Data retention in VCops 5

[pilphil]

Is it possible to set the data retention value (Configuration -> General -> Data Retention) to less than 4 years? 

[critical3rr0r]

Yes, this KB article should guide you.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=200822...

You can find more information in the Operations Manager Enterprise Administration Guide in chapter 11 I think.

Good luck!

[pilphil]

Thanks very much for your prompt response!

I did come across that article on the steps to configure the data retention metrics for FSDB in vCenter Operations - however, the  defaults specified in the article for the Standard and Enterprise editions are 180 days and 900 days respectively. What I see as default on the vsphere-UI, for Data Retention under Annual Resolution, is 4 years. The possible values are 4,5...10 years. I could not see the link between the values on the UI and the values suggested by the analytics/advanced.properties file mentioned in the kb. Is there something I'm missing here?

Thanks again, for your help!

[critical3rr0r]

Ok, here is my personal understanding of the way this works. The UI settings:

determines how data is aged. The link provided and described in detail in the VMware vCenter Operations Manager Enterprise Administration Guide on pages 96 and 97 describes the frequency at which aged data is removed from the database. Again, this is my understanding of how the system determines what "old" data actually is. Pages 112-116 of the guide also have good information about how the database works.