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Database maintenance tasks

Every command should be ran as the pleroma user from it's home directory. For example if you are superuser, you would have to wrap the command in su pleroma -s $SHELL -lc "$COMMAND".

From source note about MIX_ENV

The mix command should be prefixed with the name of environment your Pleroma server is running in, usually it's MIX_ENV=prod

Danger

These mix tasks can take a long time to complete. Many of them were written to address specific database issues that happened because of bugs in migrations or other specific scenarios. Do not run these tasks "just in case" if everything is fine your instance.

Replace embedded objects with their references

Replaces embedded objects with references to them in the objects table. Only needs to be ran once if the instance was created before Pleroma 1.0.5. The reason why this is not a migration is because it could significantly increase the database size after being ran, however after this VACUUM FULL will be able to reclaim about 20% (really depends on what is in the database, your mileage may vary) of the db size before the migration.

./bin/pleroma_ctl database remove_embedded_objects [option ...]

mix pleroma.database remove_embedded_objects [option ...]

Options

  • --vacuum - run VACUUM FULL after the embedded objects are replaced with their references

Prune old remote posts from the database

This will prune remote posts older than 90 days (configurable with config :pleroma, :instance, remote_post_retention_days) from the database. Pruned posts may be refetched in some cases.

Note

The disk space will only be reclaimed after a proper vacuum. By default Postgresql does this for you on a regular basis, but if your instance has been running for a long time and there are many rows deleted, it may be advantageous to use VACUUM FULL (e.g. by using the --vacuum option).

Danger

You may run out of disk space during the execution of the task or vacuuming if you don't have about 1/3rds of the database size free. Vacuum causes a substantial increase in I/O traffic, and may lead to a degraded experience while it is running.

./bin/pleroma_ctl database prune_objects [option ...]

mix pleroma.database prune_objects [option ...]

Options

  • --keep-threads - Don't prune posts when they are part of a thread where at least one post has seen local interaction (e.g. one of the posts is a local post, or is favourited by a local user, or has been repeated by a local user...). It also won't delete posts when at least one of the posts in that thread is kept (e.g. because one of the posts has seen recent activity).
  • --keep-non-public - Keep non-public posts like DM's and followers-only, even if they are remote.
  • --prune-orphaned-activities - Also prune orphaned activities afterwards. Activities are things like Like, Create, Announce, Flag (aka reports). They can significantly help reduce the database size. Note: this can take a very long time.
  • --vacuum - Run VACUUM FULL after the objects are pruned. This should not be used on a regular basis, but is useful if your instance has been running for a long time before pruning.

Create a conversation for all existing DMs

Can be safely re-run

./bin/pleroma_ctl database bump_all_conversations

mix pleroma.database bump_all_conversations

Remove duplicated items from following and update followers count for all users

./bin/pleroma_ctl database update_users_following_followers_counts

mix pleroma.database update_users_following_followers_counts

Fix the pre-existing "likes" collections for all objects

./bin/pleroma_ctl database fix_likes_collections

mix pleroma.database fix_likes_collections

Vacuum the database

Note

By default Postgresql has an autovacuum deamon running. While the tasks described here can help in some cases, they shouldn't be needed on a regular basis. See the Postgresql docs on vacuuming for more information on this.

Analyze

Running an analyze vacuum job can improve performance by updating statistics used by the query planner. It is safe to cancel this.

./bin/pleroma_ctl database vacuum analyze

mix pleroma.database vacuum analyze

Full

Running a full vacuum job rebuilds your entire database by reading all of the data and rewriting it into smaller and more compact files with an optimized layout. This process will take a long time and use additional disk space as it builds the files side-by-side the existing database files. It can make your database faster and use less disk space, but should only be run if necessary. It is safe to cancel this.

./bin/pleroma_ctl database vacuum full

mix pleroma.database vacuum full

Add expiration to all local statuses

./bin/pleroma_ctl database ensure_expiration

mix pleroma.database ensure_expiration

Change Text Search Configuration

Change default_text_search_config for database and (if necessary) text_search_config used in index, then rebuild index (it may take time). 

./bin/pleroma_ctl database set_text_search_config english

mix pleroma.database set_text_search_config english

See PostgreSQL documentation and docs/configuration/howto_search_cjk.md for more detail.