Updates to retention for container metrics​

In order to reduce infrastructure cost, container metrics storage has been updated to a 90-day retention policy. Container metrics are not subject to M-21-31 logging requirements, so this change does not affect M-21-31 compliance.

The new retention policy for container metrics is implemented as follows:

• Metrics from August 11, 2025 and earlier - All container metrics from August 11th, 2025 and earlier will remain available for a year with the last one rolling off on August 11th, 2026.
• Metrics for August 12, 2025 and afterwards - Starting August 12th, 2025, metrics will follow the 90-day retention policy, meaning metrics from August 12th, 2025 will be deleted on November 13th, 2025. This rolling 90-day deletion pattern will continue for all subsequent metrics.

New retention and visualizations for AWS metrics​

AWS metrics (RDS databases, S3 buckets, etc) are being transitioned to a new 90-day retention policy. Implementing this retention policy also required changing how these metrics are stored in the logging system.

With the changes to the storage of these metrics, the visualizations of these metrics have to be updated as well. To ensure continuity of access to your AWS metrics data, the rollout of the updated visualizations will be handled as follows:

• Visualizations (e.g. Opensearch/Elasticsearch CPUUtilization) will be updated to read metrics from the new storage pattern.
• Legacy visualizations will be added to display metrics data from before the cutover to the new storage pattern. These visualizations will be named with a - Old suffix (e.g., Opensearch/Elasticsearch CPUUtilization - Old).
  • Legacy visualizations will continue to receive data during the transition until the new system has accumulated 90 days of historical data.

Improvements to AWS metrics ingestion​

The Cloud.gov team is also updating the tools for ingesting AWS metrics into the logging system. The benefits of the updated ingestion pattern are:

• Consistent Daily Metrics: Daily S3 bucket size reporting with constant interval.
• Near Real-Time Updates: AWS metrics will stay updated to within the last 4 minutes of metric collection time
• Increased OpenSearch Integration: The new system will allow for easier addition of new AWS metrics to OpenSearch.

For questions about this migration, please contact Cloud.gov support.