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feat[Do not merge][unlimited cardinality]: Added the procedure to adjust account cardinality #21337

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feat[unlimited cardinality]: Added the procedure to adjust account ca…
sujitnewrelic Jul 28, 2025
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Updated the draft with prerequisites
sujitnewrelic Jul 29, 2025
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Update cardinality-management.mdx
sujitnewrelic Jul 29, 2025
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Update cardinality-management.mdx
sujitnewrelic Jul 31, 2025
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Added the new permission requirements.
sujitnewrelic Aug 19, 2025
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45 changes: 45 additions & 0 deletions ...content/docs/data-apis/ingest-apis/metric-api/cardinality-access-management.mdx
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---
title: 'Access management for managing cardinality'
metaDescription: 'As a New Relic Authentication Domain Manager, learn how to manage cardinality related access for users.'
freshnessValidatedDate: never
---

As an Authentication Domain Manager, perform the following steps to grant access to a user for managing account and metrics cardinality. Check with the user about their specific needs and accordingly do the configuration. To learn more about user management, refer to [User management tutorial](/docs/accounts/accounts-billing/new-relic-one-user-management/account-user-mgmt-tutorial/).

<Steps>

<Step>
### Add permissions to a custom role [#permissions-to-custom-role]
[Create a new custom role](/docs/accounts/accounts-billing/new-relic-one-user-management/account-user-mgmt-tutorial/#roles) with the following permissions, or add them to an existing role. Check with the user to understand the level of access required.
* `Manage account cardinality`: Adjust the cardinality budget of the account.
* `View`: Can see the cardinality budget of the account.
* `Modify`: Can update the cardinality budget of the account.
* `Manage metric cardinality`: Adjust the cardinality budget of metrics.
* `View`: Can see the cardinality budget of the metrics.
* `Modify`: Can update the cardinality budget of the metrics.
* `Manage pruning rules`: Manage pruning rules for metrics.
* `View`: Can see the pruning rules of the metrics.
* `Modify`: Can create and delete pruning rules for the metrics.
</Step>

<Step>
### Add user, role, and account to a group [#group-access]
For the cardinality management, [create a new group](/docs/accounts/accounts-billing/new-relic-one-user-management/account-user-mgmt-tutorial/#group-access) or manage an existing group as follows:
1. Navigate to **[New Relic Administration](https://one.newrelic.com/admin-portal) > Access Management > Groups**.
2. Click <DNT>**Create a new group**</DNT>, or select <DNT>**Manage group access**</DNT> from the <Icon name="fe-more-horizontal"/> menu of an existing group.
3. For a new group, provide a name and click <DNT>**Create group**</DNT>. The <DNT>**Admin**</DNT> pane for the group opens.
4. Under <DNT>**Members**</DNT>, add the user.
5. Under <DNT>**Account access**</DNT>, associate the custom role with the desired account for cardinality management.
6. If cardinality management involves multiple accounts, under <DNT>**Account access**</DNT>, include the custom role for each relevant account within the group.
</Step>

</Steps>


## Related topics [#related-topics]

<DocTiles>
<DocTile title="Manage cardinality" path="/docs/data-apis/ingest-apis/metric-api/cardinality-management" >Learn how to maintain cardinality within its budget, and when needed how to adjust it.</DocTile>
<DocTile title="Monitor cardinality" path="/docs/data-apis/ingest-apis/metric-api/monitor-cardinality" >Learn how to monitor cardinality usage.</DocTile>
<DocTile title="Understand and query high cardinality metrics" path="/docs/data-apis/ingest-apis/metric-api/NRQL-high-cardinality-metrics" >Understand the concept of cardinality and learn how to query and analyze high cardinality metrics using NRQL.</DocTile>
</DocTiles>
219 changes: 88 additions & 131 deletions src/content/docs/data-apis/ingest-apis/metric-api/cardinality-management.mdx
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---
title: 'Cardinality management'
title: 'Manage cardinality'
metaDescription: 'You can manage your data cardinality from the New Relic UI.'
freshnessValidatedDate: 2024-09-24
---

<Callout title="preview">
We're still working on this feature, but we'd love for you to try it out!

This feature is currently provided as part of a preview program pursuant to our [pre-release policies](/docs/licenses/license-information/referenced-policies/new-relic-pre-release-policy).
</Callout>

Cardinality refers to the number of unique elements in a set, specifically the unique attribute combinations observed for a given metric within a one-day period. This data resets daily at UTC midnight. As cardinality increases with more unique combinations, it can impact data limits. Understanding and managing cardinality is crucial to optimize data usage and preventing limit issues.

As a New Relic administrator, you oversee data ingestion to ensure it stays within the specified limit. <DNT>**Cardinality Management**</DNT> offers graphs and tables to detail your data usage, allowing you to take action if you're approaching your limits.

