\logs

 

2.       Log Files not purging

a.       Problem

·         Observe the size of log folder.

o   There are situations where the error files are not getting archived and its ever growing. It will end up becoming a bottleneck for the application

·         Analyze the config files

o   If the logging level is not set to Error (For Production) then this will also contribute to the increasing log file size

 

b.       Solution

 

·         Observed the Sitecore.config -> cleanup Agent for the pattern for deletion of log files

·         Compare the patters with the actual log file names

·         The Sitecore config will have to be updated to match the file pattern of the standard log files and custom log files

·         Update the logging level and set to Error

 

 

3.       Device Detection databases

a.       Problem

·         Sitecore is not cleaning up old copies of the device detection & It is a known bug in Sitecore 9.0 rev. 171002 (Initial Release) and above version but has been fixed in 9.3 version

·         https://support.sitecore.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0872808

b.       Solution

§  Option 1 (Manual)

·         Delete obsolete device detection databases

§  Option 2

·         Configure Sitecore.Tasks.CleanupAgent agent to check /App_Data/DeviceDetection folder

 

<agent type="Sitecore.Tasks.CleanupAgent"> <files> <remove folder="$(dataFolder)/DeviceDetection" pattern="*.*" maxAge="07.00:00:00" recursive="false" /> </files> </agent>

 

§  Option 3

·         Update to latest version of Sitecore