Configuring history and data retention

Specify how long to retain the data that is collected about resources and the log files that are generated by IBM Spectrum® Control. By specifying the number of weeks for history retention, you can control the amount of data that is retained and available for historical analysis and charting. The longer that you retain data, the more informative your analysis, but the more storage space that is required to store that data.

Data that IBM Spectrum Control collects about a storage environment is stored in a DB2® database repository. The amount of data that is retained about resources can grow over time, and thus require more storage space for the repository. You can use the History Retention page to modify the data retention settings according to the monitoring and storage requirements of your environment. You must be assigned the Administrator role to modify data retention settings.
  1. In the menu bar, go to Settings > History Retention.
  2. Click Edit to modify the following data retention settings:
    Capacity history
    Specify how long to retain a history of the capacity data that is collected about monitored resources. This value determines the amount of capacity data that is retained and available for historical analysis and charting. The longer that you retain data, the more informative your analysis, but the more storage space that is required.
    Daily
    Specify how long to retain capacity data that is collected daily about resources. You can retain daily data for up to 72 weeks and a minimum of 2 weeks.
    Weekly
    Specify how long to retain capacity data that is aggregated weekly for monitored resources. You can retain weekly aggregates for up to 96 weeks and a minimum of 4 weeks.
    Monthly
    Specify how long to retain capacity data that is aggregated monthly for monitored resources. You can retain monthly aggregates for up to 48 months and a minimum of 2 months.
    Performance data
    Specify how long to retain data that is collected by performance monitors.
    Sample
    Specify how long to retain sample data that is collected by performance monitors. Sample data represents the data that is collected each time a performance monitor is run. Because sample data is collected frequently, retaining that data can require significant disk space in the database repository. The required disk space is determined by the types of switches, storage systems, and number of volumes that are being monitored. You can retain sample data for up to 12 weeks.
    Hourly
    Specify how long to retain hourly data that is collected by performance monitors. You can retain hourly data for up to 24 weeks.
    Daily
    Specify how long to retain daily data that is collected by performance monitors. You can retain daily data for up to 156 weeks.
    Consolidating performance data: Performance data is collected at intervals. An interval represents the number of minutes over which samples of performance data are averaged. When performance history is retained, data that is collected at certain intervals is automatically consolidated, or rolled up, to higher intervals. For example, data collected at 1-minute intervals is consolidated into 5-minute data; data collected at 5-minute intervals is consolidated into 1-hour data; and so on.
    Tip: If performance data is collected at 1-minute intervals, the amount of data that is stored in the database repository increases significantly. The product stores only 7 days of sample data that is collected at 1-minute intervals.
    Data for missing resources
    Specify how long to retain data about internal resources that are no longer detected by IBM Spectrum Control. You can retain the data of removed resources for up to 52 weeks.
    If the internal resource of a top-level resource is not detected when that top-level resource is probed, data about the resource is removed when the time limit is reached. The internal resource is removed only from the top-level resource that is probed. For example, if two weeks are specified, the data for a pool that is missing from a storage system for more than two weeks will be removed.
    Only internal resources are automatically removed according to this setting. Storage systems, servers, hypervisors, switches, and fabrics must be removed manually.
    Alert logs
    Specify how long to retain alerts. An entry is generated each time that an alert condition is detected on a resource. Any alert that is older than this value is deleted. You can retain alerts for up to 12 weeks.
    Job logs
    Specify the maximum number of logs that are retained for data collection jobs. A log file is created each time that a job is run. When this number is reached, the entry for the oldest log is deleted. For example, if you accept the default value 5, and then run a probe 6 times, the log file for the first run is deleted. You can retain up to 20 logs for a job.
  3. Click Save to apply the retention settings.
  4. Click Restore Defaults to restore the retention settings to their default values.