Use Grafana with InfluxDB OSS

Use Grafana or Grafana Cloud to visualize data from your InfluxDB 2.7 instance.

• Install Grafana
• Create an InfluxDB data source
• Query and visualize data

Install Grafana

1. Start InfluxDB OSS 2.x.

2. Sign up for Grafana Cloud or download and install Grafana.

3. If running Grafana locally, enable the newInfluxDSConfigPageDesign feature flag to use the latest InfluxDB data source plugin.

   Option 1: Configuration file (recommended)

   Add the following to your grafana.ini configuration file:

   [feature_toggles]
   enable = newInfluxDSConfigPageDesign

   Configuration file locations:

   • Linux: /etc/grafana/grafana.ini
   • macOS (Homebrew): /opt/homebrew/etc/grafana/grafana.ini
   • Windows: <GRAFANA_INSTALL_DIR>\conf\grafana.ini

   Option 2: Command line

   Enable the feature flag when starting Grafana:

   Linux macOS (Homebrew) Windows

   grafana-server --config /etc/grafana/grafana.ini \
     cfg:default.feature_toggles.enable=newInfluxDSConfigPageDesign

   /opt/homebrew/opt/grafana/bin/grafana server \
     --config /opt/homebrew/etc/grafana/grafana.ini \
     --homepath /opt/homebrew/opt/grafana/share/grafana \
     --packaging=brew \
     cfg:default.paths.logs=/opt/homebrew/var/log/grafana \
     cfg:default.paths.data=/opt/homebrew/var/lib/grafana \
     cfg:default.paths.plugins=/opt/homebrew/var/lib/grafana/plugins \
     cfg:default.feature_toggles.enable=newInfluxDSConfigPageDesign

   grafana-server.exe --config <GRAFANA_INSTALL_DIR>\conf\grafana.ini `
     cfg:default.feature_toggles.enable=newInfluxDSConfigPageDesign

   For more information, see Configure feature toggles in the Grafana documentation.

4. Visit your Grafana Cloud user interface (UI) or, if running Grafana locally, start Grafana and visit http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

Quick reference

Create an InfluxDB data source

1. In your Grafana interface, click Connections in the left sidebar.
2. Click Data sources.
3. Click Add new connection.
4. Search for and select InfluxDB. The InfluxDB data source configuration page displays.
5. In the Settings tab, enter a Name for your data source.

Configure URL and authentication

In the URL and authentication section, configure the following:

• URL: Your server URL–for example, https://localhost:8086
• Product: From the dropdown, select InfluxDB OSS 2.x
• Query Language: Select Flux or InfluxQL
• (Optional) Advanced HTTP Settings, Auth, and TLS/SSL Settings as needed for your environment

Configure database settings

The fields in this section change based on your query language selection in URL and authentication.

Flux
InfluxQL

Configure Grafana to use Flux

When you select Flux as the query language, configure the following:

• Organization: Your InfluxDB organization name or ID
• Default Bucket: The default bucket to use in Flux queries
• Token: Your InfluxDB API token

Click Save & Test. Grafana attempts to connect to InfluxDB OSS 2.x and returns the results of the test.

Configure Grafana to use InfluxQL

DBRP mapping required

To query InfluxDB OSS 2.x with InfluxQL, you must first create Database and Retention Policy (DBRP) mappings. The configuration form displays a warning if DBRP mapping is required.

When you select InfluxQL as the query language, you can authenticate using either tokens or username/password credentials.

Token authentication (recommended)

Configure the following fields:

• Database: The database name mapped to your InfluxDB bucket
• User: Enter any string (this field is required by the form)
• Password: Your InfluxDB API token

Username and password authentication

Configure the following fields:

• Database: The database name mapped to your InfluxDB bucket
• User: Your v1 authorization username
• Password: Your v1 authorization password

Click Save & Test. Grafana attempts to connect to InfluxDB OSS 2.x and returns the results of the test.

Create DBRP mappings

When using InfluxQL to query InfluxDB, the query must specify a database and retention policy. InfluxDB DBRP mappings associate database and retention policy combinations with InfluxDB OSS 2.x buckets.

View existing DBRP mappings

Use the influx v1 dbrp list command:

influx v1 dbrp list

Create a DBRP mappings

Use the influx v1 dbrp create command:

influx v1 dbrp create \
  --db example-db \
  --rp example-rp \
  --bucket-id 00xX00o0X001 \
  --default

Provide:

• --db: Database name
• --rp: Retention policy name (not retention period)
• --bucket-id: Bucket ID
• --default: (Optional) Make this the default retention policy for the database

Repeat for each DBRP combination Each unique database and retention policy combination used by Grafana must be mapped to an InfluxDB OSS 2.x bucket.

For more information, see Database and retention policy mapping.

Create v1 authorizations

InfluxDB OSS 2.x provides a v1-compatible authentication API for username/password authentication.

View existing v1 authorizations

Use the influx v1 auth list command:

influx v1 auth list

Create a v1 authorization

Use the influx v1 auth create command:

influx v1 auth create \
  --read-bucket 00xX00o0X001 \
  --write-bucket 00xX00o0X001 \
  --username example-user

Provide:

• --read-bucket: Bucket ID to grant read permissions
• --write-bucket: Bucket ID to grant write permissions
• --username: New username

You’ll be prompted to enter a password.

Query and visualize data

With your InfluxDB connection configured, use Grafana to query and visualize time series data.

Query inspection in Grafana

To learn about query management and inspection in Grafana, see the Grafana Explore documentation.

Build visualizations with Grafana

For a comprehensive walk-through of creating visualizations with Grafana, see the Grafana documentation.