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+<!--
+title: "Distributed data architecture"
+description: "Netdata's distributed data architecture stores metrics on individual nodes for high performance and scalability using all your granular metrics."
+custom_edit_url: https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/docs/store/distributed-data-architecture.md
+-->
+
+# Distributed data architecture
+
+Netdata uses a distributed data architecture to help you collect and store per-second metrics from any number of nodes.
+Every node in your infrastructure, whether it's one or a thousand, stores the metrics it collects.
+
+Netdata Cloud bridges the gap between many distributed databases by _centralizing the interface_ you use to query and
+visualize your nodes' metrics. When you [look at charts in Netdata Cloud](/docs/visualize/interact-dashboards-charts.md)
+, the metrics values are queried directly from that node's database and securely streamed to Netdata Cloud, which
+proxies them to your browser.
+
+Netdata's distributed data architecture has a number of benefits:
+
+- **Performance**: Every query to a node's database takes only a few milliseconds to complete for responsiveness when
+ viewing dashboards or using features
+ like [Metric Correlations](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/cloud/insights/metric-correlations).
+- **Scalability**: As your infrastructure scales, install the Netdata Agent on every new node to immediately add it to
+ your monitoring solution without adding cost or complexity.
+- **1-second granularity**: Without an expensive centralized data lake, you can store all of your nodes' per-second
+ metrics, for any period of time, while keeping costs down.
+- **No filtering or selecting of metrics**: Because Netdata's distributed data architecture allows you to store all
+ metrics, you don't have to configure which metrics you retain. Keep everything for full visibility during
+ troubleshooting and root cause analysis.
+- **Easy maintenance**: There is no centralized data lake to purchase, allocate, monitor, and update, removing
+ complexity from your monitoring infrastructure.
+
+## Ephemerality of metrics
+
+The ephemerality of metrics plays an important role in retention. In environments where metrics collection is dynamic and
+new metrics are constantly being generated, we are interested about 2 parameters:
+
+1. The **expected concurrent number of metrics** as an average for the lifetime of the database. This affects mainly the
+ storage requirements.
+
+2. The **expected total number of unique metrics** for the lifetime of the database. This affects mainly the memory
+ requirements for having all these metrics indexed and available to be queried.
+
+## Granularity of metrics
+
+The granularity of metrics (the frequency they are collected and stored, i.e. their resolution) is significantly
+affecting retention.
+
+Lowering the granularity from per second to every two seconds, will double their retention and half the CPU requirements
+of the Netdata Agent, without affecting disk space or memory requirements.
+
+## Long-term metrics storage with Netdata
+
+Any node running the Netdata Agent can store long-term metrics for any retention period, given you allocate the
+appropriate amount of RAM and disk space.
+
+Read our document on changing [how long Netdata stores metrics](/docs/store/change-metrics-storage.md) on your nodes for
+details.
+
+You can also stream between nodes using [streaming](/streaming/README.md), allowing to replicate databases and create
+your own centralized data lake of metrics, if you choose to do so.
+
+While a distributed data architecture is the default when monitoring infrastructure with Netdata, you can also configure
+its behavior based on your needs or the type of infrastructure you manage.
+
+To archive metrics to an external time-series database, such as InfluxDB, Graphite, OpenTSDB, Elasticsearch,
+TimescaleDB, and many others, see details on [integrating Netdata via exporting](/docs/export/external-databases.md).
+
+When you use the database engine to store your metrics, you can always perform a quick backup of a node's
+`/var/cache/netdata/dbengine/` folder using the tool of your choice.
+
+## Does Netdata Cloud store my metrics?
+
+Netdata Cloud does not store metric values.
+
+To enable certain features, such as [viewing active alarms](/docs/monitor/view-active-alarms.md)
+or [filtering by hostname/service](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/cloud/war-rooms#node-filter), Netdata Cloud does
+store configured alarms, their status, and a list of active collectors.
+
+Netdata does not and never will sell your personal data or data about your deployment.
+
+## What's next?
+
+You can configure the Netdata Agent to store days, weeks, or months worth of distributed, per-second data by
+[configuring the database engine](/docs/store/change-metrics-storage.md). Use our calculator to determine the system
+resources required to retain your desired amount of metrics, and expand or contract the database by editing a single
+setting.
+
+