This topic applies only to the IBM Business Automation Workflow Advanced
configuration.

Deleting BPEL process instances

Draft comment:
This topic only applies to BAW, and is located in the BAW repository. Last updated on 2025-03-13 12:15

Use the deleteCompletedProcessInstances.py administrative script to selectively delete from the Business Process Choreographer database or the Business Process Archive database any top-level BPEL process instances that have reached an end state of finished, terminated, or failed.

Before you begin

The following conditions must be met:

Run the script in connected mode, that is, do not use the wsadmin -conntype none option.
In the cluster where the Business Process Choreographer configuration or Business Process Archive Manager where you want to delete instances is configured, at least one cluster member must be running.
Include the wsadmin -user and -password options to specify a user ID that has operator authority.
If you are not working with the default profile, use the wsadmin -profileName profile option to specify the profile.

About this task

A top-level process instance is considered completed if it is in one of the following end states: finished, terminated, compensated, or failed. You specify criteria to selectively delete top-level process instances and all their associated data, such as instance custom properties, and subprocess instances, from the database.

Procedure

Change to the Business Process Choreographer subdirectory where the administrative script is located.
Enter the following command:
```
cd install_root/ProcessChoreographer/admin
```
Enter the following command:
```
cd install_root\ProcessChoreographer\admin
```
Delete process instances from the database.
- Enter the following command:
```
install_root/bin/wsadmin.sh -f deleteCompletedProcessInstances.py 
  -cluster cluster_name
  (-all | [-finished] [-terminated] [-failed])
  [-templateName templateName] 
  [-validFromUTC timestamp]
  [-startedBy userID]
  [(-completedAfterLocal timestamp)|(-completedAfterUTC timestamp)]
  [(-completedBeforeLocal timestamp)|(-completedBeforeUTC timestamp)]
```
- Enter the following command:
```
install_root\bin\wsadmin -f deleteCompletedProcessInstances.py 
  -cluster cluster_name
  (-all | [-finished] [-terminated] [-failed] )
  [-templateName templateName] 
  [-validFromUTC timestamp]
  [-startedBy userID]
  [(-completedAfterLocal timestamp)|(-completedAfterUTC timestamp)]
  [(-completedBeforeLocal timestamp)|(-completedBeforeUTC timestamp)]
```
where

-clustercluster_name

The name of the cluster where Business Process Choreographer configuration or Business Process Archive Manager is configured.

-all | [-finished] [-terminated] [-failed]

Specifies which instances are to be deleted according to their state. The -all option means all end states: finished, terminated, and failed. If you do not specify -all, you must specify one or more of the end states.

-templateNametemplateName

Optionally, specifies the name of the process template whose instances will be deleted. If there are multiple process templates with the same name but with different validFromUTC dates the instances for all process templates with that name are deleted unless you use the validFromUTC parameter to specify a particular process template.

-validFromUTCtimestamp

The date and time from which the template is valid in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The string must have the following format: yyyy-MM-ddThh:mm:ss (year, month, day, T, hours, minutes, seconds). For example, 2005-01-31T13:40:50

-startedByuserID

Optionally, only deletes completed process instances that were started by the given User ID.

-completedAfterLocaltimestamp

Optionally, specifies that only instances that completed after the given local time on the server are deleted. The format for the timestamp string is the same as for -validFromUTC, except that the time part is optional for this parameter. If you specify only a date, the time defaults to 00:00:00 local time on the server.

-completedAfterUTCtimestamp

Optionally, specifies that only instances that completed after the UTC time are deleted. The format for the timestamp string is the same as for -validFromUTC, except that the time part is optional for this parameter. If you specify only a date, the time defaults to 00:00:00 local time on the server.

-completedBeforeLocaltimestamp

Optionally, specifies that only instances that completed before the given local time on the server are deleted. The format for the timestamp string is the same as for -validFromUTC, except that the time part is optional for this parameter. If you specify only a date, the time defaults to 00:00:00 local time on the server.

-completedBeforeUTCtimestamp

Optionally, specifies that only instances that completed before the given UTC time are deleted. The format for the timestamp string is the same as for -validFromUTC, except that the time part is optional for this parameter. If you specify only a date, the time defaults to 00:00:00 local time on the server.
For example, to delete all of the process instances that are running on cluster myCluster that are in the state finished, and were started by the user Anita:

Enter the following command:
```
wsadmin.sh -f deleteCompletedProcessInstances.py 
        -cluster myCluster 
        -finished
        -startedBy Anita
```
Enter the following command:
```
wsadmin -f deleteCompletedProcessInstances.py 
        -cluster myCluster 
        -finished
        -startedBy Anita
```
If Business Process Choreographer is configured on the cluster, the processes will be deleted from the Business Process Choreographer runtime database. If Business Process Archive Manager is configured on the cluster, the same command will delete the specified processes from the archive database associated with the Business Process Archive Manager. Be careful not to delete any instances from a runtime database that should actually be moved to an archive.
Optional: If the script triggers long-running work, the script might fail if the connection timeout is not long enough to complete the action. Check the SystemOut.log file to see whether you need to restart the script. If the timeout happens often, consider increasing the value of the timeout property for the connector you are using, or adjusting the script parameters to reduce the amount of work done.

Results

The completed process instances have been deleted from the database associated with the Business Process Choreographer or Business Process Archive Manager configuration on the given cluster.