Data Retention

Data retention policies control how long OpsKnight stores historical data. Configure these settings to balance storage costs, performance, and compliance requirements.

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Overview

Retention policies help:

• Reduce storage costs — Automatically remove old data
• Improve performance — Smaller datasets mean faster queries
• Meet compliance — Retain data for required periods
• Protect privacy — Remove data after it's no longer needed

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Retention Settings

Location: Settings → System → Data Retention

Requirements: Admin role

Data Type	Setting	Default	Description
Incidents	incidentRetentionDays	730 (2 years)	Resolved incident records
Alerts	alertRetentionDays	365 (1 year)	Raw alert events
Logs	logRetentionDays	90 days	Application log entries
Metrics	metricsRetentionDays	365 (1 year)	Pre-aggregated metric rollups
Real-time Window	realTimeWindowDays	90 days	Period for real-time analytics queries

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Presets

OpsKnight provides preconfigured presets for common use cases:

Minimal (90 days)

Setting	Value
Incidents	90 days
Alerts	30 days
Logs	14 days
Metrics	90 days
Real-time Window	30 days

Best for: Development environments, cost-sensitive deployments

Standard (1 year)

Setting	Value
Incidents	365 days
Alerts	180 days
Logs	30 days
Metrics	365 days
Real-time Window	60 days

Best for: Most production environments

Extended (2 years)

Setting	Value
Incidents	730 days
Alerts	365 days
Logs	90 days
Metrics	730 days
Real-time Window	90 days

Best for: Teams needing longer historical data

Enterprise (5 years)

Setting	Value
Incidents	1825 days
Alerts	730 days
Logs	180 days
Metrics	1825 days
Real-time Window	90 days

Best for: Enterprise with extended retention needs

Compliance (7 years)

Setting	Value
Incidents	2555 days
Alerts	1825 days
Logs	365 days
Metrics	2555 days
Real-time Window	90 days

Best for: Organizations with regulatory requirements (SOX, HIPAA)

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Configuring Retention

Via UI

1. Go to Settings → System → Data Retention
2. Select a preset or configure custom values
3. Click Save

Via API

Get current settings:

GET /api/settings/retention
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

Response:

{
  "policy": {
    "incidentRetentionDays": 730,
    "alertRetentionDays": 365,
    "logRetentionDays": 90,
    "metricsRetentionDays": 365,
    "realTimeWindowDays": 90
  },
  "stats": {
    "incidentCount": 1250,
    "alertCount": 45000,
    "logCount": 125000
  },
  "presets": [...]
}

Update settings:

PUT /api/settings/retention
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "incidentRetentionDays": 365,
  "alertRetentionDays": 180,
  "logRetentionDays": 30
}

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Data Cleanup

Automatic Cleanup

OpsKnight runs automatic cleanup based on your retention settings. Data older than the configured retention period is permanently deleted.

Manual Cleanup

Trigger cleanup manually for immediate effect:

1. Go to Settings → System → Data Retention
2. Click Run Cleanup
3. Choose Dry Run to preview or Execute to delete

Via API

Dry run (preview what will be deleted):

POST /api/settings/retention
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "dryRun": true
}

Execute cleanup:

POST /api/settings/retention
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "dryRun": false
}

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "dryRun": false,
  "result": {
    "incidentsDeleted": 150,
    "alertsDeleted": 5000,
    "logsDeleted": 25000
  }
}

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What Gets Deleted

Incident Data

When incidents exceed retention:

• Incident record
• Associated alerts
• Timeline events
• Notes
• Custom field values

Alert Data

When alerts exceed retention:

• Raw alert payload
• Deduplication records

Log Data

When logs exceed retention:

• Application log entries
• Debug information

Metric Rollups

When metrics exceed retention:

• Daily/weekly/monthly aggregations
• Historical SLA snapshots

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Storage Statistics

View current storage usage:

1. Go to Settings → System → Data Retention
2. See Storage Statistics section

Statistics include:

• Total incident count
• Total alert count
• Total log count
• Data eligible for cleanup

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Compliance Considerations

GDPR

• Set appropriate retention periods for personal data
• Export data before deletion if needed
• Document retention policies

HIPAA

• Extended retention often required (7+ years)
• Use Compliance preset as starting point
• Ensure audit logs have sufficient retention

SOC 2

• Maintain audit trails
• Document retention procedures
• Regular review of policies

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Best Practices

Setting Retention

Consideration	Recommendation
Compliance requirements	Check regulatory minimums first
Storage costs	Balance cost vs. historical data needs
Analytics needs	Keep enough for trend analysis
Debugging	Short retention for logs is usually fine

Before Reducing Retention

1. Export critical data — Download reports before cleanup
2. Test with dry run — Preview impact before executing
3. Communicate — Inform team of policy changes

Real-time Window

The realTimeWindowDays setting affects analytics performance:

• Queries within this window use live data
• Queries beyond use pre-aggregated rollups
• Larger windows = slower queries but more accuracy
• Recommended: 60-90 days for most deployments

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Related Topics

• Audit Logs — Audit log retention
• Analytics — Historical data analysis