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Manage environment variables in your InfluxDB Cluster

Use environment variables to define settings for individual components in your InfluxDB cluster and adjust your cluster’s running configuration. Define environment variables for each component in your AppInstance resource.

InfluxDB Clustered components support various environment variables. While many of these variables have default settings, you can customize them by setting your own values.

Overriding default settings may affect overall cluster performance

InfluxDB Clustered components have complex interactions that can be affected when overriding default configuration settings. Changing these settings may impact overall cluster performance. Before making configuration changes using environment variables, consider consulting InfluxData Support to identify any potential unintended consequences.

AppInstance component schema

In your AppInstance resource, configure individual component settings in the spec.package.spec.components property if configuring your AppInstance resource directly or, if using Helm, use the components property in your values.yaml. This property supports the following InfluxDB Clustered component keys:

  • ingester
  • querier
  • router
  • compactor
  • garbage-collector
apiVersion: kubecfg.dev/v1alpha1
kind: AppInstance
metadata:
  name: influxdb
  namespace: influxdb
spec:
  package:
    # ...
    spec:
      components:
        ingester:
          # Ingester settings ...
        querier:
          # Querier settings ...
        router:
          # Router settings. ...
        compactor:
          # Compactor settings ...
        garbage-collector:
          # Garbage collector settings ...
# ...
components:
  ingester:
    # Ingester settings ...
  querier:
    # Querier settings ...
  router:
    # Router settings. ...
  compactor:
    # Compactor settings ...
  garbage-collector:
    # Garbage collector settings ...

For more information about components in the InfluxDB 3 storage engine, see the InfluxDB 3 storage engine architecture.

Set environment variables for a component

  1. Under the specific component property, use the <component>.template.containers.iox.env property to define environment variables.

  2. In the env property, structure each environment variable as a key-value pair where the key is the environment variable name and the value is the environment variable value (string-formatted). For example, to configure environment variables for the Garbage collector:

    apiVersion: kubecfg.dev/v1alpha1
    kind: AppInstance
    metadata:
      name: influxdb
      namespace: influxdb
    spec:
      package:
        # ...
        spec:
          components:
            garbage-collector:
              template:
                containers:
                  iox:
                    env:
                      INFLUXDB_IOX_GC_OBJECTSTORE_CUTOFF: '6h'
                      INFLUXDB_IOX_GC_PARQUETFILE_CUTOFF: '6h'
    # ...
    components:
      garbage-collector:
        template:
          containers:
            iox:
              env:
                INFLUXDB_IOX_GC_OBJECTSTORE_CUTOFF: '6h'
                INFLUXDB_IOX_GC_PARQUETFILE_CUTOFF: '6h'
  3. Apply the configuration changes to your cluster and add or update environment variables in each component.

    kubectl apply \
      --filename myinfluxdb.yml \
      --namespace influxdb
    helm upgrade \
      influxdata/influxdb3-clustered \
      -f ./values.yml \
      --namespace influxdb

Update environment variables instead of removing them

Most configuration settings that can be overridden by environment variables have default values that are used if the environment variable is unset. Removing environment variables from your AppInstance resource configuration will not remove those environment variables entirely; instead, they will revert to their default settings. To revert to the default settings, simply unset the environment variable or update the value in your AppInstance resource to the default value.

In the preceding example, the INFLUXDB_IOX_GC_OBJECTSTORE_CUTOFF environment variable is set to 6h. If you remove INFLUXDB_IOX_GC_OBJECTSTORE_CUTOFF from the env property, the cutoff reverts to its default setting of 30d.

View example of environment variables in all components


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InfluxDB OSS 2.9.0: API tokens are hashed by default

Stronger token security in InfluxDB OSS 2.9.0 — tokens are hashed on disk by default. Existing tokens are hashed on first startup and can’t be recovered afterward. Capture any plaintext tokens you still need before you upgrade.

View InfluxDB OSS 2.9.0 release notes

Hashed tokens authenticate exactly like unhashed tokens — clients and integrations keep working.

Also new in 2.9.0:

  • Configurable backup compression
  • Restore support for backups containing hashed tokens
  • Tighter Edge Data Replication queue validation
  • Flux upgrade
  • Compaction reliability improvements

Key enhancements in Explorer 1.8

Explorer 1.8 is now available with streaming data subscriptions (beta), line protocol preview, and query history & saved queries.

View Explorer 1.8 release notes

Explorer 1.8 includes new features and improvements that make it easier to ingest, explore, and manage data.

Highlights:

  • Streaming data subscriptions (beta): Stream data into Explorer from MQTT, Kafka, and AMQP sources.
  • Line protocol preview: Preview line protocol, schema, and parse errors before data is written.
  • Custom sample data: Generate custom sample datasets with line protocol and schema preview.
  • Query history and saved queries: Browse query history and save/re-run named queries.
  • Retention period management: Set, update, or clear retention periods on databases and tables.

For more details, see Explorer 1.8 release notes

InfluxDB 3.9: Performance upgrade preview

InfluxDB 3 Enterprise 3.9 includes a beta of major performance upgrades with faster single-series queries, wide-and-sparse table support, and more.

InfluxDB 3 Enterprise 3.9 includes a beta of major performance and feature updates.

Key improvements:

  • Faster single-series queries
  • Consistent resource usage
  • Wide-and-sparse table support
  • Automatic distinct value caches for reduced latency with metadata queries

Preview features are subject to breaking changes.

For more information, see:

Telegraf Enterprise now in public beta

Get early access to the Telegraf Controller and provide feedback to help shape the future of Telegraf Enterprise.

See the Blog Post

The upcoming Telegraf Enterprise offering is for organizations running Telegraf at scale and is comprised of two key components:

  • Telegraf Controller: A control plane (UI + API) that centralizes Telegraf configuration management and agent health visibility.
  • Telegraf Enterprise Support: Official support for Telegraf Controller and Telegraf plugins.

Join the Telegraf Enterprise beta to get early access to the Telegraf Controller and provide feedback to help shape the future of Telegraf Enterprise.

For more information:

Telegraf Controller v0.0.7-beta now available

Telegraf Controller v0.0.7-beta is now available with new features, improvements, bug fixes, and an important breaking change.

View the release notes
Download Telegraf Controller v0.0.7-beta

InfluxDB Docker latest tag changing to InfluxDB 3 Core

On May 27, 2026, the latest tag for InfluxDB Docker images will point to InfluxDB 3 Core. To avoid unexpected upgrades, use specific version tags in your Docker deployments.

If using Docker to install and run InfluxDB, the latest tag will point to InfluxDB 3 Core. To avoid unexpected upgrades, use specific version tags in your Docker deployments. For example, if using Docker to run InfluxDB v2, replace the latest version tag with a specific version tag in your Docker pull command–for example:

docker pull influxdb:2