Batch Delete Expired Data with Row-Level TTL

On this page

New in v22.1: CockroachDB has preview support for Time to Live ("TTL") expiration on table rows, also known as Row-Level TTL. Row-Level TTL is a mechanism whereby rows from a table are considered "expired" and can be automatically deleted once those rows have been stored longer than a specified expiration time.

Row-Level TTL is in preview because it may not satisfy all functional and performance requirements of your workload. For more information see Limitations.

By using Row-Level TTL, you can avoid the complexity of writing and managing scheduled jobs from the application layer to mark rows as expired and perform the necessary deletions. Doing it yourself can become complicated due to the need to balance the timeliness of the deletions vs. the potentially negative performance impact of those deletions on foreground traffic from your application.

Use cases for Row-Level TTL include:

• Delete inactive data events to manage data size and performance: For example, you may want to delete order records from an online store after 90 days.

• Delete data no longer needed for compliance: For example, a banking application may need to keep some subset of data for a period of time due to financial regulations. Row-Level TTL can be used to remove data older than that period on a rolling, continuous basis.

• Outbox pattern: When events are written to an outbox table and published to an external system like Kafka using CockroachDB's Change Data Capture (CDC) feature (also known as "changefeeds"), those events must be deleted to prevent unbounded growth in the size of the outbox table.

How it works

At a high level, Row-Level TTL works by:

• Issuing a selection query at a historical timestamp, yielding a set of rows that are eligible for deletion (also known as "expired").
• Issuing batched DELETE statements for the expired rows.
• As part of the above process, deciding how many rows to SELECT and DELETE at once in each of the above queries.
• Running the SQL queries described above in parallel as background jobs.
• To minimize the performance impact on foreground application queries, the background deletion queries are rate limited; they are also submitted at a lower priority level using the admission control system. When foreground traffic increases, CockroachDB will reduce the resources allocated to TTL deletes to handle the foreground traffic. When foreground traffic decreases, CockroachDB will increase the resources allocated to TTL deletes.

The process above is conceptually similar to the process described by Batch delete on an indexed column, except that Row-Level TTL is built into CockroachDB, so it saves you from having to write code to manage the process from your application and/or external job processing framework, including tuning the rate and performance of your background queries so they don't affect foreground application query performance.

When are rows deleted?

Once rows are expired (that is, are older than the specified TTL interval), they are eligible to be deleted. However, eligible rows may not be deleted right away. Instead, they are scheduled for deletion using a background job that is run at the interval defined by the ttl_job_cron storage parameter.

Syntax overview

TTLs are defined on a per-table basis using SQL statements. The syntax for creating a table with an automatically managed TTL extends the storage_parameter syntax. For example, the SQL statement

CREATE TABLE ttl_test (
  id UUID PRIMARY KEY default gen_random_uuid(),
  description TEXT,
  inserted_at TIMESTAMP default current_timestamp()
) WITH (ttl_expire_after = '3 months');

has the following effects:

1. Creates a repeating scheduled job for the ttl_test table.
2. Adds a NOT VISIBLE column called crdb_internal_expiration of type TIMESTAMPTZ to represent the TTL.
3. Implicitly adds the ttl and ttl_automatic_column storage parameters.

To see the hidden column and the storage parameters, enter the SHOW CREATE TABLE statement:

SHOW CREATE TABLE ttl_test;

  table_name |                                                                                           create_statement
-------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  ttl_test   | CREATE TABLE public.ttl_test (
             |     id UUID NOT NULL DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(),
             |     description STRING NULL,
             |     inserted_at TIMESTAMP NULL DEFAULT current_timestamp():::TIMESTAMP,
             |     crdb_internal_expiration TIMESTAMPTZ NOT VISIBLE NOT NULL DEFAULT current_timestamp():::TIMESTAMPTZ + '00:03:00':::INTERVAL ON UPDATE current_timestamp():::TIMESTAMPTZ + '00:03:00':::INTERVAL,
             |     CONSTRAINT ttl_test_pkey PRIMARY KEY (id ASC)
             | ) WITH (ttl = 'on', ttl_automatic_column = 'on', ttl_expire_after = '3 mons':::INTERVAL)
(1 row)

TTL storage parameters

The settings that control the behavior of Row-Level TTL are provided using storage parameters. These parameters can be set during table creation using CREATE TABLE, added to an existing table using the ALTER TABLE statement, or reset to default values.

