# Custom data retention

## Data Retention Strategies

There are two ways to define retention in groundcover:

1. Simple - each type of data has a global retention period
2. Advanced - data is retained based on various criteria such as cluster, log level, namespace, etc.

{% hint style="warning" %}
For metrics, only the simple strategy is supported.
{% endhint %}

### Controlling Retention

For BYOC deployments, the values will need to be set by the groundcover team. Please contact us to perform any retention changes.

#### Retention Field Format

Retention value format is: `{amount}[h(ours), d(ays), w(eeks), y(ears)]` .

For example: `4h`, `30d`, `6w`, `1y`

## Simple Data Retention

The most common and simple way to configure retention in groundcover. Based solely on data type, without exceptions.

### Default retention values

Below are the default retention values for BYOC:

* Traces - 7 Days
* Metrics - 30 days
* Logs - 30 days
* Events - 7 days

## **Custom Retention Overrides**

{% hint style="warning" %}
The following is not supported for metrics - which allow only a global retention period
{% endhint %}

groundcover allows you to customize retention policies for your data to better manage storage and compliance requirements. You can define specific retention periods for logs, traces, and events based on various criteria such as cluster, log level, namespace and more.

The following rules apply:

* Values not meeting any criteria will use the default retention period for the specific data type
* In instances of overlapping overrides, the override with the shorter retention interval will be used

#### **Examples of Custom Overrides**

* Traces
  * Traces with `cluster: prod`, `namespace: app` - 7d
  * Traces with `env: staging` - 14d
  * Else - 24h
* Logs
  * Logs with `cluster: prod`, `level: info` - 20d
  * Logs with `cluster: prod`, `level: error` - 30d
  * Else - 3d
* Events
  * Events with `cluster: dev`, `type: Warning` - 15d
  * Else - 15d

#### Available Retention Fields

{% hint style="info" %}
Only exact matches are supported - regex or pattern matching is not available
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="info" %}
You can use any of the fields below to specify custom retention for the relevant data type
{% endhint %}

**Logs**

* **`cluster`**
* **`source`**
* **`env`**
* **`env_type`**
* **`workload`**
* **`namespace`**
* **`level`**

**Traces**

* **`cluster`**
* **`workload`**
* **`container`**
* **`source`**
* **`env`**
* **`env_type`**
* **`protocol_type`**
* **`server`**
* **`return_code`**

**Events**

* **`cluster`**
* **`source`**
* **`env_name`**
* **`entity_workload`**
* **`entity_namespace`**
* **`type`**


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