--- title: Set up InfluxDB description: Learn how to set up InfluxDB for the “Get started with InfluxDB” tutorial. url: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/v2/get-started/setup/ estimated_tokens: 12601 product: InfluxDB OSS v2 version: v2 --- # Set up InfluxDB - 1 / 5 This page documents an earlier version of InfluxDB OSS. [InfluxDB 3 Core](/influxdb3/core/) is the latest stable version. #### API token hashing is enabled by default in InfluxDB OSS 2.9.0 Stronger token security: tokens are stored as hashes on disk, so a copy of the database file doesn’t expose usable tokens. Existing tokens are hashed on first startup and the original strings can’t be recovered afterward — **capture any plaintext tokens you still need before you upgrade**. For more information, see [Token hashing](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/#token-hashing). As you get started with this tutorial, do the following to make sure everything you need is in place. - [Run the initial setup process](#run-initial-setup-process) - [Create an All Access API token](#create-an-all-access-api-token) - [Configure authentication credentials](#configure-authentication-credentials) - [Create a bucket](#create-a-bucket) 1. **Run the initial setup process**. After you [install and start InfluxDB](/influxdb/v2/install/), run the initial setup process to create the following: - An [organization](/influxdb/v2/admin/organizations/) with the name you provide. - A [bucket](/influxdb/v2/admin/buckets/) with the name you provide. - An admin [authorization](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/) with the following properties: - The username and password that you provide. - An API [Operator token](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/#operator-token). - Read-write permissions for all resources in the InfluxDB instance. You can use the InfluxDB UI, the `influx` CLI, or the HTTP API to run the setup process. - To run an interactive setup that prompts you for the required information, use the InfluxDB user interface (UI) or the `influx` command line interface (CLI). - To automate the setup–for example, with a script that you write– use the `influx` command line interface (CLI) or the `/api/v2/setup` InfluxDB API endpoint. #### Automated setup with Docker If you installed InfluxDB using [Docker with initial setup options](/influxdb/v2/install/?t=docker/#install-and-setup-influxdb-in-a-container), then you’ve already completed the setup process. **Set up with the UI:** 1. With InfluxDB running, visit [http://localhost:8086](http://localhost:8086). 2. Click **Get Started** #### Set up your initial user 1. Enter a **Username** for your initial user. 2. Enter a **Password** and **Confirm Password** for your user. 3. Enter your initial **Organization Name**. 4. Enter your initial **Bucket Name**. 5. Click **Continue**. 6. Copy the provided **operator API token** and store it for safe keeping. We recommend using a password manager or a secret store to securely store sensitive tokens. Your InfluxDB instance is now initialized. **Set up with the CLI:** 1. Download and install the `influx` CLI, which provides a simple way to interact with InfluxDB from a command line. For detailed installation and setup instructions, see [Use the influx CLI](/influxdb/v2/tools/influx-cli/). 2. Use the `influx setup` CLI command to initialize your InfluxDB instance–choose one of the following: - **Set up with prompts**. To setup interactively, enter the following command: ```sh influx setup ``` The command walks you through the initial setup process by prompting for a username, password, organization, bucket, and retention period. - **Set up non-interactively**. To run setup non-interactively (for example, in your automation scripts), pass [command line flags](/influxdb/v2/reference/cli/influx/setup/#flags) for the initialization values, and pass the `-f, --force` flag to bypass the final confirmation prompt–for example, enter the following command: ```sh influx setup \ --username USERNAME \ --password PASSWORD \ --token TOKEN \ --org ORG_NAME \ --bucket BUCKET_NAME \ --force ``` Replace the following: - `USERNAME`: A name for your initial admin [user](/influxdb/v2/admin/users/) - `PASSWORD`: A password for your initial admin [user](/influxdb/v2/admin/users/) - `TOKEN`: A string value to set for the [*operator* token](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/#operator-token). If you don’t include this flag, InfluxDB generates a token for you and stores it in an [`influx` CLI connection configuration](/influxdb/v2/tools/influx-cli/#provide-required-authentication-credentials). - `ORG_NAME`: A name for your initial [organization](/influxdb/v2/admin/organizations/) - `BUCKET_NAME`: A name for your initial [bucket](/influxdb/v2/admin/buckets/) InfluxDB is initialized with an [Operator token](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/#operator-token), [user](/influxdb/v2/reference/glossary/#user), [organization](/influxdb/v2/reference/glossary/#organization), and [bucket](/influxdb/v2/reference/glossary/#bucket). The output is similar to the following: ```sh User Organization Bucket USERNAME ORGANIZATION_NAME BUCKET_NAME ``` InfluxDB stores these values in a `default` connection configuration that provides your InfluxDB URL, organization, and API token to `influx` CLI commands. For information about connection configurations, see [`influx config`](/influxdb/v2/reference/cli/influx/config/). **Set