Does New Relic preserve custom attributes during export‑import cycles?

Question

Goal: Confirm that custom attributes attached to New Relic events survive a full export‑import cycle without loss or alteration. The process relies on the Data Export API to pull a known time window of JSON payloads and the Events API to re‑ingest that payload into a test account. Because the export may drop null‑valued fields or reorder keys, and because re‑ingestion can create duplicate points that affect billing, it is unclear whether the restored data retains the exact original attribute set.
Specific questions:

Are null‑valued custom attributes preserved after re‑ingestion?
Does any reordering of JSON keys affect the ability to match attributes?
Is there a detectable difference in attribute values between the original export and the restored dataset?

Wasi · Answer

AnswerYes – New Relic preserves user‑defined custom attributes when you export event data and re‑ingest it, provided the attributes comply with New Relic’s naming rules and are not null‑valued.Confirmed factsExport APIs (Data Export, NRDB export, or API dump) include every attribute attached to an event, including custom attributes, in the JSON/Parquet payload.The Import API (or Terraform provider) writes the exact attribute‑value pairs that appear in the source payload back to events; it does not drop or rename them unless they violate reserved‑name constraints.JSON key order is irrelevant – New Relic treats the payload as an unordered map, so reordering does not affect attribute matching.Null‑valued attributes are not stored by New Relic at ingest time, so they cannot appear in the export and therefore cannot be preserved.Steps to verify for your caseInsert a test event with a known custom attribute (e.g., environment:staging) via the Insert API.Trigger an export for a time window that includes the event (Data Export API to S3 or NRDB export).Confirm the attribute appears unchanged in the exported JSON file.Import the exported file into a second New Relic account using the Import API (or Terraform).Query the same event type in the target account and verify the custom attribute is present with the same value.When to ask for more detailIf your custom attribute names use reserved prefixes (nr., newrelic.) or exceed 255 characters, they may be stripped or renamed. Provide the exact attribute names you are using so we can confirm whether they fall under those constraints.

Does New Relic preserve custom attributes during export‑import cycles?

1 answer

Answer

Confirmed facts

Steps to verify for your case

When to ask for more detail

Your perspective belongs here.

1 question comment

Key Points to Verify

Quick Verification