---
title: Manage buckets
description: Manage buckets in InfluxDB Cloud Serverless using the InfluxDB UI, influx CLI, or InfluxDB HTTP API.
url: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/admin/buckets/
estimated_tokens: 905
product: InfluxDB Cloud Serverless
version: cloud-serverless
---

# Manage buckets

A **bucket** is a named location where time series data is stored. All buckets have a [retention period](#retention-period), a duration of time that each data point persists. InfluxDB drops all points with timestamps older than the bucket’s retention period. A bucket belongs to an organization.

**If coming from InfluxDB v1**, the concepts of databases and retention policies have been combined into a single concept–*bucket*. Retention policies are no longer part of the InfluxDB data model. However, InfluxDB Cloud Serverless does support InfluxQL and the InfluxDB v1 API `/write` and `/query` endpoints, which require databases and retention policies. See how to [map v1 databases and retention policies to buckets](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/guides/api-compatibility/v1/#map-v1-databases-and-retention-policies-to-buckets).

**If coming from InfluxDB v2 or InfluxDB Cloud**, *buckets* are functionally equivalent.

**If coming from InfluxDB Cloud Dedicated or InfluxDB Clustered**, *database* and *bucket* are synonymous.

## Retention period

A bucket **retention period** is the maximum age of data stored in the bucket. 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 bucket the next time the retention enforcement service runs.

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

You can [update a bucket](#update-a-bucket) to change the retention period.

## Table and column limits

In InfluxDB Cloud Serverless, table (measurement) and column are limited per bucket. Each measurement is represented by a table. Time, fields, and tags are each represented by a column.

**Maximum number of tables**: 500

**Maximum number of columns**: 200

The following articles provide information about managing buckets:

### [Create a bucket](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/admin/buckets/create-bucket/)

Create buckets to store time series data in InfluxDB Cloud Serverless using the InfluxDB UI, influx CLI, or InfluxDB HTTP API. Map DBRPs to buckets for querying with InfluxQL and using the InfluxDB API `/write` and `/query` endpoints.

### [Update a bucket](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/admin/buckets/update-bucket/)

Update a bucket’s name or retention period in InfluxDB using the InfluxDB UI or the influx CLI.

### [View buckets](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/admin/buckets/view-buckets/)

View a list of all the buckets for an organization in InfluxDB Cloud Serverless using the InfluxDB UI, influx CLI, or InfluxDB HTTP API.

### [Manage explicit bucket schemas](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/admin/buckets/manage-explicit-bucket-schemas/)

Manage and troubleshoot explicit bucket schemas using the influx CLI or InfluxDB HTTP API.