Upgrade InfluxDB 3 Explorer

InfluxDB 3 Explorer v1.11 adds user authentication. When you upgrade from an earlier version, Explorer keeps your existing data. If the InfluxDB 3 server requires users to sign in, each browser can move its earlier work onto the account that signs in from it.

• Before you upgrade
• What happens to existing data
• Bring your earlier work across
• Re-enter saved keys
• Resolve “Explorer’s data belongs to another deployment”
• Servers that don’t require sign-in

For the integrated Explorer UI in InfluxDB 3 Enterprise, see Migrate data from the 3.11 UI in the InfluxDB 3 Enterprise documentation.

Before you upgrade

If you run the Explorer Docker container:

• Keep the same SESSION_SECRET_KEY. Explorer uses the session secret to recognize each browser and match it to the work saved from that browser before the upgrade. If the session secret changes, or if you didn’t set one, Explorer can’t match a browser to its earlier work. See Environment variables.
• Keep the mounted /db directory. See Persist data across restarts.
• Check file ownership if you upgrade from v1.6 or earlier. See Set file permissions for upgrades.

What happens to existing data

When Explorer v1.11 or later starts for the first time, it copies the existing data to a backup inside its database before it changes the database for user accounts. Earlier work stays in that backup until a browser brings it across.

Bring your earlier work across

The first time someone signs in from a browser that used Explorer before the upgrade, Explorer displays Bring your earlier work across? The dialog lists what the browser holds, such as dashboards, saved queries, query history, and connections.

• Click Bring it across to move the work onto your account. Explorer then displays Your earlier work is here.
• Click Leave it to keep your account empty.

Nothing is deleted either way, and Explorer asks only once in each browser.

If some dashboards were built against a different server than the one you signed in to, the dialog says so. Those dashboards keep their cells and queries, but the queries might name databases that don’t exist on the current server.

Re-enter saved keys

Explorer never brings saved keys and tokens across. After you bring your work across, re-enter the keys that the dialog lists:

When the server requires sign-in, Explorer connects with each user’s own credentials, so users don’t need a database token to query the server they signed in to.

Resolve “Explorer’s data belongs to another deployment”

If Explorer’s stored data was created on a different InfluxDB 3 cluster than the one it’s connected to now, Explorer displays Explorer’s data belongs to another deployment instead of the Sign in page. Nobody can sign in until a user with the Admin role decides what happens to the data.

If the current cluster doesn’t have any users yet, Explorer opens the setup page instead, and creating the first user there resets the data without asking. For a restored cluster whose user IDs identify the same people, create the first user with the influxdb3 CLI to keep the data. See Set up the first user.

To resolve the deployment mismatch:

1. Select one of the following:

   • Keep the data: the current cluster was restored from the previous one, and its user IDs identify the same people.
   • Reset the data: this is a different cluster. Explorer starts empty for everyone.

2. Enter the Username and Password of a user with the Admin role.

3. Click Continue. If you selected Reset the data, click Reset data to confirm.

The decision requires a username and password. A server that signs users in only through an identity provider can’t complete it in Explorer.

Servers that don’t require sign-in

If the InfluxDB 3 server doesn’t require sign-in, Explorer restores each browser’s earlier work automatically and doesn’t display Bring your earlier work across?