Optimize writes to InfluxDB

Use these tips to optimize performance and system overhead when writing data to InfluxDB.

• Batch writes
• Sort tags by key
• Use the coarsest time precision possible
• Use gzip compression
• Synchronize hosts with NTP
• Write multiple data points in one request

Batch writes

Write data in batches to minimize network overhead when writing data to InfluxDB.

Sort tags by key

Before writing data points to InfluxDB, sort tags by key in lexicographic order. Verify sort results match results from the Go bytes.Compare function.

# Line protocol example with unsorted tags
measurement,tagC=therefore,tagE=am,tagA=i,tagD=i,tagB=think fieldKey=fieldValue 1562020262

# Optimized line protocol example with tags sorted by key
measurement,tagA=i,tagB=think,tagC=therefore,tagD=i,tagE=am fieldKey=fieldValue 1562020262

Use the coarsest time precision possible

By default, InfluxDB writes data in nanosecond precision. However if your data isn’t collected in nanoseconds, there is no need to write at that precision. For better performance, use the coarsest precision possible for timestamps.

Specify timestamp precision when writing to InfluxDB.

Use gzip compression

Use gzip compression to speed up writes to InfluxDB. Benchmarks have shown up to a 5x speed improvement when data is compressed.

[[outputs.influxdb_v2]]
  urls = ["https://cluster-host.com"]
  # ...
  content_encoding = "gzip"

echo "mem,host=host1 used_percent=23.43234543 1641024000
mem,host=host2 used_percent=26.81522361 1641027600
mem,host=host1 used_percent=22.52984738 1641031200
mem,host=host2 used_percent=27.18294630 1641034800" | gzip > system.gzip \

curl --request POST "https://cluster-host.com/api/v2/write?org=ignored&bucket=DATABASE_NAME&precision=s" \
  --header "Authorization: Token DATABASE_TOKEN" \
  --header "Content-Encoding: gzip" \
  --data-binary @system.gzip

Synchronize hosts with NTP

Use the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to synchronize time between hosts. If a timestamp isn’t included in line protocol, InfluxDB uses its host’s local time (in UTC) to assign timestamps to each point. If a host’s clocks isn’t synchronized with NTP, timestamps may be inaccurate.

Write multiple data points in one request

To write multiple lines in one request, each line of line protocol must be delimited by a new line (\n).