Is it safe to delete files in 'walarchive' from ArcGIS DataStore backups?

[WhereMatters]

ArcGIS DataStore schedules regular backups of its database every 7 days by default and retains them for 31 days.

Due to this, the disk space is getting filled up over a period of time.

I am also seeing that most of the disk space is occupied at "C:\arcgisdatastore\backup\walarchive".

I am thinking these are postgres db archive files as the name suggests.

Is it ok to clean up this directory completely from time to time?

Will this affect the ability to restore backups?

[JonathanQuinn]

I'm not sure if you've started the uninstall/reinstall yet but have you checked the service error logs under <install dir>/portal/usr/arcgisportal/logs/service.log?  They may give some insight as to why Portal doesn't start.

[Todd_Metzler]

Is it possible to use the DR Tool to back up Enterprise 10.4.1 (federated portal/server no Data Store) and then recover this backup to fresh installation of 10.7.1 Enterprise single stack (portal/server/data store).  The past three times (10.5.1 > 10.6.1 > 10.7.1) I have run the upgrade installer on single stacks it has failed with catastrophic results to the portal DBs and I don't trust the process.  the 10.4.1 Enterprise is my production environment and I can't afford to kill it off and do a fresh install nor hold off upgrade any longer to

[JonathanQuinn]

No, the DR tool backups are not forward compatible. We do plan on supporting that at some point, but even that workflow would internally trigger an upgrade.

Have you reached out to Support regarding your failed upgrade attempts? Do you recall if they all cite similar errors?

[Todd_Metzler]

Thank you for the speedy reply.  Yes, reached out to support via case when failure happened (10.6.1 > 10.7.1).  I don't recall if the failure point was exactly the same.  I do recall the installer logs not being very helpful.  After 24 hours (3 work days) of investment in attempting to migrate Portal DBs manual process following steps provided by support gave up and did fresh install.  Thus I don't trust the upgrade installer.

[JonathanQuinn]

Do you have a standby or dev environment to upgrade, or are you upgrading your production environment? The only way to get to a newer version is to upgrade. We put together a blog on minimizing downtime and risk during an upgrade:

https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-enterprise/administration/minimize-downtime-when-up... 

You can use this approach to vet out the upgrade and work through any issues without impacting production.