Log Ingestion Retention Footprint Calculator

Method, formula and assumptions

Raw bytes/s = event rate x mean event bytes. Apply retained-event and compressed-byte fractions, multiply by 86,400 seconds/day and retention days, then by total replicas.

Input definitions and supported units

• Events per second: Measured or assumed numerical value, from 0 to 1000000; zero is supported where the stated method permits it.
• Mean raw bytes per event: Measured or assumed numerical value, from 1 to 1000000; must be positive.
• Events retained after filtering (%): Measured or assumed numerical value, from 0 to 100; zero is supported where the stated method permits it.
• Stored/raw byte fraction (%): Measured or assumed numerical value, from 0.01 to 100; must be positive.
• Retention duration (days): Measured or assumed numerical value, from 0 to 3650; zero is supported where the stated method permits it.
• Total stored replicas: Whole-number count, from 1 to 100; must be positive.

Worked example with answer

1,000 events/s at 500 bytes ingest 0.5 MB/s raw. Keeping 50% and storing 40% of their bytes yields 0.1 MB/s per replica, 259.2 GB for 30 days and 518.4 GB across two replicas.

How to use the results

Retained-event fraction and compression fraction are separate: filtering removes events, while compression reduces bytes in retained events.

Results retain full precision internally and display up to four decimal places. Very small nonzero results use scientific notation rather than appearing as zero. Check the labels before comparing values across units.

Limitations and references

Excludes indexes, metadata, compaction overlap, burst buffers and filesystem overhead. Mean event size and steady rate should come from measurements.

The method is a self-contained arithmetic, geometric or explicitly stated mathematical model. There are no imported tariffs, empirical presets or equipment specifications; measured values and allowances must come from your own process.

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• Full and Incremental Backup Retention Calculator
• Request-Based SLO Error Budget Calculator

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