Hi, I set the the `Retention Period` to `1 hour` yesterday, but the old data is still here. How can...

Karim

08/28/2025, 7:21 AM

Hi, I set the the

Retention Period

1 hour

yesterday, but the old data is still here. How can I clean the traces/logs/metrics fro the ClickHouse database completely, please?

Karim

08/28/2025, 7:22 AM

ChatGPT gave me this, but I’m not sure about this one:

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docker exec -it clickhouse bash
clickhouse-client -u default --password

then:

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TRUNCATE TABLE signoz_traces.signoz_index_v2;
TRUNCATE TABLE signoz_traces.signoz_spans;
TRUNCATE TABLE signoz_logs.signoz_logs;
TRUNCATE TABLE signoz_logs.signoz_log_attributes;

Nagesh Bansal

08/29/2025, 1:32 AM

Hey @Karim

When retention settings are updated, the changes apply only to newly ingested data. Existing data retains the previous retention settings, as updating retention for existing data is a resource-intensive process.

Nagesh Bansal

08/29/2025, 1:35 AM

I'm not sure whether you can rely on the queries you've shared. However, you can check how data is stored in Clickhouse, i.e., which tables are created by Signoz in these docs: https://signoz.io/docs/userguide/write-a-metrics-clickhouse-query/

Karim

08/29/2025, 2:02 PM

Ok, thanks for the reply. I can wait 15 days for the data to be cleaned, it’s not a big deal, thank you

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