For more information about TTL-related cluster settings, see View TTL-related cluster settings.

TTL metrics

The table below lists the metrics you can use to monitor the effectiveness of your TTL settings. These metrics are visible on the Advanced Debug Page, as well as at the _status/vars endpoint which can be scraped by Prometheus.

By default, these metrics are aggregated, meaning that all TTL tables will report the metrics under the same label. If you want to have metrics labelled by table name (at the risk of added cardinality), you must take the following steps:

• Set the server.child_metrics.enabled cluster setting to true.
• Set the ttl_label_metrics storage parameter to true.

Examples

Create a table with Row-Level TTL

To specify a TTL when creating a table, use the SQL syntax shown below. For example, to create a new table with rows that expire after a 3 month interval, execute a statement like the following:

CREATE TABLE events (
  id UUID PRIMARY KEY default gen_random_uuid(),
  description TEXT,
  inserted_at TIMESTAMP default current_timestamp()
) WITH (ttl_expire_after = '3 months');

CREATE TABLE

Insert some data; it should work as expected:

INSERT INTO events (description) VALUES ('a thing'), ('another thing'), ('yet another thing');

INSERT 3

To see the rows and their expirations, enter the following query:

SELECT *, crdb_internal_expiration FROM events;

                   id                  |    description    |        inserted_at         |   crdb_internal_expiration
---------------------------------------+-------------------+----------------------------+--------------------------------
  117c35fe-97f6-43bc-919f-fcd2ea13779e | a thing           | 2022-04-19 18:29:53.846697 | 2022-07-19 18:29:53.846697+00
  c294890f-2f14-4e18-8001-5f806ed9bfd1 | yet another thing | 2022-04-19 18:29:53.846697 | 2022-07-19 18:29:53.846697+00
  ea72189c-2f17-4a8e-b479-6b050a87e3bb | another thing     | 2022-04-19 18:29:53.846697 | 2022-07-19 18:29:53.846697+00
(3 rows)

Add or update the row-level TTL for an existing table

To add or change the row-level TTL expiration for an existing table, use the SQL syntax shown below.

ALTER TABLE events SET (ttl_expire_after = '1 year');

ALTER TABLE

View scheduled TTL jobs

You can use SHOW SCHEDULES to view all TTL-related scheduled jobs by executing the following query:

SHOW SCHEDULES;

          id         |        label         | schedule_status |        next_run        |  state  | recurrence | jobsrunning | owner |            created            |     command
---------------------+----------------------+-----------------+------------------------+---------+------------+-------------+-------+-------------------------------+-------------------
  747608117920104449 | sql-stats-compaction | ACTIVE          | 2022-03-25 16:00:00+00 | pending | @hourly    |           0 | node  | 2022-03-25 15:31:31.444067+00 | {}
  747609229470433281 | row-level-ttl-112    | ACTIVE          | 2022-03-25 16:00:00+00 | NULL    | @hourly    |           0 | root  | 2022-03-25 15:37:10.613056+00 | {"tableId": 112}
(2 rows)

View running TTL jobs

You can use SHOW JOBS to see any running TTL jobs by executing the following query:

WITH x AS (SHOW JOBS) SELECT * from x WHERE job_type = 'ROW LEVEL TTL';

        job_id       |   job_type    | description | statement | user_name | status | running_status |          created           |          started           |          finished          |          modified          | fraction_completed |                                    error                                    | coordinator_id |      trace_id       |          last_run          |          next_run          | num_runs | execution_errors
---------------------+---------------+-------------+-----------+-----------+--------+----------------+----------------------------+----------------------------+----------------------------+----------------------------+--------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------+---------------------+----------------------------+----------------------------+----------+-------------------
  751553547665211401 | ROW LEVEL TTL | ttl         |           | node      | failed | NULL           | 2022-04-08 13:59:00.008994 | 2022-04-08 13:59:02.730252 | 2022-04-08 13:59:03.367008 | 2022-04-08 13:59:02.587079 |                  0 | found a recent schema change on the table at 2022-04-08T13:58:35Z, aborting |              5 | 6643876482632317647 | 2022-04-08 13:59:03.224766 | 2022-04-08 13:59:33.224766 |        1 | {}
(1 row)