To view the **<DNT>Cardinality Management</DNT>** UI, go to **<DNT>[one.newrelic.com](https://one.newrelic.com)</DNT> > (click your user name) > <DNT>Administration > Cardinality Management</DNT>**.

## Account cardinality breakdown [#account-breakdown]

If your organization has multiple accounts, you can view a breakdown of cardinality for each account. To switch accounts, use the account picker in the top right corner. If you have access to the account, you can see the account cardinality information on the UI.

### Usage over time [#usage-over-time]

On the landing page of <DNT>**Cardinality Managemen**t</DNT>, you can view the <DNT>**Usage over time**</DNT> chart. The chart displays the account cardinality usage compared the limit of that account.

<img
style={{ align: 'left',maxWidth: '90%' }}
title="Screenshot showing the usage over time chart"
alt="Screenshot showing the usage over time chart"
src="/images/apis-and-data_screenshot-crop_usage-over-time.webp"
/>

<Callout variant="tip">
If the cardinality usage value remains unchanged, then a new data point isn't reported. So, you may see an empty data point. This isn't data loss.
</Callout>

To adjust the timeseries, use the time picker in the top right corner. This change only affects the timeseries in the chart and does't impact the Metrics table following it.
### Metrics table [#metrics-table]
Check the top 20 metrics with the highest cardinality in the selected account for the day. View the breakdown of account cardinality in the <DNT>**Metrics**</DNT> table, organized by metric name.


<img
style={{ align: 'left',maxWidth: '90%' }}
title="Screenshot showing the metrics table"
alt="Screenshot showing the metrics table"
src="/images/apis-and-data_screenshot-crop_metrics-table.webp"
/>

All metrics have a default cardinality limit of 100,000. Based on your requirement, you can [adjust the per-metric limits](#per-metric-limit-adjustment).

## Metric cardinality breakdown [#metric-cardinality-breakdown]

Select any metric in the <DNT>**Metrics**</DNT> table to view its detailed cardinality information in a dedicated <DNT>**Cardinality Management**</DNT> page.

<img
style={{ align: 'left',maxWidth: '90%' }}
title="Screenshot showing the Cardinality Management page"
alt="Screenshot showing the Cardinality Management page"
src="/images/apis-and-data_screenshot-crop_metric-cardinality-breakdown.webp"
/>

### Bar charts
In the metric-specific view, you can check current cardinality usage with two bar charts:
* <DNT>**Metric cardinality budget**</DNT> (limit): Cardinality usage specific to the metric
* <DNT>**Account cardinality budget**</DNT> (limit): Overall cardinality usage for the account

### Usage over time (for metrics) [#usage-over-time-metrics]

The <DNT>**Usage over time**</DNT> chart displays the metric cardinality usage compared the limit of that metric. You can adjust the time picker to view different time periods of this individual metric's cardinality data.

<Callout variant="tip">
If a metric exceeds its cardinality limit, New Relic still populates information for the metric, but it may be slightly slower as it uses raw data instead of aggregated data.
</Callout>

### Attributes table [#attributes-table]

The <DNT>**Attributes**</DNT> table has the list of top 20 attributes that majorly contribute to the metric's cardinality. To view the values of a specific attribute, click the options menu on the right side of the attribute row and select <DNT>**View attribute values**</DNT>.
New relic provides a budget of 15 million cardinality per account per day. Under each account you can have multiple metrics, each with a cardinality budget of 100,000. If cardinality usage of a metric approaches the limit, you can manage the cardinality in the following ways:
* Create pruning rules to remove non-critical attributes.
* Adjust the per-metric budget to allow more attributes for a specific metric.

<Callout variant="important">
To use features like **Manage Account Cardinality**, **Manage Metric Cardinality**, and **Create Pruning Rules** within the UI, ensure your role provides the necessary access under the Cardinality Management section in the [Access Management UI's](https://onenr.io/0bRmaX5JgRy) Roles tab. These capabilities can be added through a [custom role](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/accounts/accounts-billing/new-relic-one-user-management/account-user-mgmt-tutorial/#roles) or the **All Product Admin role**, with full access automatically granted to **Full Users with the All Product Admin role**.
You can also [increase the cardinality budget of your account](#additional-account-cardinality-budget-adjustment) upto 200 million depending on your data needs. This option is only available with the [Advanced compute add-on](/docs/accounts/accounts-billing/new-relic-one-pricing-billing/add-on-billing) as a part of the Compute pricing model. Advanced [CCUs](/docs/licenses/license-information/product-definitions/new-relic-one-pricing-definitions/#compute-capacity-unit) are consumed for the additional cardinality used beyond the default budget.
</Callout>

## Account pruning rules [#account-pruning-rules]

A common method to maintain account cardinality within its limit is to implement pruning rules for non-critical attributes, which removes unnecessary data.

