Start/notes.ini Parameters/Update_Access_Frequency

Update_Access_Frequency

Parameter: Update_Access_Frequency
Short description: Controls how often the Update/Updall tasks refresh the Last-Accessed timestamp of databases (NEVER / DAILY / ALWAYS).

Profile

Parameter
Update_Access_Frequency
Category
Startup / Tasks
Component
Server
Available since
6.0 (older)
Supported versions
9.0.1, 10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 14.0, 14.5, 14.5.1
GUI equivalent
none — notes.ini only
Possible values
NEVER / DAILY (default) / ALWAYS

Description

Update_Access_Frequency controls how often the Update and Updall tasks refresh the Last-Accessed timestamps of databases (database property "Last Accessed"). This date is the basis for detecting inactive databases (e.g. via Server_Show_Performance / show database or for cleanup scripts and quota analyses).
Three modes are possible:
  • NEVER – Last-Accessed timestamps are not touched by Update/Updall. Incoming user accesses still update the field; pure indexing and maintenance runs do not.
  • DAILY (default) – The timestamp is updated by Update/Updall once per day. A good compromise between meaningfulness and I/O load.
  • ALWAYS – With every Update/Updall run the timestamp is adjusted. The stamp is then very current but costs noticeable I/O across many databases and can cause backup inconsistencies because NSF headers change constantly.
Typical tuning use case: On large mail servers, Update_Access_Frequency=NEVER is set so that Updall and Update runs do not cause "invisible" writes to every database – this stabilizes incremental backups and reduces load.

Example configuration

Default behavior (parameter not set):
Update_Access_Frequency=DAILY
Do not change Last-Access timestamps via Update/Updall (large mail servers, backup tuning):
Update_Access_Frequency=NEVER
Maximum freshness of Last-Access timestamps (diagnostics, smaller servers):
Update_Access_Frequency=ALWAYS
Runtime variant via the server console:
set config Update_Access_Frequency=NEVER

Notes & pitfalls

  • Affects only the Update/Updall tasks. Regular user and server accesses update the Last-Accessed timestamp anyway – independent of this parameter.
  • With ALWAYS, the NSF header of every database changes as soon as Updall runs. This makes incremental backups effectively act like "full" – avoid in large environments.
  • With NEVER, the Last-Accessed timestamp is no longer refreshed daily; cleanup scripts that check for inactivity must take that into account.
  • Takes effect dynamically after set config Update_Access_Frequency=…; a server restart is not strictly necessary, the next Updall/Update run picks up the value.
  • Has no effect on the content of the FT indexes themselves, only on the Last-Accessed timestamp of databases.

Sources (HCL Product Documentation)