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)