How does Vault "validate" a file?

Autodesk Support

Oct 2, 2024

Products and versions covered

Issue:

How does Vault "validate" a file in the file store, sometimes files may appear to miss from the Vault file store. How are they determined to still exist?

How can a list of files and versions that are failing validation be generated in Vault?

Is there a process that can remove entries from the database to get it synchronized with the filestore?

Causes:

Removing database entries for files that no longer exist
Finding what files are failing to validate so they can be restored from backup

Solution:

A checksum is a number generated every time a file is saved or changed. It is data that is stored within the file itself. When a file is checked into Vault, its checksum is read from the file and stored in the database. Another way of saying this, is to say that the checksum is indexed from the file, on check-in.
When Vault "Validates" a file it reads the checksum from the database and also attempts to read it from the file in the expected file store location. If the file is missing from the expected file store location, the validation will fail. If the checksum in the expected file store location, is different from that stored in the database, the validation will fail.
If the file exists in the expected file store location, try opening it in the authoring\editing application. Sometimes error messages are displayed on opening or rebuilding of the file.

When a Vault is backed up or restored, a checksum Validation is triggered. Checksum Validations can also occur during other Vault operations such as File Replication, or even single file operations such as a Get from the Vault Client, or an Edit Properties.
To determine what files are failing to validate run an ADMS backup with the option to validate the filestore. Any files failing to validate will be listed in the AVFS logs.
To remove entries from the database for files that fail to validate either delete the files in Vault or purge the files using the Vault client.
- How to purge versions in Vault