### View account pruning rules [#view-pruning-rules]

To view account pruning rules:
1. Go to the **Cardinality Management** page of the account.
2. From the **Metrics** table, click <DNT>**View Pruning Rules**</DNT>. A scrollable list of all pruning rules associated with the account appears.
<Callout variant="tip">
If no pruning rules exist in the account, the <DNT>**View Pruning Rules**</DNT> button doesn't appear.
</Callout>

### Create a pruning rule [#create-pruning-rule]

To create a pruning rule:

1. Go to the **Cardinality Management** page of the account.
2. From the **Metrics** table, select the metric in which you want to create a pruning rule. The **Cardinality Management** page of the metric opens.
3. Go to the **Attributes** table and select the attributes you want to prune.
<img
style={{ align: 'left', maxWidth: '90%' }}
title="Screenshot showing how to select attributes for pruning rule"
alt="Screenshot showing how to select attributes for pruning rule"
src="/images/apis-and-data_screenshot-crop_select-attributes-for-pruning-rule.webp"/>

3. Click <DNT>**Create pruning rule**</DNT>. A pop-up appears, providing details on how the pruning rule impacts the metric's cardinality.

<img
style={{ align: 'left' }}
title="Screenshot of page to name the pruning rule"
alt="Screenshot of page to name the pruning rule"
src="/images/apis-and-data_screenshot-crop_name-pruning-rule.webp"/>

3. Enter a rule name or description.
## Create pruning rules [#create-pruning-rule]

A common method to maintain account cardinality within its budget is to implement pruning rules for non-critical attributes, which removes unnecessary data. To create pruning rules:
1. Ensure you have the `Manage pruning rules: modify` permission. If you don't have this permission, reach out to your Authentication Domain Manager.
2. Navigate to to **<DNT>[one.newrelic.com](https://one.newrelic.com)</DNT> > (click your user name) > <DNT>Administration > Cardinality Management</DNT>**.
3. From the **Metrics** table, select the metric in which you want to create a pruning rule. The **Cardinality Management** page of the metric opens.
4. Go to the **Attributes** table and select the attributes you want to prune.
<img
style={{ align: 'left', maxWidth: '90%' }}
title="Screenshot showing how to select attributes for pruning rule"
alt="Screenshot showing how to select attributes for pruning rule"
src="/images/apis-and-data_screenshot-crop_select-attributes-for-pruning-rule.webp"/>

5. Click <DNT>**Create pruning rule**</DNT>. A pop-up appears, providing details on how the pruning rule impacts the metric's cardinality.

<img
style={{ align: 'left' }}
title="Screenshot of page to name the pruning rule"
alt="Screenshot of page to name the pruning rule"
src="/images/apis-and-data_screenshot-crop_name-pruning-rule.webp"/>

6. Enter a rule name or description.

7. Click <DNT>**Submit**</DNT>.

<Callout variant="caution">
Pruning rules take effect immediately. Ensure you want to prune the data before creating a rule. You can delete a pruning rule after creating it, but the rule may prune some data before you remove it.
</Callout>

<CollapserGroup>
<Collapser id="view-pruning-rules" title="View pruning rules">
To view pruning rules associated with your account:
1. Ensure you have the `Manage pruning rules: view` permission. If you don't have this permission, reach out to your Authentication Domain Manager.
2. Navigate to **<DNT>[one.newrelic.com](https://one.newrelic.com)</DNT> > (click your user name) > <DNT>Administration > Cardinality Management</DNT>**.
3. From the **Metrics** table, click <DNT>**View Pruning Rules**</DNT>. A scrollable list of all pruning rules associated with the account appears.
</Collapser>
<Collapser id="delete-pruning-rule" title="Delete pruning rules">
To delete pruning rules:
1. Ensure you have the `Manage pruning rules: modify` permission. If you don't have this permission, reach out to your Authentication Domain Manager.
2. Navigate to to **<DNT>[one.newrelic.com](https://one.newrelic.com)</DNT> > (click your user name) > <DNT>Administration > Cardinality Management</DNT>**.
3. From the **Metrics** table, select <DNT>**View Pruning Rules**</DNT>.
4. Scroll to the relevant pruning rule and delete it.
</Collapser>

4. To create the pruning rule, click <DNT>**Submit**</DNT>.
</CollapserGroup>

<Callout variant="important">
Pruning rules take effect immediately. Ensure you want to prune the data before creating a rule. You can delete a pruning rule after creating it, but the rule may prune some data before you remove it.
</Callout>
## Adjust per-metric budget [#per-metric-limit-adjustment]

### Delete a pruning rule [#delete-pruning-rule]

To delete a pruning rule:

1. Go to the **Cardinality Management** page of the account.
2. From the **Metrics** table, select <DNT>**View Pruning Rules**</DNT>.
3. Scroll to the relevant pruning rule and delete it.

