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4 · Object storage

S3 · GCS · Azure Blob · MinIO (on-prem)

OBJECT STORAGEbucket: mimir-blocksTSDB blocks · 2h flushbucket: tempo-tracesparquet blocksbucket: loki-chunkschunks + TSDB indexingesters + compactor writestore-gateways readingesters + compactor writequeriers readingesters + compactor writequeriers + index-gateway read

Buckets​

mimir-blocks bucket​

Long-term home of all metric data: TSDB blocks, per-block index + chunks, plus ruler and alertmanager state.

  • Written by ingesters + compactor; read by store-gateways
  • Retention enforced by compactor, not bucket lifecycle
  • S3 / GCS / Azure Blob / MinIO — anything S3-compatible
protocolS3 API

tempo-traces bucket​

All trace data as Parquet blocks with bloom filters and indexes. Tempo has no other database.

  • Written by ingesters + compactor; read by queriers
  • Cheap: traces are 100% object-store resident after flush
protocolS3 API

loki-chunks bucket​

Compressed log chunks plus TSDB index files. Single bucket serves both data and index.

  • Written by ingesters; index compacted by compactor
  • Read by queriers + index-gateway
protocolS3 API