Manage your InfluxDB 3 Enterprise license

InfluxDB 3 Enterprise licenses authorize the use of the InfluxDB 3 Enterprise software and apply to a single cluster. Licenses are primarily based on the number of CPUs InfluxDB can use, but there are other limitations depending on the license type.

• License feature comparison
• CPU limit
  • CPU accounting
• Upgrade from InfluxDB 3 Core
• Activate a license
  • Activate a trial or at-home license
  • Activate a commercial license
• Change your license type
• Renew a license
• Expiration behavior

License feature comparison

The following InfluxDB 3 Enterprise license types are available:

• Trial: 30-day trial license with full access to InfluxDB 3 Enterprise capabilities.
• At-Home: For at-home hobbyist use with limited access to InfluxDB 3 Enterprise capabilities.
• Commercial: Commercial license with full access to InfluxDB 3 Enterprise capabilities.

CPU limit

Each InfluxDB 3 Enterprise license limits the number of CPUs InfluxDB can use. The CPU limit is per cluster, not per machine. A cluster may consist of multiple nodes that share the available CPU limit.

For example, you can purchase a 32-CPU Commercial license and set up an InfluxDB 3 Enterprise cluster with the following:

• 3 × writer nodes, each with 4 CPUs (12 total)
• 1 × compactor node with 8 CPUs
• 3 × query nodes, each with 4 CPUs (12 total)

With the InfluxDB 3 Enterprise Commercial license, CPU cores are purchased in batches of 8, 16, 32, 64, or 128 cores.

CPU accounting

CPU cores are determined by whatever the operating system of the host machine reports as its core count. InfluxDB 3 Enterprise does not differentiate between physical and virtual CPU cores.

Upgrade from InfluxDB 3 Core

To upgrade from InfluxDB 3 Core to InfluxDB 3 Enterprise, see Upgrade from Core.

Activate a license

Each InfluxDB 3 Enterprise license must be activated when you start the server, but the process of activating the license depends on the license type:

• Activate a trial or at-home license
• Activate a commercial license

Activate a trial or at-home license

1. Use the influxdb3 serve command to start the server. If the server doesn’t find a license file or email address, the server prompts you to enter your email address. If you’re activating an InfluxDB trial or home license with Docker or with DEB/RPM installs, include options to skip the email prompt.
2. The server prompts you to select a license type. Select trial or home.
3. In the verification email from InfluxDB 3 Enterprise, click the button to verify your email address.

After you verify your email address, InfluxDB 3 Enterprise auto-generates a license (associated with your cluster and email address) and stores the license file in your object store. The license file is a JWT file that contains the license information.

Skip the email prompt

To skip the email prompt when starting the server, you can provide your email address using one of the following methods:

• CLI option: Use the --license-email option with the influxdb3 serve command
• Environment variable: Set the INFLUXDB3_ENTERPRISE_LICENSE_EMAIL environment variable
• TOML config (DEB/RPM-only): Set the license-email option in the /etc/influxdb3/influxdb3-enterprise.conf file for a DEB or RPM install

If the server finds a valid license file in your object store, it ignores the license email option.

See examples to start the server with your license email.

Use an existing trial or at-home license

When you activate a trial or at-home license, InfluxDB registers your email address with the license server. To use your existing license–for example, if you deleted your license file–provide your email address using one of the following methods:

• CLI option: Use the --license-email option with the influxdb3 serve command
• Environment variable: Set the INFLUXDB3_ENTERPRISE_LICENSE_EMAIL environment variable
• TOML config (DEB/RPM-only): Set the license-email option in the /etc/influxdb3/influxdb3-enterprise.conf file for a DEB or RPM install

InfluxDB validates your email address with the license server and uses your existing license if it’s still valid.

Activate a commercial license

1. Contact InfluxData Sales to obtain an InfluxDB 3 Enterprise Commercial license. Provide the following:

   • Cluster UUID
   • Object Store Info

   This information is provided in the output of the InfluxDB 3 Enterprise server if you try to start the server without a valid license.

   InfluxData will provide you with a commercial license file. The license file is a JWT file that contains the license information.

