How long does Cloud Logging keep Admin Activity audit entries that land in the default _Required bucket?
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A
Admin Activity entries in the _Required bucket are retained for 400 days, and that period is fixed. If an organization needs a longer or customizable period, it must route copies with a log sink to a destination it controls, such as a Cloud Storage bucket, a BigQuery dataset, or a Pub/Sub topic feeding its own archive. Routing is the way to keep these entries beyond the fixed window.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. The 30-day default applies to Data Access entries in the _Default bucket, not to Admin Activity entries in _Required, and paying does not extend the _Required window.
- C. The _Required bucket period is not configurable, so a one-year setting cannot be chosen for these entries. The fixed 400-day window applies.
- D. The _Required bucket does not keep entries forever. The window ends after 400 days unless a sink exported the entries to another destination.