New-UnifiedAuditLogRetentionPolicy

This cmdlet is available only in Security & Compliance PowerShell. For more information, see Security & Compliance PowerShell.

Use the New-UnifiedAuditLogRetentionPolicy cmdlet to create audit log retention policies in the Microsoft Defender portal or the Microsoft Purview compliance portal.

For information about the parameter sets in the Syntax section below, see Exchange cmdlet syntax.

Syntax

New-UnifiedAuditLogRetentionPolicy
   [-Name] <String>
   -Priority <Int32>
   -RetentionDuration <UnifiedAuditLogRetentionDuration>
   [-Confirm]
   [-Description <String>]
   [-Operations <MultiValuedProperty>]
   [-RecordTypes <MultiValuedProperty>]
   [-UserIds <MultiValuedProperty>]
   [-WhatIf]
   [<CommonParameters>]

Description

Audit log retention policies are used to specify a retention duration for audit logs for that are generated by admin and user activity. An audit log retention policy can specify the retention duration based on the type of audited activities, the Microsoft 365 service that activities are performed in, or the users who performed the activities. For more information, see Manage audit log retention policies.

To use this cmdlet in Security & Compliance PowerShell, you need to be assigned permissions. For more information, see Permissions in the Microsoft Defender portal or Permissions in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal.

Examples

Example 1

New-UnifiedAuditLogRetentionPolicy -Name "Microsoft Teams Audit Policy" -Description "One year retention policy for all Microsoft Teams activities" -RecordTypes MicrosoftTeams -RetentionDuration TwelveMonths -Priority 100

This example creates an audit log retention policy that retains all audit logs related to Microsoft Teams events for one year.

Example 2

New-UnifiedAuditLogRetentionPolicy -Name "SearchQueryPerformed by app@sharepoint" -Description "90 day retention policy for noisy SharePoint events" -RecordTypes SharePoint -Operations SearchQueryPerformed -UserIds "app@sharepoint" -RetentionDuration ThreeMonths -Priority 10000

This example creates an audit log retention policy that retains all audit logs for the SearchQueryPerformed activity performed by the app@sharepoint service account for 90 days.

Parameters

-Confirm

The Confirm switch specifies whether to show or hide the confirmation prompt. How this switch affects the cmdlet depends on if the cmdlet requires confirmation before proceeding.

  • Destructive cmdlets (for example, Remove-* cmdlets) have a built-in pause that forces you to acknowledge the command before proceeding. For these cmdlets, you can skip the confirmation prompt by using this exact syntax: -Confirm:$false.
  • Most other cmdlets (for example, New-* and Set-* cmdlets) don't have a built-in pause. For these cmdlets, specifying the Confirm switch without a value introduces a pause that forces you acknowledge the command before proceeding.
Type:SwitchParameter
Aliases:cf
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False
Applies to:Security & Compliance

-Description

The Description parameter specifies a description for the audit log retention policy. The maximum length is 256 characters. If the value contains spaces, enclose the value in quotation marks (").

Type:String
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False
Applies to:Security & Compliance

-Name

The Name parameter specifies a unique name for the audit log retention policy. The maximum length is 64 characters. If the value contains spaces, enclose the value in quotation marks (").

Type:String
Position:0
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False
Applies to:Security & Compliance

-Operations

The Operations parameter specifies the audit log operations that are retained by the policy. For a list of the available values for this parameter, see Audited activities.

You can enter multiple values separated by commas. If the values contain spaces or otherwise require quotation marks, use the following syntax: "Value1","Value2",..."ValueN".

If you use this parameter, you must also use the RecordTypes parameter to specify the record type. You can't use this parameter if you've specified more than one value for the RecordTypes parameter.

Type:MultiValuedProperty
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False
Applies to:Security & Compliance

-Priority

The Priority parameter specifies a priority value for the policy that determines the order of policy processing. A higher integer value indicates a lower priority. The value 1 is the highest priority, and the value 10000 is the lowest priority. No two policies can have the same priority value.

This parameter is required when you create an audit log retention policy, and you must use a unique priority value.

Any custom audit log retention policy that you create will take precedence over the default audit log retention policy. For more information, see Manage audit log retention policies.

Type:Int32
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False
Applies to:Security & Compliance

-RecordTypes

The RecordTypes parameter specifies the audit logs of a specific record type that are retained by the policy. For details about the available values, see AuditLogRecordType.

You can specify multiple values separated by commas. If you specify more than one value, you can't use the Operations parameter.

Type:MultiValuedProperty
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False
Applies to:Security & Compliance

-RetentionDuration

The RetentionDuration parameter specifies how long audit log records are kept. Valid values are:

  • ThreeMonths
  • SixMonths
  • NineMonths
  • TwelveMonths
  • TenYears
Type:UnifiedAuditLogRetentionDuration
Accepted values:ThreeMonths, SixMonths, NineMonths, TwelveMonths, TenYears
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False
Applies to:Security & Compliance

-UserIds

The UserIds parameter specifies the audit logs that are retained by the policy based on the ID of the user who performed the action.

You can enter multiple values separated by commas. If the values contain spaces or otherwise require quotation marks, use the following syntax: "Value1","Value2",..."ValueN".

Type:MultiValuedProperty
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False
Applies to:Security & Compliance

-WhatIf

The WhatIf switch doesn't work in Security & Compliance PowerShell.

Type:SwitchParameter
Aliases:wi
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False
Applies to:Security & Compliance