The HistoryRetention property specifies the number of hours to maintain replication distribution history data.
object.HistoryRetention [= value]
object
Expression that evaluates to an object in the Applies To list.
value
Positive long integer. The default is 48 hours.
Long
Read/write
HRESULT GetHistoryRetention(LPDWORD pRetVal);
HRESULT SetHistoryRetention(DWORD NewValue);
Installing replication creates a SQL Server Agent job responsible for cleaning the replication history tables. Rows in the tables older than the current hour minus the retention period are targets of the cleaning.