# Enabling orphan file deletion


 You can use AWS Glue console, AWS CLI, or AWS API to enable orphan file deletion for your Apache Iceberg tables in the Data Catalog. For new tables, you can choose Apache Iceberg as table format and enable orphan file deletion optimizer when you create the table. Snapshot retention is disabled by default for new tables.

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#### [ Console ]

**To enable orphan file deletion**

1.  Open the AWS Glue console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/glue/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/glue/) and sign in as a data lake administrator, the table creator, or a user who has been granted the `glue:UpdateTable` and `lakeformation:GetDataAccess` permissions on the table. 

1. In the navigation pane, under **Data Catalog**, choose **Tables**.

1. On the **Tables** page, choose an Iceberg table in that you want to enable orphan file deletion.

   Choose the **Table optimization** tab on the lower section of the page, and choose **Enable**, **Orphan file deletion** from **Actions**. 

   You can also choose **Enable** under **Optimization** from the **Actions** menu located on the top right corner of the page..

1. On the **Enable optimization** page, choose **Orphan file deletion** under **Optimization options**.

1. If you choose to use **Default settings**, all orphan files will be deleted after 3 days. If you want to keep the orphan files for a specific number of days, choose **Customize settings**.

1. Next, choose an IAM role with the required permissions to delete orphan files.

1. If you have security policy configurations where the Iceberg table optimizer needs to access Amazon S3 buckets from a specific Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), create an AWS Glue network connection or use an existing one.

   If you don't have an AWS Glue VPC Connection set up already, create a new one by following the steps in the [Creating connections for connectors](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/glue/latest/dg/creating-connections.html) section using the AWS Glue console or the AWS CLI/SDK.

1. If you choose **Customize settings**, enter the number of days to retain the files before deletion under **Orphan file deletion configuration**. You can also specify the interval between two consecutive optimizer runs. The default value is 24 hours.

1. Choose **Enable optimization**.

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#### [ AWS CLI ]

 To enable orphan file deletion for an Iceberg table in AWS Glue, you need to create a table optimizer of type `orphan_file_deletion` and set the `enabled` field to true. To create an orphan file deletion optimizer for an Iceberg table using the AWS CLI, you can use the following command:

```
aws glue create-table-optimizer \
 --catalog-id 123456789012 \
 --database-name iceberg_db \
 --table-name iceberg_table \
 --table-optimizer-configuration '{"roleArn":"arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/optimizer_role","enabled":true, "vpcConfiguration":{
"glueConnectionName":"glue_connection_name"}, "orphanFileDeletionConfiguration":{"icebergConfiguration":{"orphanFileRetentionPeriodInDays":3, "location":'S3 location'}}}'\
 --type orphan_file_deletion
```

 This command creates an orphan file deletion optimizer for the specified Iceberg table. The key parameters are:
+ roleArn – the ARN of the IAM role with permissions to access the S3 bucket and Glue resources.
+ enabled – Set to true to enable the optimizer.
+ orphanFileRetentionPeriodInDays – The number of days to retain orphan files before deleting them (minimum 1 day).
+ type – Set to orphan\$1file\$1deletion to create an orphan file deletion optimizer.

 After creating the table optimizer, it will run orphan file deletion periodically (once per day if left enabled). You can check the runs using the `list-table-optimizer-runs` API. The orphan file deletion job will identify and delete files that are not tracked in the Iceberg metadata for the table.

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#### [ API ]

Call [CreateTableOptimizer](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/glue/latest/dg/aws-glue-api-table-optimizers.html#aws-glue-api-table-optimizers-CreateTableOptimizer) operation to create the orphan file deletion optimizer for a specific table.

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