Size of EAP file

[peterg12345]

We are evaluating the tool for modeling at our shop. So far things look very good, but I do have a question on the size of the .EAP file. All I did was create a new model (SysML add-in), add about 30 blocks, about 10 operations and notes text, and a few sequence diagrams. The size of the EAP file is now 21MB.
PS Even tried the compactor, and it did reduce it some, but not much. Is this normal? I figure it's not linear, but to what size can I expect the EAP file to grow to?

TIA

Pete

[Oliver F.]

EA stores the model data in a database structure even on the file system. As such data consumption is indeed not linear and does not increase in bytes as you model but in blocks. You can notice this by adding new items to the model- this will not increase the size unless it reaches a certain threshold where the database engine allocates a new block of data for the file.

However with increasing complexity the file size increases also. Our rather complex model with all aspects being modeled now has increased to 810 MB (uncompressed) and it is far from being unfinished- open ended of course.

HTH

Oliver

[peterg12345]

Thanks for the clarification, Oliver.

Just to be clear - if and when we migrate the model to a DBMS-based backend (Oracle or MySQL), this issue goes away because there is no longer a need for an EAP file. Correct?

Pete

[Thomas Mercer-Hursh]

21MB isn't much these days, so I don't know what the "problem" is, but if you use a DBMS for a repository, it isn't so much that the "problem" goes away as that it moves.  I have some 100MB+ repositories and I know there are some that are much bigger ... but anything under 1GB is small these days...

[peterg12345]

You miss my point. 21MB is not a big deal obviously.

What is potentially a problem is that all's I have done so far is put in a few objects and a couple of SD's, and voila, the beast has grown to a size I did not expect. After all, I figured the EA engine is reading some params from various tables and rendering graphics based on that, etc. I have looked at the back-end, and there is not that much data in the tables. t_object has 146 records, and it isn't that wide, hence my concern about how this thing will grow as I populate it.

Right now this EAP file is sitting on a network drive, so bandwidth becomes a consideration.

[mrf]

You will also find that when you delete records in Access they aren't properly deleted. Instead they are moved to a "trash" table to facilitate undo later on. I've at one stage had an empty model take up 400Mb!

To clear out this trash table you can use EA's compact feature by selecting Tools | Manage .EAP File | Compact .EAP File from the main menu.

[peterg12345]

Just discovered a way to dramatically reduce the size of an EAP.

1. Export the entire model to an XMI file
2. Create a brand new model
3. Import the XMI file

In our case, it reduced the previous EAP file from 124MB down to 3.5MB!!!

So far, it doesn't look like the export/import process lost anything.

It makes a big diff to us because we are working on a shared drive, sometimes thru VPN.

Pete  

[Aaron B]

Pete,

One thing to be cautious of is that the XMI export of your model does not include all reference data from your original model (e.g. document templates, code generation and transformation templates, code and database datatypes, alternate images, etc).

The best way to reduce the size of your eap model without any potential data loss is to perform the "Compact .EAP File" command as described by Michael.

It may also be worth running a Project Integrity Check.  This can sometimes detect orphaned or corrupted element data in your model which can be deleted (and may be taking up unnecessary space in your model).

[peterg12345]

Aaron,

Thanks for the caveats. In our case, we are not using the elements you mentioned, and don't plan to, so it's not an issue, but it's worth keeping in mind.

Pete