topic Re: Vacuum on DLT in Data Engineering

Vacuum on DLT

JothyGanesan — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 09:59:46 GMT

We are currently using DLT tables in our target tables. The tables are getting loaded in continuous job pipelines.

The liquid cluster is enabled in the tables. Will Vacuum work on these tables when it is getting loaded in continuous mode? How to run the vacuum without impacting the checkpoints and the actual load of the DLT tables?

Re: Vacuum on DLT

emma_s — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 12:08:12 GMT

Hi, you shouldn't need to run these manually; they will automatically run as part of the liquid clustering, and in fact, it is actively discouraged to run them manually.

Re: Vacuum on DLT

iyashk-DB — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 15:23:11 GMT

VACUUM works fine on DLT tables running in continuous mode. DLT does automatic maintenance (OPTIMIZE + VACUUM) roughly every 24 hours if the pipeline has a maintenance cluster configured.

Q: The liquid cluster is enabled in the tables. Will Vacuum work on these tables when it is getting loaded in continuous mode? How to run the vacuum without impacting the checkpoints and the actual load of the DLT tables?
A: It won’t mess with checkpoints: VACUUM only removes orphaned data files and skips special dirs like _delta_log; DLT manages streaming checkpoints separately under the pipeline storage .../checkpoints/. Keep retention ≥ 7 days to stay safe.