How long are messages kept in Alibaba Cloud RocketMQ?

In Alibaba Cloud RocketMQ, the default retention period for messages is 2 days. This means that once a message is published and remains unconsumed, it will be stored on the broker for up to 48 hours before being automatically deleted. This retention policy is designed to balance the need for reliable message processing and efficient use of storage resources.

Adjusting this retention period is possible, allowing developers to set specific times based on their application's requirements; however, the standard setting ensures that unconsumed messages do not take up space indefinitely. Understanding this default behavior is crucial for implementing appropriate message lifecycle management in an application using RocketMQ.

Other options suggest different lengths of time, such as 1 day, 3 days, or 5 days, which do not align with the established default configuration of the platform.