Delayed delete

Last modified 14 Aug 2026 12:32 UTC
Table of Contents

Delayed delete is a predefined activation mapping that postpones the deletion of a projection (usually an account) for a configured period after the projection has been disabled because of deprovisioning. Hence, its prerequisite is Disable instead of Delete (or an equivalent feature) which midPoint uses to disable the account instead of deleting it.

The goal of this article is to provide deeper technical details regarding delayed delete for engineers and administrators to understand how the feature works and to be able to troubleshoot it.

Process description

These are the steps that midPoint takes internally when a projection is disabled for (or, in other words, because of) deprovisioning and delayed delete is configured:

  1. The projection is disabled rather than deleted immediately (ensured by the disable instead of delete mechanism).

  2. MidPoint records the shadow’s disable timestamp and reason (deprovisioning) automatically.

  3. MidPoint creates a recompute trigger for the shadow at the calculated deadline.
    The deadline is computed as:
    disableTimestamp + deleteAfter
    where disableTimestamp is recorded automatically and deleteAfter is configured in the delayed-delete mapping.

  4. When the trigger fires, the recompute handler re-runs activation evaluation for that projection. Note that the recomputation can also occur through other means, such as reconciliation or recomputation task. The trigger is there only to ensure a recomputation does eventually occur.

  5. During the recomputation, the delayed-delete evaluator checks whether the delay has elapsed and whether the projection still exists and is disabled for deprovisioning. If these conditions are met, the evaluator returns the value false for existence, which causes the projection to be deleted.

Configuration

Basic configuration

The configuration consists of the following elements that work together:

  • disableInsteadOfDelete puts the projection into a disabled state instead of deleting it immediately, and automatically sets activation/disableTimestamp and activation/disableReason.

  • delayedDelete defines how long midPoint keeps the disabled projection before deletion.

The delayed-delete decision is evaluated only while the projection remains disabled for deprovisioning.

A typical configuration looks like the following. In this example, the projection is to be deleted 5 days after it has been disabled:

<activation>
    <disableInsteadOfDelete>
        <lifecycleState>active</lifecycleState>
    </disableInsteadOfDelete>
    <delayedDelete>
        <deleteAfter>P5D</deleteAfter>
    </delayedDelete>
</activation>

Advanced configuration example

To illustrate the behavior of delayed delete in more details, consider the following example. The configuration is equivalent to the previous example, but it uses a more general time-based mapping configuration. The mappings target the existence property which tells midPoint whether the account should exist (value of true) or it should be deleted (value of false).

See Existence Mapping for a detailed explanation.

<resource>
	<schemaHandling>
		<objectType>
			...
			<activation>
                <existence>
                    <outbound>
                        <name>Default existence</name>
						<description>
							Default existence mapping provides a value in case the second mapping is not active.
                            It keeps the projection in existence as long as the focus (user) exists.
						</description>
                        <strength>weak</strength>
                        <expression>
                            <path>$focusExists</path>
                        </expression>
                    </outbound>
                    <outbound>
                        <name>Delayed delete</name>
						<description>
							This mapping will be used only 5 days after the account is disabled.
							Its result is the constant "false" which causes the account to stop existing.
						</description>
                        <timeFrom>
                            <referenceTime>
                                <path>$shadow/activation/disableTimestamp</path>
                            </referenceTime>
                            <offset>P5D</offset>
                        </timeFrom>
                        <source>
                            <path>$shadow/activation/administrativeStatus</path>
                        </source>
                        <source>
                            <path>$shadow/activation/disableReason</path>
                        </source>
                        <expression>
                            <value>false</value>
                        </expression>
                        <condition>
                            <script>
                                <code>
                                    import com.evolveum.midpoint.xml.ns._public.common.common_3.ActivationStatusType;
                                    administrativeStatus == ActivationStatusType.DISABLED
                                        &amp;&amp; disableReason == 'http://midpoint.evolveum.com/xml/ns/public/model/disableReason#deprovision'
                                </code>
                            </script>
                        </condition>
                    </outbound>
                </existence>
			</activation>
			...
		</objectType>
	</schemaHandling>
</resource>

See also Mapping Time Constraints (for resources) and Mapping Time Constraints (in general) for more information on time-based mappings.

Troubleshooting

Projection is not deleted

Problem

Delayed delete does not delete the projection even if it has been configured.

Cause

The most common causes are:

  • The projection was not disabled for the deprovisioning reason expected by the evaluator (i.e., http://midpoint.evolveum.com/xml/ns/public/model/disableReason#deprovision).

  • The shadow does not yet have a valid activation/disableTimestamp.

  • The recompute trigger was not created or has not been processed yet.

  • The projection is already gone or excluded from normal activation processing.

Solution:

  • Check that the projection has been disabled for the expected deprovisioning reason, i.e., activation/administrativeStatus is DISABLED and activation/disableReason is http://midpoint.evolveum.com/xml/ns/public/model/disableReason#deprovision on the respective shadow.

  • Check activation/disableTimestamp to confirm that the reference time (when the shadow was disabled) exists and is in the expected range.

  • Inspect whether the shadow carries a recompute trigger and whether the trigger timestamp matches the expected deadline.

  • Review the model and task logs for recompute activity around the deadline. Make sure a recomputation occurred after the deadline.

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