## Per-metric limit adjustment [#per-metric-limit-adjustment]

When all attributes of a specific metric are crucial and you approach your cardinality limit, you can adjust the per-metric limit to meet your needs. Typically, metrics have a default maximum cardinality of 100,000, but you can increase this up to 1 million per metric.
When all attributes of a specific metric are crucial and you approach your cardinality budget, you can adjust the per-metric budget to meet your needs. Typically, metrics have a default maximum cardinality of 100,000, but you can increase this up to 1 million per metric.

<Callout variant="tip">
Your account's overall cardinality limit remains unchanged. Therefore, setting all metric limits to 1 million without careful consideration could quickly exhaust your account's cardinality capacity.
Your account's overall cardinality budget remains unchanged. Therefore, setting all metric budgets to 1 million without careful consideration could quickly exhaust your account's cardinality capacity.
</Callout>

### Edit per-metric limit [#edit-per-metric-limit]
To adjust the per-metric budget:
1. Ensure you have the `Manage metric cardinality: modify` permission. If you don't have this permission, reach out to your Authentication Domain Manager.
1. Navigate to to **<DNT>[one.newrelic.com](https://one.newrelic.com)</DNT> > (click your user name) > <DNT>Administration > Cardinality Management</DNT>**.
2. Select the metric for which you want to adjust the budget. The **Cardinality Management** page of the metric opens.
3. Click <DNT>**Adjust metric budget**</DNT>.
4. Update the budget to meet your needs. Make sure, it is less than or equal to 1 million.

1. Go to the specific metric's <DNT>**Cardinality Management**</DNT> page.
2. Select <DNT>**Adjust metric budget**</DNT>.
3. Update the limit value to meet your needs. Make sure, it is less than or equal to 1 million.

The updated limit appears in the <DNT>**Cardinality Management**</DNT> page within a few minutes.
## Adjust additional account cardinality budget [#additional-account-cardinality-budget-adjustment]
While the default cardinality budget of 15 million is sufficient for most users, you may require a higher budget to accommodate your data needs. While you set an upper limit, you are only charged for the aggregates you generate above the 15 million default cardinality budget, up to the new limit you've set. Currently you can increase the cardinality budget of your account up to 200 million. If you need a higher budget, [create a support ticket](https://one.newrelic.com/help-xp).

### Prerequisites [#prerequisites]
To adjust the cardinality budget of your account, you must have:
* Subscribed to the [Advanced compute add-on](/docs/accounts/accounts-billing/new-relic-one-pricing-billing/add-on-billing).
* The `Manage account cardinality: modify` permission. Reach out to your Authentication Domain Manager to [add this permission](#access-management) to your custom role.

## What's next [#whats-next]
### Steps [#steps]

If you want to learn more about high cardinality, see [Understand and query high cardinality metrics](/docs/data-apis/ingest-apis/metric-api/NRQL-high-cardinality-metrics/).
To adjust the cardinality budget of your account, perform the following steps. The adjustment may take 15 to 20 minutes to take effect.
1. From the <DNT>**Cardinality Management**</DNT> page, click <DNT>**Manage account cardinality**</DNT>.
2. From the <DNT>**Manage account cardinality limit**</DNT> pop-up:
1. Adjust the slider to set the new cardinality budget for your account. The maximum limit is 200 million.
2. Tick the checkbox to agree to and consent to the associated cost of the additional cardinality ingestion.
3. Click <DNT>**Adjust cardinality budget**</DNT> to apply the changes.

<img
title="Manage account cardinality limit"
alt="Manage account cardinality limit"
src="/images/adjust-account-cardinality.webp"
/>

<Callout variant="tip">
From the <DNT>**Manage account cardinality limit**</DNT> pop-up, you can view the change history to track when and by which user the account cardinality was adjusted.
</Callout>

## Related topics [#related-topics]

<DocTiles>
<DocTile title="Monitor cardinality" path="/docs/data-apis/ingest-apis/metric-api/monitor-cardinality" >Learn how to monitor cardinality usage.</DocTile>
<DocTile title="Understand and query high cardinality metrics" path="/docs/data-apis/ingest-apis/metric-api/NRQL-high-cardinality-metrics" >Understand the concept of cardinality and learn how to query and analyze high cardinality metrics using NRQL.</DocTile>
<DocTile title="Access management" path="/docs/data-apis/ingest-apis/metric-api/cardinality-access-management" >As a Authentication Domain Manager, learn how to manage cardinality related access for users.</DocTile>
</DocTiles>
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