up with the API:** Send a request to the following HTTP API endpoint: [POST http://localhost:8086/api/v2/setup](/influxdb/v2/api/authorizations-api-tokens/) The `POST /api/v2/setup` API endpoint doesn’t require authentication In the request body, specify values for the initial username, password, organization, bucket, and an optional Operator token–for example: ```sh curl http://localhost:8090/api/v2/setup \ --data '{ "username": "USERNAME", "password": "PASSWORD", "token": "TOKEN", "bucket": "BUCKET_NAME", "org": "ORG_NAME" }' ``` Replace the following: - `USERNAME`: A name for your initial admin [user](/influxdb/v2/admin/users/) - `PASSWORD`: A password for your initial admin [user](/influxdb/v2/admin/users/) - `ORG_NAME`: A name for your initial [organization](/influxdb/v2/admin/organizations/) - `BUCKET_NAME`: A name for your initial [bucket](/influxdb/v2/admin/buckets/) - `TOKEN`: A string value to set for the [*operator* token](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/#operator-token). If you don’t include this flag, InfluxDB generates a token for you. The response body contains the created resources, including the [Operator token](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/#operator-token) and its list of permissions. We recommend using a password manager or a secret store to securely store sensitive tokens. For more options and details, see the [`POST /api/v2/setup` API endpoint documentation](/influxdb/v2/api/setup/). 2. Recommended: **Create an All Access API token.** During the [InfluxDB initial set up process](/influxdb/v2/install/#set-up-influxdb), you created an admin user and [Operator token](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/#operator-token) that have permissions to manage everything in your InfluxDB instance. While you can use your Operator token to interact with InfluxDB, we recommend creating an [All Access token](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/#all-access-token) that is scoped to an organization, and then using this token to manage InfluxDB. Use the **InfluxDB UI**, **`influx` CLI**, or **InfluxDB API** to create an All Access token. **InfluxDB UI:** 1. Visit [localhost:8086](http://localhost:8086) in a browser to log in and access the InfluxDB UI. 2. Navigate to **Load Data** > **API Tokens** using the left navigation bar. 3. Click **\+ Generate API token** and select **All Access API Token**. 4. Enter a description for the API token and click **Save**. 5. Copy the generated token and store it for safe keeping. **influx CLI:** 1. If you haven’t already, [download, install, and configure the `influx` CLI](/influxdb/v2/tools/influx-cli/). 2. Use the [`influx auth create` command](/influxdb/v2/reference/cli/influx/auth/create/) to create an All Access token. Provide the following: - `--all-access` flag - `--host` flag with your [InfluxDB host URL](/influxdb/v2/reference/urls/) - `-o, --org` or `--org-id` flags with your InfluxDB organization name or [ID](/influxdb/v2/admin/organizations/view-orgs/#view-your-organization-id) - `-t, --token` flag with your Operator token ```sh influx auth create \ --all-access \ --host http://localhost:8086 \ --org \ --token ``` 3. Copy the generated token and store it for safe keeping. **InfluxDB API:** Send a request to the InfluxDB API `/api/v2/authorizations` endpoint using the `POST` request method. [POST http://localhost:8086/api/v2/authorizations](/influxdb/v2/api/authorizations-api-tokens/) Include the following with your request: - **Headers**: - **Authorization**: Token - **Content-Type**: application/json - **Request body**: JSON body with the following properties: - **status**: `"active"` - **description**: API token description - **orgID**: [InfluxDB organization ID](/influxdb/v2/admin/organizations/view-orgs/#view-your-organization-id) - **permissions**: Array of objects where each object represents permissions for an InfluxDB resource type or a specific resource. Each permission contains the following properties: - **action**: “read” or “write” - **resource**: JSON object that represents the InfluxDB resource to grant permission to. Each resource contains at least the following properties: - **orgID**: [InfluxDB organization ID](/influxdb/v2/admin/organizations/view-orgs/#view-your-organization-id) - **type**: Resource type. *For information about what InfluxDB resource types exist, use the [`/api/v2/resources` endpoint](/influxdb/v2/api/resources/).* The following example uses cURL and the InfluxDB API to generate an All Access token: ```sh export INFLUX_HOST=http://localhost:8086 export INFLUX_ORG_ID= export INFLUX_TOKEN= curl --request POST \ "$INFLUX_HOST/api/v2/authorizations" \ --header "Authorization: Token $INFLUX_TOKEN" \ --header "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8" \ --data '{ "status": "active", "description": "All access token for get started tutorial", "orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "permissions": [ {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "authorizations"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "authorizations"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "buckets"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "buckets"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "dashboards"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "dashboards"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "orgs"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "orgs"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "sources"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "sources"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "tasks"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "tasks"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "telegrafs"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "telegrafs"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "users"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "users"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "variables"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "variables"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "scrapers"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "scrapers"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "secrets"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "secrets"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "labels"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "labels"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "views"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "views"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "documents"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "documents"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "notificationRules"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "notificationRules"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "notificationEndpoints"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "notificationEndpoints"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "checks"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "checks"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "dbrp"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "dbrp"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "notebooks"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "notebooks"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "annotations"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "annotations"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "remotes"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "remotes"}}, {"action": "read", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "replications"}}, {"action": "write", "resource": {"orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "type": "replications"}} ] } ' ``` [](#) The response body contains a JSON object with the following properties: - **id**: API Token ID - **token**: API Token (Important) - **status**: Token status - **description**: Token description - **orgID**: InfluxDB organization ID the token is associated with - **org**: InfluxDB organization name the token is associated with - **userID**: User ID the token is associated with - **user**: Username the token is associated with - **permissions**: List of permissions for organization resources **Copy the generated `token` and store it for safe keeping.** We recommend using a password manager or a secret store to securely store sensitive tokens. 3. **Configure authentication credentials**. As you go through this tutorial, interactions with InfluxDB 2.9 require your InfluxDB **host**, **organization name or ID**, and your **API token**. How you provide credentials depends on which client you use to interact with InfluxDB. When configuring your token, if you [created an All Access token](#create-an-all-access-api-token), use that token to interact with InfluxDB. Otherwise, use the Operator token that you created during the setup process. **InfluxDB UI:** When managing InfluxDB through the InfluxDB UI, authentication credentials are provided automatically using credentials associated with the user you log in with. **influx CLI:** There are three ways to provided authentication credentials to the `influx` CLI: [](#cli-connection-configurations-recommended) CLI connection configurations *(Recommended)* The `influx` CLI lets you specify connection configuration presets that let you store and quickly switch between multiple sets of InfluxDB connection credentials. A connection configuration stores your credentials to avoid having to pass your InfluxDB API token with each `influx` command. If you [set up InfluxDB](#set-up-influxdb) using the CLI, it creates a default [connection configuration](/influxdb/v2/reference/cli/influx/config/) for you. Use the [`influx config create` command](/influxdb/v2/reference/cli/influx/config/create/) to manually create a new CLI connection configuration for the All Access token you created in the preceding step. Include the following flags: ```sh influx config create \ --config-name get-started \ --host-url http://localhost:8086 \ --org ORG_NAME \ --token API_TOKEN ``` Replace the following: - `get-started`: Connection configuration name. Examples in this tutorial use `get-started`. - `http://localhost:8086`: [InfluxDB host URL](/influxdb/v2/reference/urls/). - `ORG`: [your organization name](/influxdb/v2/admin/organizations/view-orgs/). - `API_TOKEN`: [your API token](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/view-tokens/). *For more information about `influx` CLI connection configurations, see [Install and use the `influx` CLI](/influxdb/v2/tools/influx-cli/#set-up-the-influx-cli).