NAME

       nfexpire - data expiry program

SYNOPSIS

       nfexpire [options]

DESCRIPTION

       nfexpire  is used to manage the expiration of old netflow data files, created by nfcapd(1)
       or other data collectors such as sfcapd(1). Data expiration is done either by nfcapd(1) in
       auto expiry mode, or by nfexpire which can by run at any time or any desired time interval
       by cron. nfexpire can also be safely run while nfcapd auto expires files, for cleaning  up
       full  disks  etc.  nfexpire  is  sub  directory  hierarchy  aware,  and handles any format
       automatically.  For a fast and efficient expiration, nfexpire creates and maintains a stat
       file  named  .nfstat in the data directory.  Any directory supplied with the options below
       corresponds to the data directory supplied to nfcapd(1) using option -l.

OPTIONS

       -l directory
          List current data statistics in directory datadir.

       -r directory
          Rescan the specified directory to update the statfile. To be used  only  when  explicit
          update is required. Usually nfexpire takes care itself about rescanning, when needed.

       -e datadir
          Expire files in the specified directory. Expire limits are taken from statfile ( see -u
          ) or from supplied options -s -t and -w.  Command  line  options  overwrite  stat  file
          values, however the statfile limits are not changed.

       -s maxsize
          Set  size  limit  for  the  directory. The specified limit accepts values such as 100M,
          100MB 1G 1.5G etc. Accpeted size factors are K, KB, M, MB, G, GB  and  T,  TB.   If  no
          factor is supplied bytes (B) is assumed. A value of 0 disables the max size limit.

       -t maxlife_time
          Sets  the  max  life time for files in the directory. The supplied maxlife_time accepts
          values such as 31d, 240H 1.5d etc. Accpeted time  scales  are  w  (weeks)  d  (days)  H
          (hours).  A value of 0 disables the max lifetime limit. If no scale is given, H (hours)
          are assumed.

       -u datadir
          Updates the max size and lifetime limits, specified by -s -t and -w and stores them  in
          the statfile as default values. A running nfcapd(1) process doing auto expiry will take
          these new values starting with the next expiry cycle. Running nfexpire next time  doing
          file expiration will take these new limits unless -s -t or -w are specified.

       -w watermark
          Set the water mark in % for expiring data. If a limit is hit, files get expired down to
          this level in % of that limit. If not set, the default is 95%.

       -h Print help text on stdout with all options and exit.

       -p Directories specified by -e, -l and -r are interpreted  as  profile  directories.  Only
          NfSen will need this option.

       -Y Print result in parseable format. Only NfSen will need this option.

RETURN VALUE

       Returns
           0   No error.
           255 Initialization failed.
           250 Internal error.

NOTES

       There  are two ways to expire files: nfcapd in auto-expire mode ( option -e ) and nfexpire
       running by hand or periodically as cron job. Both ways synchronize access  to  the  files,
       therefore both ways can be run in parallel if required.

       Expiring by nfcapd in auto-expire mode: option -e
       If  nfcapd  is started with option -e, the auto-expire mode is enabled. After each cycle (
       typically 5min ) nfcapd expires files according to the  limits  set  with  nfexpire  using
       options -u -s -t and -w. If initially no limits are set, no files get expired.

       Expiring by nfexpire
       nfexpire  can be run at any time to expire files. It automatically syncs up with the files
       created by nfcapd in the mean time since the  last  expire  run,  if  a  nfcapd  collector
       process  is  running  for  that  directory in question and expires the files according the
       limits set.

       Limits
       Files are expired according to two limits: maximum disk space used by  all  files  in  the
       directory  and maximum lifetime of data files, whatever limit is reached first.  If one of
       the limit is hit the expire process will delete files down to the watermark of that limit.

SEE ALSO

       nfcapd(1)

BUGS

                                            2009-09-09                                nfexpire(1)