System Maintenance Tasks

4 minute read

General maintenance of build-generated data and logs ensures a cleaner operating environment and quicker response times in the build environment. Some basic user maintenance may prove useful for running builds also.

Cleaning Up Data

To increase system response time and help users stay organized, you should periodically delete obsolete build data and agent logs for the Cluster Manager.

Deleting Builds from the Builds List

The builds list includes Cluster Manager build history. It is important to remove build logs periodically so they do not fill up the Cluster Manager’s available disk space. Uploaded annotation is also considered part of build logs, so remember to clean up build logs for extraneous or obsolete builds regularly if annotation is frequently uploaded to the Cluster Manager.

To delete builds from the builds list:

  1. Click the Builds tab to open the build history list.

  2. Filter the build list by your desired criteria; for example, Good Builds or Builds by Date, and so on.

  3. Click Delete.

Confirm your decision at the prompt to delete the results. After you confirm the delete, it cannot be undone.

You can automate build deletion tasks by using the cmtool deleteBuilds command.

For example, if you are using MySQL, this example deletes all builds more than 20 days old:

cmtool deleteBuilds --filter "start_time <date_sub(curdate(), interval 20 day)"
If you use a different database, use syntax that is appropriate for your respective database.

Managing the Message Log

The Message Log contains an error event list for all agents in the cluster. Message Log format is relatively free-form and descriptive. Message entries contain:

  • severity of the error being reported

  • log entry date and time

  • build number

  • message text

  • name of the agent that generated the error

Using the Message Log, you can track agent issues by severity. If an agent experienced a high number of error events, it may indicate a problem with the system setup or hardware.

The Cluster Manager automatically deletes Message Log entries older than a configurable number of days. See Administration > Server Settings, the “Message Log Keep (days)” setting.

Securing the Cluster Manager Database

Default settings are located in the accelerator.properties file.

ACCELERATOR_JDBC_USER_NAME
ACCELERATOR_JDBC_PASSWORD

The default user name and password are both set to ecloud.

Configuring The Cluster Manager Database

Backing Up and Restoring the Cluster Manager Database

You use the exportData and importData cmtool commands to back up and restore a database.

Manual migration using the exportData and importData commands is recommended only to replicate data between Cluster Manager instances running the same version of the Cluster Manager. For example, you could use it to make a backup dump and then restore it to a new instance of the Cluster Manager of the same version.

Backing Up the Cluster Manager Database

Run the following command to export the Cluster Manager data to a file:

cmtool exportData <file_name>

where < file_name > is the file name or path to export to. If you use a file name, the destination is the current working directory of the Java process ( /opt/ecloud/i686_Linux or C:\ECloud\i686_win32 by default. If you use a path, the Cluster Manager Java user ( eacmuser ) must have execute and write access to that path.

This is a full database dump, which might take substantial time for a large database.

Restoring the Cluster Manager Database

Run the following command to import the Cluster Manager data from a file:

cmtool importData <file_name>

where < file_name > is the name of the file to import. The file’s path is relative to the current working directory of the Java process ( /opt/ecloud/i686_Linux or C:\ECloud\i686_win32 by default).

This command imports a full database dump, which might take substantial time for a large database.

Make sure that you

  • manually delete any old or unused agents from the agents list.

  • update the license file after import, if it has previously expired.

Enabling LDAP

To enable LDAP, follow this procedure:

  1. Go to the following directory on the Cluster Manager server: <ECloud install>/<arch>/conf

  2. Make a copy of the ldap_template.xml file if you intend to use LDAP, or the ad_template.xml file if you prefer to use Active Directory. Save the copy in the conf directory as any name you choose or use the name: securityContext.xml.

  3. Still working in conf, open the accelerator.properties file.

  4. Locate the following commented-out text string: #ACCELERATOR_SECURITY_CONTEXT_FILES=conf/securityContext.xml

  5. If you did not name your template copy securityContext.xml, replace securityContext.xml with the filename you chose.

  6. Uncomment the ACCELERATOR_SECURITY_…​ text string by removing the lead “ ” sign.

  7. Comment out ACCELERATOR_SECURITY_CONTEXT_FILES= (which immediately follows the line you uncommented).

  8. Update your own copy of the LDAP template with your LDAP configuration details.

  9. Restart the Cluster Manager.

  10. After the Cluster Manager is running, log in to the Cluster Manager UI as “admin”.

  11. Go to Administration > Permissions.

  12. Click Enable User.

  13. Search for “*”.

If you set it up correctly, all LDAP users are visible.

Import License

Use this page to provide a license to the Accelerator server. You should already have received a license from Electric Cloud. If you did not receive a license, contact Electric Cloud technical support or your sales representative. For technical support contact information, see https://support.cloudbees.com/hc/en-us/categories/360002059512 .

To import a license, do one of the following:

  • Browse for and upload the license file.

  • Follow these steps:

    1. Use a text editor to open the license file.

    2. Copy the text into the Data field.

    3. Click OK.

    4. Go back to the License page to see your license information.

Using Comments

The Comments section is a convenient way to promote build team communication, track build or hardware issues, assign tasks, or other information you need to maintain or share in permanent or temporary notes. A Comments section is available on the following pages:

  • Build Details

  • Build Class Details

  • Agent Details

  • Resource Details

Adding a Comment

A user can view or add comments only if permissions were granted by an administrator.

  1. Click the New Comment link.

The New Comment page appears.

  1. Type the information you want to share or track.

  2. Click OK.

Return to the page to see your new comment displayed in the Comment box.

HTML is allowed in comments but is not interpreted by the Cluster Manager web UI.

Editing a Comment

Click Edit Comment to update a comment.

Deleting a Comment

Click Delete Comment to delete a comment.