* [](#environment-variables) Environment variables The `influx` CLI checks for specific environment variables and, if present, uses those environment variables to populate authentication credentials. Set the following environment variables in your command line session: - `INFLUX_HOST`: [InfluxDB host URL](/influxdb/v2/reference/urls/). - `INFLUX_ORG`: InfluxDB organization name. - `INFLUX_ORG_ID`: InfluxDB [organization ID](/influxdb/v2/admin/organizations/view-orgs/#view-your-organization-id). - `INFLUX_TOKEN`: InfluxDB API token. ```sh export INFLUX_HOST=localhost:8086 export INFLUX_ORG= export INFLUX_ORG_ID= export INFLUX_TOKEN= ``` Replace the following: - ``: The name of your [organization](/influxdb/v2/admin/organizations/) - ``: Your [organization ID](/influxdb/v2/admin/organizations/view-orgs/#view-your-organization-id) - ``: Your [All Access token](#create-an-all-access-api-token) or operator [token](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/) [](#command-line-flags) Command line flags Use the following `influx` CLI flags to provide required credentials to commands: - `--host`: [InfluxDB host URL](/influxdb/v2/reference/urls/). - `-o`, `--org` or `--org-id`: InfluxDB organization name or [ID](/influxdb/v2/admin/organizations/view-orgs/#view-your-organization-id). - `-t`, `--token`: InfluxDB API token. All `influx` CLI examples in this getting started tutorial assume your InfluxDB **host**, **organization**, and **token** are provided by either the [active `influx` CLI configuration](/influxdb/v2/reference/cli/influx/#provide-required-authentication-credentials) or by environment variables. **InfluxDB API:** When using the InfluxDB API, provide the required connection credentials in the following ways: - **InfluxDB host**: The domain and port to send HTTP(S) requests to. - **InfluxDB API Token**: Include an `Authorization` header that uses either the `Bearer` or `Token` scheme and your InfluxDB [API token](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/)–for example: ```http Authorization: Bearer 0xxx0o0XxXxx00Xxxx000xXXxoo0== ``` - **InfluxDB organization name or ID**: Depending on the API endpoint used, pass this as part of the URL path, query string, or in the request body. All API examples in this tutorial use **cURL** from a command line. To provide all the necessary credentials to the example cURL commands, set the following environment variables in your command line session. ```sh export INFLUX_HOST=http://localhost:8086 export INFLUX_ORG= export INFLUX_ORG_ID= export INFLUX_TOKEN= ``` Replace the following: - ``: The name of your [organization](/influxdb/v2/admin/organizations/) - ``: Your [organization ID](/influxdb/v2/admin/organizations/view-orgs/#view-your-organization-id) - ``: Your [All Access token](#create-an-all-access-api-token) or Operator token 4. Optional: **Create a bucket**. In the [initial setup process](#run-initial-setup-process), you created a bucket. You can use that bucket or create one specifically for this getting started tutorial. All examples in this tutorial assume a bucket named *get-started*. Use the **InfluxDB UI**, **`influx` CLI**, or **InfluxDB API** to create a new bucket. **InfluxDB UI:** 1. Visit [localhost:8086](http://localhost:8086) in a browser to log in and access the InfluxDB UI. 2. Navigate to **Load Data** > **Buckets** using the left navigation bar. 3. Click **\+ Create bucket**. 4. Provide a bucket name (get-started) and select Never to create a bucket with an infinite [retention period](/influxdb/v2/reference/glossary/#retention-period). 5. Click **Create**. **influx CLI:** 1. If you haven’t already, [download, install, and configure the `influx` CLI](/influxdb/v2/tools/influx-cli/). 2. Use the [`influx bucket create` command](/influxdb/v2/reference/cli/influx/bucket/create/) to create a bucket. **Provide the following**: - `-n, --name` flag with the bucket name. - [Connection and authentication credentials](#configure-authentication-credentials) ```sh influx bucket create --name get-started ``` **InfluxDB API:** To create a bucket using the InfluxDB HTTP API, send a request to the InfluxDB API `/api/v2/buckets` endpoint using the `POST` request method. [POST http://localhost:8086/api/v2/buckets](/influxdb/v2/api/buckets/) Include the following with your request: - **Headers**: - **Authorization**: Token `INFLUX_TOKEN` - **Content-Type**: `application/json` - **Request body**: JSON object with the following properties: - **org**: InfluxDB organization name - **name**: Bucket name - **retentionRules**: List of retention rule objects that define the bucket’s retention period. Each retention rule object has the following properties: - **type**: `"expire"` - **everySeconds**: Retention period duration in seconds. `0` indicates the retention period is infinite. The following example shows how to use cURL and the InfluxDB API to create a bucket: ```sh export INFLUX_HOST=http://localhost:8086 export INFLUX_ORG_ID= export INFLUX_TOKEN= curl --request POST \ "$INFLUX_HOST/api/v2/buckets" \ --header "Authorization: Token $INFLUX_TOKEN" \ --header "Content-Type: application/json" \ --data '{ "orgID": "'"$INFLUX_ORG_ID"'", "name": "get-started", "retentionRules": [ { "type": "expire", "everySeconds": 0 } ] }' ``` [Get started](/influxdb/v2/get-started/) [Write data](/influxdb/v2/get-started/write/) #### Related - [Install InfluxDB OSS v2](/influxdb/v2/install/) - [InfluxDB configuration options](/influxdb/v2/reference/config-options/) - [Manage API tokens](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/) - [Manage buckets](/influxdb/v2/admin/buckets/) - [Install and use the influx CLI](/influxdb/v2/tools/influx-cli/)