Documentation

Manage databases

An InfluxDB database is a named location where time series data is stored. Each InfluxDB database has a retention period.

If coming from InfluxDB v1, the concepts of databases and retention policies have been combined into a single concept–database. Retention policies are no longer part of the InfluxDB data model. However, InfluxDB Cloud Dedicated does support InfluxQL, which requires databases and retention policies. See InfluxQL DBRP naming convention.

If coming from InfluxDB v2 or InfluxDB Cloud, database and bucket are synonymous.

Retention periods

A database retention period is the maximum age of data stored in the database. The age of data is determined by the timestamp associated with each point. When a point’s timestamp is beyond the retention period (relative to now), the point is marked for deletion and is removed from the database the next time the retention enforcement service runs.

The minimum retention period for and InfluxDB database is 1 hour. The maximum retention period is infinite meaning data does not expire and will never be removed by the retention enforcement service.

Retention periods cannot be updated

Retention periods cannot be changed after a database is created. To move to a different retention period, create a new database with the retention period you want and migrate existing data to the new database.



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