Documentation

Get started with InfluxDB

InfluxDB 2.7 is the platform purpose-built to collect, store, process and visualize time series data. Time series data is a sequence of data points indexed in time order. Data points typically consist of successive measurements made from the same source and are used to track changes over time. Examples of time series data include:

  • Industrial sensor data
  • Server performance metrics
  • Heartbeats per minute
  • Electrical activity in the brain
  • Rainfall measurements
  • Stock prices

This multi-part tutorial walks you through writing time series data to InfluxDB 2.7, querying that data, processing and alerting on the data, and then visualizing the data.

Key concepts before you get started

Before you get started using InfluxDB, it’s important to understand how time series data is organized and stored in InfluxDB and some key definitions that are used throughout this documentation.

Data organization

The InfluxDB data model organizes time series data into buckets and measurements. A bucket can contain multiple measurements. Measurements contain multiple tags and fields.

  • Bucket: Named location where time series data is stored. A bucket can contain multiple measurements.
    • Measurement: Logical grouping for time series data. All points in a given measurement should have the same tags. A measurement contains multiple tags and fields.
      • Tags: Key-value pairs with values that differ, but do not change often. Tags are meant for storing metadata for each point–for example, something to identify the source of the data like host, location, station, etc.
      • Fields: Key-value pairs with values that change over time–for example: temperature, pressure, stock price, etc.
      • Timestamp: Timestamp associated with the data. When stored on disk and queried, all data is ordered by time.

For detailed information and examples of the InfluxDB data model, see Data elements.

Important definitions

The following are important definitions to understand when using InfluxDB:

  • Point: Single data record identified by its measurement, tag keys, tag values, field key, and timestamp.
  • Series: A group of points with the same measurement, tag keys, and tag values.
Example InfluxDB query results
_time_measurementcitycountry_field_value
2022-01-01T12:00:00ZweatherLondonUKtemperature12.0
2022-02-01T12:00:00ZweatherLondonUKtemperature12.1
2022-03-01T12:00:00ZweatherLondonUKtemperature11.5
2022-04-01T12:00:00ZweatherLondonUKtemperature5.9
_time_measurementcitycountry_field_value
2022-01-01T12:00:00ZweatherCologneDEtemperature13.2
2022-02-01T12:00:00ZweatherCologneDEtemperature11.5
2022-03-01T12:00:00ZweatherCologneDEtemperature10.2
2022-04-01T12:00:00ZweatherCologneDEtemperature7.9

Tools to use

Throughout this tutorial, there are multiple tools you can use to interact with InfluxDB 2.7. Examples are provided for each of the following:

InfluxDB user interface (UI)

The InfluxDB UI provides a web-based visual interface for interacting with and managing InfluxDB. The UI is packaged with InfluxDB and runs as part of the InfluxDB service. To access the UI, with InfluxDB running, visit localhost:8086 in your browser.

influx CLI

The influx CLI lets you interact with and manage InfluxDB 2.7 from a command line. The CLI is packaged separately from InfluxDB and must be downloaded and installed separately. For detailed CLI installation instructions, see Use the influx CLI.

InfluxDB HTTP API

The InfluxDB API provides a simple way to interact with the InfluxDB 2.7 using HTTP(S) clients. Examples in this tutorial use cURL, but any HTTP(S) client will work.

InfluxDB client libraries

InfluxDB client libraries are language-specific clients that interact with the InfluxDB HTTP API. Examples for client libraries are not provided in this tutorial, but these can be used to perform all the actions outlined in this tutorial.

Authorization

InfluxDB 2.7 requires authentication using API tokens. Each API token is associated with a user and a specific set of permissions for InfluxDB resources.



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Introducing InfluxDB Clustered

A highly available InfluxDB 3.0 cluster on your own infrastructure.

InfluxDB Clustered is a highly available InfluxDB 3.0 cluster built for high write and query workloads on your own infrastructure.

InfluxDB Clustered is currently in limited availability and is only available to a limited group of InfluxData customers. If interested in being part of the limited access group, please contact the InfluxData Sales team.

Learn more
Contact InfluxData Sales

The future of Flux

Flux is going into maintenance mode. You can continue using it as you currently are without any changes to your code.

Flux is going into maintenance mode and will not be supported in InfluxDB 3.0. This was a decision based on the broad demand for SQL and the continued growth and adoption of InfluxQL. We are continuing to support Flux for users in 1.x and 2.x so you can continue using it with no changes to your code. If you are interested in transitioning to InfluxDB 3.0 and want to future-proof your code, we suggest using InfluxQL.

For information about the future of Flux, see the following:

State of the InfluxDB Cloud Serverless documentation

InfluxDB Cloud Serverless documentation is a work in progress.

The new documentation for InfluxDB Cloud Serverless is a work in progress. We are adding new information and content almost daily. Thank you for your patience!

If there is specific information you’re looking for, please submit a documentation issue.