Deleting snapshots

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This topic is shared by BAW, CP4BA, CP4BASaaS. Last updated on 2025-03-13 12:15

You can use the Process Admin Console or a REST API call to delete snapshots of process applications or toolkits from Workflow Server or Workflow Center. You can only perform this operation if your user ID is a member of the administrator group.

Note: Only one snapshot delete operation can be performed at a time.

Before you begin

Make sure that the following prerequisites are met:

For information about the prerequisites for deleting snapshots from Workflow Server see BPMDeleteSnapshot command.
For information about the prerequisites for deleting snapshots from Workflow Center see BPMSnapshotCleanup command.
BPMCSRFToken is required for this REST API. For more information, see Preventing cross site request forgery.

Using the Process Admin Console

Click Server Admin > Workflow Admin > Health Management.
Select the command Delete Snapshots.
Specify values for the command's parameters.
Click Submit.
If there is an error, you will see the error message. Otherwise, you can check the progress of the deletion in the system log.

Using a REST API call

Call the operations REST API DELETE https://host:port/ops/std/bpm/containers/acronym/versions. Where acronym is the acronym of the process application or toolkit that contains the snapshots to delete.

Remember: For IBM® BPM on Cloud, the operations REST APIs have the URL https://hostname.bpm.ibmcloud.com/bpm/environment/ops/std/bpm/containers/acronym/versions, where environment has the value dev for the development system, test for the test system, or run for the production (runtime) system.

Important: Depending on whether host:port resolves to a workflow server or a workflow center, different parameters are required, optional, or ignored. For details about the operations REST APIs and to try invoking them from a browser, use the Swagger interface. The Swagger interface is available at the URL https://server:port/ops/explorer where server is the host name of your workflow server and port is the port number that is used by the workflow server. For example, https://localhost:9443/ops/explorer

The following examples illustrate how to use the REST API to delete snapshots from Workflow Server and Workflow Center.

Workflow Server examples

Delete named snapshots V01 and V02 of toolkit TK1:

DELETE http://host:port/ops/std/bpm/containers/TK1/versions?versions=V01,V02

Delete the last and default snapshot VLAST of process application APP1:

DELETE http://host:port/ops/std/bpm/containers/APP1/versions?versions=VLAST&force=true

Workflow Center examples

Delete archived named snapshots V01 and V02 of the default branch of toolkit TK1:

DELETE http://host:port/ops/std/bpm/containers/TK1/versions?versions=V01,V02

Delete all unnamed snapshots except the tip snapshot of branch Test of toolkit TK1:

DELETE http://host:port/ops/std/bpm/containers/TK1/versions?branch_name=Test&kept_number=0

Delete all unnamed snapshots of branch Test of process application APP1 created before snapshot V20:

DELETE http://host:port/ops/std/bpm/containers/APP1/versions?branch_name=Test&created_before_snapshot=V20

Delete all unnamed snapshots of branch Test of process application APP1 created before a point in time:
```
DELETE http://host:port/ops/std/bpm/containers/APP1/versions?branch_name=Test&created_before=2016-10-01T00:00:00-06:00
```
Remember: If you need to specify a time zone that is ahead of UTC, you must encode the + symbol as %2B. For example, for the Central European Time zone +01:00, you must use %2B01:00 in your URL. Alternatively, you can specify a UTC date, for example created_before=2016-01-01T01:00:00Z.

Remember: The operations REST APIs have the following URL, https://hostname.bpm.ibmcloud.com/bpm/environment/ops/std/bpm/containers/acronym/versions, where environment has the value dev for the development system, test for the test system, or run for the production (runtime) system.

Important: All calls to the Operations REST API require that the HTTP header BPMCSRFToken is set with every request. For information about how to obtain a token, see Preventing cross site request forgery.