2. When starting the InfluxDB 3 Enterprise server, provide the license file path using one of the following methods:

   • CLI option: Use the --license-file option with the influxdb3 serve command
   • Environment variable: Set the INFLUXDB3_ENTERPRISE_LICENSE_FILE environment variable.
   • TOML config (DEB/RPM-only): Set the license-file option in the /etc/influxdb3/influxdb3-enterprise.conf file for a DEB or RPM install

License detection

InfluxDB 3 Enterprise checks for a license in the following order:

1. --license-file CLI option or license-file TOML option
2. INFLUXDB3_ENTERPRISE_LICENSE_FILE environment variable
3. Default commercial license path in the object store
4. Default trial/home license path in the object store
5. --license-email CLI option or license-email TOML option
6. INFLUXDB3_ENTERPRISE_LICENSE_EMAIL environment variable
7. If no license is found, the server won’t start

Default license file location

When using the default license path (items 3-4 above), InfluxDB 3 Enterprise looks for the license file in your object store directory:

<OBJECT_STORE>/<CLUSTER_ID>/commercial_license
<OBJECT_STORE>/<CLUSTER_ID>/trial_or_home_license

Start the server with your license email

The following examples show how to provide your license email for different InfluxDB 3 Enterprise installation methods:

influxdb3 serve \
--cluster-id CLUSTER_ID \
--node-id NODE_ID \
--license-email EMAIL_ADDRESS \
# ...

INFLUXDB3_ENTERPRISE_LICENSE_EMAIL=
EMAIL_ADDRESS

influxdb3 serve \
--cluster-id CLUSTER_ID \
--node-id NODE_ID \
# ...

# compose.yaml
name: data-crunching-stack
services:
  influxdb3-enterprise:
    container_name: influxdb3-enterprise
    image: influxdb:3-enterprise
    ports:
      - 8181:8181
    command:
      - influxdb3
      - serve
      - --node-id=
NODE_ID
      - --cluster-id=
CLUSTER_ID
      - --object-store=file
      - --data-dir=/var/lib/influxdb3/data
      - --plugin-dir=/var/lib/influxdb3/plugins
    environment:
      - INFLUXDB3_ENTERPRISE_LICENSE_EMAIL=
EMAIL_ADDRESS
    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

Start the server with your license file

The following examples show how to provide your license file for different InfluxDB 3 Enterprise installation methods:

influxdb3 serve \
--cluster-id cluster01 \
--node-id node01 \
--license-file /path/to/license-file.jwt \
# ...

INFLUXDB3_ENTERPRISE_LICENSE_FILE=
/path/to/license-file.jwt

influxdb3 serve \
--cluster-id cluster01 \
--node-id node01 \
# ...

For more information about influxdb3 serve options, see the CLI reference.

Change your license type

If you need to change your InfluxDB 3 Enterprise license type–for example, from Trial to At-Home, or from Trial to Commercial–follow these steps.

Identify your current license

Check your current license type and status:

influxdb3 show license --host http://localhost:8181

Change from Trial or At-Home to a different Trial or At-Home license

To switch between Trial and At-Home licenses (or to reset a Trial license), you need to remove the existing license file so the server prompts you to select a new license type.

Change to a Commercial license

To upgrade to a Commercial license from any other license type:

1. Contact InfluxData Sales to obtain a Commercial license file. Provide:

   • Your cluster ID
   • Your object store information

2. Stop the server.

3. Start the server with the commercial license file.

The commercial license takes precedence over any existing trial or at-home license in your object store.

influxdb3 serve \
  --license-file 
/path/to/commercial-license.jwt
 \
  # ... other options

export INFLUXDB3_ENTERPRISE_LICENSE_FILE=
/path/to/commercial-license.jwt
influxdb3 serve # ... other options

influxdb3 show license --host http://localhost:8181

docker run -d \
  -v 
/path/to/commercial-license.jwt
:/license.jwt:ro \
  -e INFLUXDB3_ENTERPRISE_LICENSE_FILE=/license.jwt \
  # ... other options
  influxdb:3-enterprise

influxdb3 show license --host http://localhost:8181

Renew a license

To renew an InfluxDB 3 Enterprise Commercial license, contact InfluxData Sales.

Expiration behavior

When your InfluxDB 3 Enterprise license expires, the following occurs:

• Write requests continue to be accepted and processed.
• Compactions continue to optimize persisted data.
• Query requests return an error.
• If the InfluxDB 3 Enterprise server stops, it will not restart without a valid, non-expired license.