InfluxDB: Configuring data retention in InfluxDB

This documentation is part of the Getting started guide. View the full guide here: How to quickly set up and manage InfluxDB with best practices.

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Stackhero delivers a fully managed InfluxDB cloud environment, designed for speed and simplicity:

• Unlimited writes, queries, dashboards, tasks, and buckets.
• Unlimited data retention: keep your metrics as long as you need.
• Unlimited network and disk transfers, with no hidden limits.
• One-click updates: always access the latest features and fixes.
• Consistent performance and strong security on your own private, dedicated infrastructure.

With Stackhero, you can focus on your data and insights. Getting started with InfluxDB cloud hosting only takes a few minutes, and every setup is optimized for long-term reliability.

By default, InfluxDB retains data indefinitely. For most time series use cases, setting a retention period for each bucket ensures you keep only the data you need and prevent uncontrolled storage growth.

To configure retention:

1. Open the InfluxDB web UI.
2. Go to "Data", then select "Buckets".
3. Click "Settings" next to the relevant bucket.
4. Under "Delete data older than", choose your preferred retention period.

Data older than the selected retention period will be permanently deleted.

InfluxDB stores data in shards. Shards containing only expired data are deleted automatically. If a shard includes both expired and current data, it remains until all its data is expired. By default, shards cover 7 days of data. When you set a new retention policy, up to nearly 7 days of outdated data could remain until the next shard cycle. For further details, refer to the InfluxDB shard documentation.