Reset a storage parameter to its default value

To reset a TTL storage parameter to its default value, use the ALTER TABLE statement:

ALTER TABLE events RESET (ttl_job_cron);

ALTER TABLE

View TTL storage parameters on a table

To view TTL storage parameters on a table, you can use SHOW CREATE TABLE:

SHOW CREATE TABLE events;

  table_name |                                                                                          create_statement
-------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  events     | CREATE TABLE public.events (
             |     id UUID NOT NULL DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(),
             |     description STRING NULL,
             |     inserted_at TIMESTAMP NULL DEFAULT current_timestamp():::TIMESTAMP,
             |     crdb_internal_expiration TIMESTAMPTZ NOT VISIBLE NOT NULL DEFAULT current_timestamp():::TIMESTAMPTZ + '90 days':::INTERVAL ON UPDATE current_timestamp():::TIMESTAMPTZ + '90 days':::INTERVAL,
             |     CONSTRAINT events_pkey PRIMARY KEY (id ASC)
             | ) WITH (ttl = 'on', ttl_automatic_column = 'on', ttl_expire_after = '90 days':::INTERVAL)
(1 row)

You can also use the following query:

SELECT relname, reloptions FROM pg_class WHERE relname = 'events';

  relname |                                 reloptions
----------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  events  | NULL
  events  | {ttl='on',ttl_automatic_column='on',ttl_expire_after='90 days':::INTERVAL}
(2 rows)

Control how often the TTL job runs

Setting a TTL on a table controls when the rows therein are considered expired, but it only says that such rows may be deleted at any time after the expiration. To control how often the TTL deletion job runs, use the ttl_job_cron storage parameter, which supports CRON syntax.

To control the job interval at CREATE TABLE time, add the storage parameter as shown below:

CREATE TABLE tbl (
  id UUID PRIMARY KEY default gen_random_uuid(),
  value TEXT
) WITH (ttl_expire_after = '3 weeks', ttl_job_cron = '@daily');

CREATE TABLE

To update the TTL deletion job interval on a table that already has Row-Level TTL enabled, use ALTER TABLE:

ALTER TABLE tbl SET (ttl_job_cron = '@weekly');

ALTER TABLE

Pause the TTL job from running

To pause the TTL job from running on a table, use the ttl_pause storage parameter:

ALTER TABLE events SET (ttl_pause = 'on');

ALTER TABLE

If you run the TTL pausing statement above against a table that does not have TTL enabled, you will get the following error:

ERROR: "ttl_expire_after" must be set
SQLSTATE: 22023

Filter out expired rows from a selection query

To fetch only those rows from a table that have not yet expired their TTL, use the hidden crdb_internal_expiration column as shown below:

SELECT * FROM events WHERE crdb_internal_expiration > now();

                   id                  |    description    |        inserted_at
---------------------------------------+-------------------+-----------------------------
  6d25862e-2e48-4993-ac3a-a2abbebebf32 | yet another thing | 2022-03-17 20:01:56.138216
  a9404386-c4da-415f-b0b0-0dfad0f13c80 | a thing           | 2022-03-17 20:01:56.138216
  d4ebf8cd-e482-4abb-8968-2ba39c9197d9 | another thing     | 2022-03-17 20:01:56.138216
(3 rows)

Remove Row-Level TTL from a table

To drop the TTL on an existing table, reset the ttl storage parameter.

ALTER TABLE events RESET (ttl);

Set the Row-Level TTL for an individual row

Setting the TTL for an individual row can be useful for compliance reasons, or when troubleshooting your TTL settings.

To set (or change) the TTL for an individual row, issue a query like the one shown below. It updates the expiration of one of the rows you entered when you created the table to use an interval of '1 year'.

