As time goes by and you deploy applications, a new build every time what means a new application type is getting provisioned. Application packages are piling up and after some time old versions become just a clutter that eats up disk space without providing any value. So you may want to periodically clean them up.

Before you had to periodically run a PowerShell script manually, like this one:

param
(
  [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
  [string]$ApplicationTypeName,

  [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
  [int]$NumberOfTypesToKeep
)

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope CurrentUser -Force

$moduleName = "ServiceFabric"
$module = Get-Module $moduleName
if (!$module)
{
  Write-Output "Module $moduleName was not found, importing"
  Import-Module "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Service Fabric\bin\ServiceFabric\ServiceFabric.psd1"
}

Connect-ServiceFabricCluster -Verbose

if ($ApplicationTypeName -eq "*")
{
  $applications = Get-ServiceFabricApplicationType -Verbose
  $applicationTypeNames = $applications.ApplicationTypeName | Select-Object -Unique
}
else
{
  $applicationTypeNames=$ApplicationTypeName
}

foreach ($appTypeName in $applicationTypeNames)
{
  $currentAppType = Get-ServiceFabricApplication -ApplicationTypeName $appTypeName -Verbose

  # if type not found
  $registeredAppTypes = Get-ServiceFabricApplicationType -ApplicationTypeName $appTypeName -Verbose
  if (!$registeredAppTypes)
  {
    Write-Error "Application Type '$appTypeName' was not found, skipped cleanup"
    continue
  }

  $registeredVersions = $registeredAppTypes.ApplicationTypeVersion

  # if to keep > total
  if ($NumberOfTypesToKeep -ge $registeredVersions.Count)
  {
    Write-Error "Parameter NumberOfTypesToKeep=$NumberOfTypesToKeep is greater than or equals the number of registered types=$($registeredVersions.Count)"
    continue
  }

  $versionsToDelete = $registeredVersions | `
                      Where-Object { $currentAppType.ApplicationTypeVersion -notcontains $_ } | `
                      Select-Object -First ($registeredVersions.Count - $NumberOfTypesToKeep)

  Write-Output "Application type '$appTypeName' does exist, started deletion"
  foreach ($versionToDelete in $versionsToDelete)
  {
    Unregister-ServiceFabricApplicationType -ApplicationTypeName $appTypeName `
                                            -ApplicationTypeVersion $versionToDelete `
                                            -Force `
                                            -Verbose
  }

  Write-Output "Successfully deleted application type '$appTypeName' versions: $versionsToDelete"
}

But since version 6.5 you don’t need to do anything manual anymore. Here’s a snippet from cluster ARM template:

{
  "name": "Management",
  "parameters": [
    {
      "name": "CleanupUnusedApplicationTypes",
      "value": true
    },
    {
      "name": "PeriodicCleanupUnusedApplicationTypes",
      "value": true
    },
    {
      "name": "TriggerAppTypeCleanupOnProvisionSuccess",
      "value": true
    },
    {
      "name": "MaxUnusedAppTypeVersionsToKeep",
      "value": "10"
    }
  ]
}

That’s it folks, happy deployment!