Compaction API

Compaction is used to reclaim disk space and reduce disk fragmentation.

Description

Couchbase Server writes all data that you append, update and delete as files on disk. The compaction process can eventually lead to gaps in the data file, particularly when you delete data. Be aware the server also writes index files in a sequential format based on appending new results in the index. You can reclaim the empty gaps in all data files by performing a process called compaction. For both data files and index files, perform frequent compaction of the files on disk to help reclaim disk space and reduce disk fragmentation.

Table 1. Compaction endpoints
HTTP method URI path Description
POST /pools/default/buckets/[bucket_name]/controller/compactBucket Compacts bucket data and indexes.
POST /pools/default/buckets/[bucket_name]/controller/cancelBucketCompaction Cancels compaction for the specified bucket.
POST /[bucket_name]/_design/[ddoc_name]/_spatial/_compact Compacts a spatial view.

Auto-compaction description

Auto-compaction parameters are configured to trigger data and view compaction. These parameters can be specified for an entire cluster (cluster-wide) or for a specific bucket in a cluster.

Note: Administrative credentials are required to change these settings.
Table 2. Auto-compaction endpoints
HTTP method URI path Description
POST /controller/setAutoCompaction Sets cluster-wide auto-compaction intervals and thresholds
GET /settings/autoCompaction Retrieves cluster-wide settings for auto-compaction
GET /pools/default/buckets/[bucket_name] Retrieves auto-compaction settings for named bucket
POST /pools/default/buckets/[bucket_name] Sets auto-compaction interval or thresholds for named bucket
Table 3. Auto-compaction parameters
Parameter Value Notes
databaseFragmentationThreshold: percentage Integer between 2 and 100 Percentage disk fragmentation for data
databaseFragmentationThreshold: size Integer greater than 1 Bytes of disk fragmentation for data
viewFragmentationThreshold: percentage Integer between 2 and 100 Percentage disk fragmentation for index
viewFragmentationThreshold: size Integer greater than 1 Bytes of disk fragmentation for index
parallelDBAndViewCompaction True or false. Run index and data compaction in parallel. Global setting only.
allowedTimePeriod: abortOutside True or false Terminate compaction if the process takes longer than the allowed time
allowedTimePeriod: fromHour Integer between 0 and 23 Compaction can occur from this hour onward
allowedTimePeriod: fromMinute Integer between 0 and 59 Compaction can occur from this minute onward
allowedTimePeriod: toHour Integer between 0 and 23 Compaction can occur up to this hour
allowedTimePeriod: toMinute Integer between 0 and 59 Compaction can occur up to this minute
purgeInterval Integer between 1 and 60 Number of days a item is deleted or expired. The key and metadata for that item is purged by auto-compaction
Note: The purge interval parameter removes the key and metadata for items that have been deleted or are expired. This is known as tombstone purging.