UPDATE events SET crdb_internal_expiration = current_timestamp():::TIMESTAMPTZ + '1 year'::INTERVAL where id = 'a9404386-c4da-415f-b0b0-0dfad0f13c80';

UPDATE 1

You can view the new expiration by entering the following query:

SELECT *, crdb_internal_expiration from events WHERE id = ' a9404386-c4da-415f-b0b0-0dfad0f13c80';

                   id                  | description |        inserted_at         |   crdb_internal_expiration
---------------------------------------+-------------+----------------------------+--------------------------------
  a9404386-c4da-415f-b0b0-0dfad0f13c80 | a thing     | 2022-04-19 19:53:00.037216 | 2023-04-19 19:57:27.592898+00
(1 row)

Disable TTL jobs for the whole cluster

To disable TTL jobs for the whole cluster, set the sql.ttl.job.enabled cluster setting to false:

SET CLUSTER SETTING sql.ttl.job.enabled = false;

SET CLUSTER SETTING

View TTL-related cluster settings

To view the cluster settings that control how Row-Level TTL works, issue the following query:

WITH x AS (SHOW CLUSTER SETTINGS) SELECT * FROM x WHERE variable LIKE 'sql.ttl.%';

              variable              | value | setting_type |                                 description
------------------------------------+-------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  sql.ttl.default_delete_batch_size | 100   | i            | default amount of rows to delete in a single query during a TTL job
  sql.ttl.default_delete_rate_limit | 0     | i            | default delete rate limit for all TTL jobs. Use 0 to signify no rate limit.
  sql.ttl.default_range_concurrency | 1     | i            | default amount of ranges to process at once during a TTL delete
  sql.ttl.default_select_batch_size | 500   | i            | default amount of rows to select in a single query during a TTL job
  sql.ttl.job.enabled               | true  | b            | whether the TTL job is enabled
  sql.ttl.range_batch_size          | 100   | i            | amount of ranges to fetch at a time for a table during the TTL job
(6 rows)

Common errors

If you attempt to update a TTL storage parameter on a table that does not have TTL enabled, you will get an error as shown below:

ALTER TABLE events SET (ttl_job_cron = '@weekly');

ERROR: "ttl_expire_after" must be set
SQLSTATE: 22023

If you try to reset a TTL storage parameter but resetting that parameter would result in an invalid state of the TTL subsystem, CockroachDB will signal an error. For example, there is only one way to remove Row-Level TTL from a table. If you try to remove the TTL from a table by resetting the ttl_expire_after storage parameter you set earlier, you will get the following error:

ALTER TABLE tbl RESET (ttl_expire_after);

ERROR: resetting "ttl_expire_after" is not permitted
SQLSTATE: 22023
HINT: use `RESET (ttl)` to remove TTL from the table

Changefeeds

Row-level TTL interacts with changefeeds in the following ways:

• When expired rows are deleted, a changefeed delete message is emitted.

Backup and restore

Row-level TTL interacts with backup and restore in the following ways:

• When you run a BACKUP, all row-level TTL information associated with the tables being backed up (including TTL expiration times) is also backed up.

• When you RESTORE from a backup, all row-level TTL information associated with the tables being restored (including TTL expiration times) is also restored. Any expired rows in the restored tables are eligible to be deleted by the TTL job.

Required Privileges

To add or update Row-Level TTL settings on a table, you must have one of the following:

• Membership to the owner role for the database where the table is located.
• The CREATE or ALTER privilege on the database where the table is located.

Limitations

• You cannot use foreign keys to create references to or from a table that uses Row-Level TTL. cockroachdb/cockroach#76407
• Any queries you run against tables with Row-Level TTL enabled do not filter out expired rows from the result set (this includes UPDATEs and DELETEs). This feature may be added in a future release. For now, follow the instructions in Filter out expired rows from a selection query.
• The TTL cannot be customized based on the values of other columns in the row. cockroachdb/cockroach#76916
  • Because of the above limitation, adding TTL to large existing tables can negatively affect performance, since a new column must be created and backfilled for every row. Creating a new table with a TTL is not affected by this limitation.
• The queries executed by Row-Level TTL are not yet optimized for performance:
  • They do not use any indexes that may be available on the crdb_internal_expiration column.
  • They do not take into account node localities.
  • All deletes are run on a single node, instead of being distributed.
  • For details, see cockroachdb/cockroach#76914
• If you override the TTL for a row by setting crdb_internal_expiration directly, and the row is later updated (e.g., using an ON UPDATE expression), the TTL override is lost; it is reset to now() + ttl_expire_after.

See also

• Bulk-delete Data
• Delete data
• DELETE
• SELECT clause
• AS OF SYSTEM TIME
• TIMESTAMP
• INTERVAL
• SQL Performance Best Practices
• Developer Guide Overview

Was this helpful?