Configure Cortex Data Lake tier - Learn more about the Cortex Data Lake tier. - Administrator Guide - Cortex XSIAM - Cortex

Configure Cortex Data Lake tier - Learn more about the Cortex Data Lake tier. - Administrator Guide - Cortex XSIAM - Cortex - Security Operations

Cortex XSIAM 3.x Documentation

Product

Cortex XSIAM

Creation date

2025-07-15

Last date published

2026-06-11

Notice

The Cortex Data Lake tier is an optional add-on available only with an active Cortex XSIAM NG SIEM, Cortex XSIAM Enterprise, or Cortex XSIAM Premium license.

Prerequisite

Permissions: Requires View/Edit RBAC permissions for Data Management (under Configurations → Data Management), the same permissions used for Dataset Management, parsing rules, data model rules, and event forwarding.
Minimum Ingestion: Requires a minimum of 50 GB/day for the Data Lake tier, provided the mandatory 100 GB/day Analytics tier minimum is met.

The Cortex Data Lake tier provides a cost-effective alternative for ingesting high-volume data that isn't required for real time security detection. While the Analytics tier is intended for real-time security and detection, the Cortex Data Lake tier allows you to maintain full visibility and searchability using Cortex Query Language (XQL) at a significantly lower cost.

The following capabilities are in-scope for the Cortex Data Lake tier. Pay attention to the ones that are billed using Compute Units (CU). Several capabilities that were previously free-of-charge now consume CU.

Note

Any "mixed tier" query (a query involving at least one Data Lake dataset) results in a full CU charge.

Capability	Consumption Model	Charging Status
Dashboards & Reports	CU	Charged now
Playbooks and Automations	CU	Charged now
Public API (PAPI)	CU	Charged now
Queries & scheduled queries	CU	Charged now
Correlation rules & scheduled correlation rules	CU	Charging in the future
BIOCs	CU	Charging in the future
Retention (hot & cold)	Calculated based on the standard Analytics tier retention rates. Retention costs for Cortex Data Lake datasets follow the same pricing and licensing model as your existing Analytics tier data ingestion.	Standard license
Egress (Event forwarding)	Calculated based on the standard Analytics tier retention rates. Retention costs for Cortex Data Lake datasets follow the same pricing and licensing model as your existing Analytics tier data ingestion.	Standard license

The following table highlights the differences in functionality between the Analytics Tier and the Cortex Data Lake Tier:

Feature	Analytics Tier	Cortex Data Lake Tier
Pricing model	Standard	Significantly cheaper
Licensing requirement	Mandatory. A minimum Analytics license is required for all Cortex XSIAM tenants.	Optional add-on. Can be added to any tenant that meets the mandatory Analytics minimum.
Minimum ingestion	100 GB / day	50 GB / day
XDM normalization	Out-of-the-box and user-defined	X
XQL queries and scheduled queries	✓	✓
Correlation rules and scheduled correlation rules	✓	✓
Dashboards and reports	✓	✓
Retention (Hot/Cold)	✓	✓
Detections (Analytics)	✓	X*
Stitching and enrichments	✓	X*

*Note: Currently, specific data sources ingested into the Cortex Data Lake tier are normalized into "stories" and receive analytics-like capabilities, including detections, stitching, and enrichments. Be aware that this is a temporary configuration and these capabilities are planned for removal from the Cortex Data Lake tier in a future update.

Keep the following in mind regarding data visibility, exclusions, and limitations:

Excluded datasets: Fundamental datasets, such as Cortex Agent and Palo Alto Networks NGFW, are currently optimized for the Analytics tier and are excluded from the Cortex Data Lake tier.
Dataset identification: For customers who have purchased the Data Lake SKU, a Tier column is added to the Dataset Management table to identify datasets as Analytics or Data lake.
Detection and stitching: Real-time Analytics (detections), stitching, and certain enrichments are currently out of scope for data in the Cortex Data Lake tier.
Note
Currently, specific data sources receive these capabilities temporarily; yet, be aware that these will be completely removed from the Cortex Data Lake tier in a future update.
Reversibility: You can switch between tiers at any time. However, the configuration applies only to data ingested after the parsing rule is saved. Moving existing data from the Analytics tier to the Data Lake tier (or vice versa) is not supported.
Configuration path: Currently, the Cortex Data Lake tier is configured exclusively using parsing rules.

You can view details about your Cortex XSIAM licenses and retention add-ons in the user interface by selecting Settings → Cortex XSIAM License.

The Data Collection section is where you can view the specific daily GB ingestion limits allocated for both the Analytics and Data Lake tiers.

Consolidated view: Displayed directly above the Data Collection text, the top-level GB count shows the sum of all GB types (Analytics and Data Lake).
Data Collection breakdown: Located under the Data Collection text, you can select License Details to expand the view. This displays a row for each specific GB type, such as "100 GB Analytics" and "50 GB Data Lake".

You configure the Cortex Data Lake tier for ingestion by modifying the parsing rule for your target dataset. You achieve this by disabling the [INGEST] section that defines the dataset currently using the Analytics tier and enabling a new [INGEST] section to route that same data into a different dataset for the Cortex Data Lake tier. This process is managed through a pivot (right-click) option within the Parsing Rules editor that automatically generates the necessary rule logic.

Navigate to the parsing rules editor.
Select Settings → Configurations → Data Management → Parsing Rules, and open the Both tab.
Change tier to data lake.
Under Default rules, right-click the [INGEST] rule for your target dataset, and select Change Tier to Data Lake.
- Cortex XSIAM automatically generates the necessary rule logic by disabling the default rule and creating a new Data Lake rule in the User defined rules section.
- The parameter tier=lake is added.
- An _lake_raw suffix is added to the target dataset name, such as msft_azure_lake_raw.
Example 28.
The rule before selecting Change Tier to Data Lake:
```
[INGEST:vendor="Amazon", product="AWS", target_dataset="amazon_aws_raw", no_hit=drop]
```
The rule after selecting Change Tier to Data Lake:
```
[INGEST:vendor="Amazon", product="AWS", target_dataset="amazon_aws_lake_raw", no_hit=drop, tier=lake]
```
Note
You can always revert the rule back to use the Analytics tier by right-clicking the rule under Default rules and selecting Change Tier to Analytics. When you do this, the Data Lake rule is deleted from the User defined rules section and the default rule is enabled in the Default rules section.
Save your changes. Configurations are applied immediately to new data (processing may take several minutes). Existing data is not retroactively moved between tiers.