Question

I’m saving exceptions generated by Elmah as XML files.

Is there any way to configure it so that it automatically removes files older than X days? Or perhaps a max number of files in the directory? Or do i need to created a custom batch job that does this?

Answer 1

From the Elmah Project Site for ErrorLogImplementations. (Italics added for emphasis)

XmlErrorLog

The XmlFileErrorLog stores errors into loose XML files in a configurable directory. Each error gets its own file containing all of its details. The files can easily be copied around, deleted, compressed or mailed to someone for further diagnostics. It does not require any database engine or setup, like with SQL Server and Oracle, so there is very little management overhead and you do not need to worry about additional costs when it comes to hosting plans. Although simple, it relies on the file system performance for shredding through the directory, reading files and sorting through them. A smart way of keeping logs based on XmlFileErrorLog running smoothly is to limit the number of files by scheduling a task to periodically archive the old logs and clean up the folder.

You will need to create a custom batch job that does this.