What is the impact of data retention on the NPM database?

• A. Retention settings control how long data kept; longer retention increases database size; rollups/archiving mitigate growth.
• B. Retention is fixed to 7 days
• C. It does not affect database size
• D. It only applies to backups

Answer: (A)

Data retention determines how long the NPM database keeps performance data. When you store data longer, more records remain in the database, so the size grows, which increases storage needs and can affect backups and query performance. To keep growth in check, rollups summarize older data into lower-resolution records and archiving moves older data to cheaper storage while preserving access to trends. This is why longer retention directly increases database size and why rollups and archiving are used to mitigate that growth. The idea that retention is fixed to seven days isn’t accurate, and retention isn’t solely about backups—it governs how long all performance data stay in the primary store.