> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex-xdr-3.x/cortex-xdr-3.x-documentation/data-management/manage-compute-units.md). # Manage compute units Cortex XDR uses compute units (CU) for the following types of queries: * API Queries: When running Cortex Query Language (XQL) queries on your data sources using APIs, each XQL query API consumes CU based on the timeframe, complexity, and number of API response results. * Cold Storage Queries: Cold Storage is a data retention offering for cheaper storage usually for long-term compliance needs with limited search options. You can perform queries on Cold Storage data using the following dataset formats: * For typical cold storage queries: `cold_dataset = ` * For historical data imported into cold storage queries: `cold_dataset = archive_`. These cold storage queries consume CU according to the following calculations: * Amount of data queried. 1CU for querying 35GB of data. * Timeframe, complexity, and the number of Cold Storage response results of each XQL Cold Storage query. When you query Cold Storage data, the rewarmed data is saved in a temporary hot storage cache that is available for subsequent queries on the same time-range at no additional cost. The rewarmed data is available in the cache for 24 hours and on each re-query the cached data is extended for 24 hours, for up to 7 days.

Note

The CU consumption of cold storage queries are based on the number of days in the query time frame. For example, when querying 1 hour of a specific day, the CU of querying this entire day are consumed. When querying 1 hour that extends past 2 days, such as from 23:50 to 00:50 of the following day, the CU of querying these two days are consumed.

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