Configuring extended log retention

With extended log retention, you can retain logs for 30, 60, and 90 days, compared to the 7 days of default retention time of Instana core logging feature. You can keep logs for the extended period by configuring the retention period settings.

Required privileges

Changing the log retention is a sensitive setting in Instana. Therefore, Instana protects it by role-based access control (RBAC) mechanism. Only users that are assigned with the Instana owner group or a group with the permission to change retention periods can access the retention period settings page.

To assign permission to change retention period to a user group, complete the following steps:

  1. From the navigation menu in the Instana UI, select Setting > Team Settings > Groups.

  2. Click a group, and then click Edit.

  3. In the "Edit access configuration" window, click Global functions from the page menu.

  4. In the Log permissions area, select the Log retention period checkbox.

The Log retention period permission is available only after the logging add-on is activated for the tenant unit.

Modifying log retention period

To change the settings for log retention period, assign the Log retention period permission to the user through a group setting. For more information, see Required privileges.

To change the retention time, complete the following steps:

  1. From the navigation menu, select Settings.

  2. In the Log Management panel, select Retention Period. The log retention page displays the Current retention period and provides an Action Log link to view past log retention changes.

  3. Click Change retention period.

  4. In the "Change log retention period" window, enter the required details in the following fields:

    • Log retention period: Select the preferred retention time (30 days, 60 days, or 90 days).
    • Change reason: Add a reason for the change.
    • Type "CHANGE RETENTION": To confirm the change, type CHANGE RETENTION.
  5. Click Change retention period.

After the window is closed, the new retention setting is reflected on the Retention Period page.

Changing the retention time impacts the consumption of available logging budget from the corresponding retention buckets. For more information, see Consumption of logging budget.

Consumption of logging budget

In SaaS environments, the bucket from which the logging budget is consumed varies depending on the configured retention time. To avoid additional overage charges, make sure that your current entitlement is sufficient to cover any changes to the log retention period.

Configured retention time Retention bucket consumed Comments
30 days 30 days retention Budget from the 60 or 90 days bucket is not consumed.
60 days 60 days retention Budget from the 30 or 90 days bucket is not consumed.
90 days 90 days retention Budget from the 30 or 60 days bucket is not consumed.

For more information about the log message volume, see Log volume reports.

Checking the expiration date of log messages

To check the expiration date of log messages, complete the following steps:

  1. From the navigation menu in the Instana UI, select Analytics > Logs.

  2. On the Analytics tab, click a log message.

  3. In the log table, the date beside the Retained Unit indicates the duration for which a log message is available in Instana.