Tips for minimizing database growth

Long-lived processes store process data in the AEM forms database. The growth of the AEM forms database can be minimized using a few easy process design and product configuration strategies.

Process design tips

Use short-lived processes whenever possible. Short-lived processes do not store process data in the database. The disadvantage of using short-lived processes is that their status and state are not tracked in administration console and there is no history of the process.

Some service operations, such as the Assign Task operation (User service), require that they are used in long-lived processes. In this case, you can segment the process into several subprocesses and make them short-lived when possible. If you use this strategy, short-lived subprocesses should handle large data items, such as document values.

Use variables sparingly. When using long-lived processes, for every process instance, space is allocated on the database for each variable in the process. Strategic use of variables can save a considerable amount of space. For example, you can overwrite variable values when old values are no longer needed in the process. And delete any variables that you have created and are not using. You can validate the process to find unused variables.

Use simple variable types (for example, string or int) and avoid using complex variable types when possible. Database space is allocated for variables even when they do not contain a value. Complex variables typically require more space than simple ones.