Set up InfluxDB 3 Core

• Prerequisites

• Start InfluxDB

  • Object store examples

• Set up authorization

  • Create an operator token
  • Set your token for authorization

Prerequisites

To get started, you’ll need:

• InfluxDB 3 Core: Install and verify the latest version on your system.
• If you want to persist data, have access to one of the following:
  • A directory on your local disk where you can persist data (used by examples in this guide)
  • S3-compatible object store and credentials

Start InfluxDB

Use the influxdb3 serve command to start InfluxDB 3 Core. Provide the following:

• --node-id: A string identifier that distinguishes individual server instances. This forms the final part of the storage path: <CONFIGURED_PATH>/<NODE_ID>.

• --object-store: Specifies the type of object store to use. InfluxDB supports the following:

  • file: local file system
  • memory: in memory (no object persistence)
  • memory-throttled: like memory but with latency and throughput that somewhat resembles a cloud-based object store
  • s3: AWS S3 and S3-compatible services like Ceph or Minio
  • google: Google Cloud Storage
  • azure: Azure Blob Storage

• Other object store parameters depending on the selected object-store type. For example, if you use s3, you must provide the bucket name and credentials.

For this getting started guide, use the file object store to persist data to your local disk.

# File system object store
# Provide the file system directory
influxdb3 serve \
  --node-id host01 \
  --object-store file \
  --data-dir ~/.influxdb3

Object store examples

# File system object store
# Provide the file system directory
influxdb3 serve \
  --node-id host01 \
  --object-store file \
  --data-dir ~/.influxdb3

# File system object store with Docker 
# Create a mount
# Provide the mount path
docker run -it \
 --volume /path/on/host:/path/in/container \
 influxdb:3-core influxdb3 serve \
 --node-id my_host \
 --object-store file \
 --data-dir /path/in/container

# compose.yaml
services:
  influxdb3-core:
    image: influxdb:3-core
    ports:
      - 8181:8181
    command:
      - influxdb3
      - serve
      - --node-id=node0
      - --object-store=file
      - --data-dir=/var/lib/influxdb3/data
      - --plugin-dir=/var/lib/influxdb3/plugins
    volumes:
      - type: bind
        # Path to store data on your host system
        source: ~/.influxdb3/data
        # Path to store data in the container
        target: /var/lib/influxdb3/data
      - type: bind
        # Path to store plugins on your host system
        source: ~/.influxdb3/plugins
        # Path to store plugins in the container
        target: /var/lib/influxdb3/plugins

docker compose pull && docker compose up influxdb3-core

# S3 object store (default is the us-east-1 region)
# Specify the object store type and associated options
influxdb3 serve \
  --node-id host01 \
  --object-store s3 \
  --bucket OBJECT_STORE_BUCKET \
  --aws-access-key AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID \
  --aws-secret-access-key AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

# Minio or other open source object store
# (using the AWS S3 API with additional parameters)
# Specify the object store type and associated options
influxdb3 serve \
  --node-id host01 \
  --object-store s3 \
  --bucket OBJECT_STORE_BUCKET \
  --aws-access-key-id AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID \
  --aws-secret-access-key AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY \
  --aws-endpoint ENDPOINT \
  --aws-allow-http

# Memory object store
# Stores data in RAM; doesn't persist data
influxdb3 serve \
  --node-id host01 \
  --object-store memory

For more information about server options, use the CLI help or view the InfluxDB 3 CLI reference:

influxdb3 serve --help

Set up authorization

InfluxDB 3 Core uses token-based authorization to authorize actions in the database. Authorization is enabled by default when you start the server. With authorization enabled, you must provide a token with influxdb3 CLI commands and HTTP API requests.

InfluxDB 3 Core supports admin tokens, which grant access to all CLI actions and API endpoints.

For more information about tokens and authorization, see Manage tokens.

Create an operator token

After you start the server, create your first admin token. The first admin token you create is the operator token for the server.

Use the influxdb3 create token command with the --admin option to create your operator token:

influxdb3 create token --admin

# With Docker — in a new terminal:
docker exec -it 
CONTAINER_NAME
 influxdb3 create token --admin

The command returns a token string for authenticating CLI commands and API requests.

Set your token for authorization

Use your operator token to authenticate server actions in InfluxDB 3 Core, such as performing administrative tasks and writing and querying data.

Use one of the following methods to provide your token and authenticate influxdb3 CLI commands.

In your command, replace YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN with your token string (for example, the operator token from the previous step).

export INFLUXDB3_AUTH_TOKEN=
YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN

influxdb3 show databases --token 
YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN

For HTTP API requests, include your token in the Authorization header–for example:

curl "http://localhost:8181/api/v3/configure/database" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer 
YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN
"

Learn more about tokens and permissions

• Manage admin tokens - Understand and manage operator and named admin tokens

• Authentication - Understand authentication, authorizations, and permissions in InfluxDB 3 Core