What are VPC 5.6 upgrade considerations? (NETIQKB72210)

  • 7772210
  • 13-Apr-2010
  • 04-May-2010

Environment

VigilEnt Policy Center 5.6

Situation

What are VPC 5.6 upgrade considerations?

Resolution

In order to set the appropriate foundation for future, feature enhancements, database changes need to be made to update the document model on which the product was built.

 

For this release, we have adopted a new structure in the VPC database that allows for optimized backend management of documents (present and future). The upgrade process analyzes existing structures and recreates the ?ACL-Privilege-Document? relationships such that it conforms to the updated abstract document model versus the previous reliance upon document ids as the key association. Depending on the number of ACLs/Privileges associated to documents, the process can consume time beyond expectations established by previous upgrades.

 

Due to these changes, additional preparatory steps need to be taken in order to ensure upgrade success and maximum efficiency.

 

Upgrade Preparation

1.     Backup the existing VPC database.

2.     Calculate the database size as it currently exists ensuring that data and log file sizing is taken into account.

3.     Increase the available disk space for the upgrade to accommodate the expected growth. The ratio for determining the amount of necessary space will be a factor of the number of documents in the system, the number of users/groups, and most importantly the number of privilege assignments against the two (documents/users). The more privileges assigned to documents, the more space and time will be consumed during the upgrade process.                                                                                                                                                                               

 

*Note: Disk space can be recovered once the upgrade has successfully completed.

 

4.     Plan for the upgrade to execute according to the following schedule, defined and listed as:

 

Database Size / Privilege to User-Document Ratio / Minimum Disc Space Required / Minimum Time to Upgrade

 

Small (<3 GB) / # Privileges < 5000  # Documents < 500 / (DB Size) x 2 / 2 hours

Medium (4-6GB) / # Privileges < 10000 # Documents < 2500 / (DB Size) x 3 / 4 hours

Large (>=7GB) / # Privileges > 10000 # Documents > 2500 / (DB Size) x 4 / 8 hours

 

            The following queries can be executed against the VPC database to determine Privilege and Document counts:

 

            Privilege Query:

selectcount(*)from uniqueAclusermapping

 

            Document Query:

declare @a int

select @a=count(policydocumentID)from policydocument where docState<5

declare @b int

select @b=count(quizID)from quiz where docState<5

select @a+@b

 

5.     Initiate the upgrade as per guidance in the Release Notes.

 

Additional Information

Formerly known as NETIQKB72210

Post Upgrade:

Once the upgrade has completed, the following steps can be taken in an effort to reduce the utilized disk space.

It is important to note that much of the growth can be attributed to log files and therefore can be recovered, VPC should not need to hold onto the disk space in its entirety to function properly post-upgrade.

 

Steps to shrink the log file are as follows:

1.     Open SQL Management Studio.

2.     Right click the VPC database and select All Tasks ? Shrink Database.

            The Shrink Database dialog will appear.

3.     Maintain the default entries and click the File button under the Shrink files section.

            The Shrink Database dialog should appear.

4.     In the Database file dropdown, select the log file (_log).

Click Ok.

5.     A message should appear denoting the successful completion of the file shrink.

Click Ok.

6.     On the Shrink Database dialog, click Cancel.

 

Alternative to using SQL Management Studio, the following query can also be executed against the VPC database.

 

USE DatabaseName

GO

DBCC SHRINKFILE(<TransactionLogName>, 1)

BACKUP LOG <DatabaseName> WITH TRUNCATE_ONLY

DBCC SHRINKFILE(<TransactionLogName>, 1)

GO

 

Note: The query must be executed with a connection as vpc_user to the VPC database.

 

Additional measures for cleaning up residual information tied to the old document structure will be considered for the next release of VPC.