InfluxDB

JVM AGENT

Overview

The InfluxDB connectors enables Seeq to access data from an InfluxDB v1 or v2 server, translating measurements/tags/series into assets and signals in Seeq.

InfluxDB was largely rewritten between InfluxDB version 1 and version 2 and uses a different communication interface and query language between the two versions.

Seeq therefore provides two different connectors:

InfluxDB Connector

Natively supports InfluxDB v1
Also supports InfluxDB v2 if InfluxDB’s compatibility endpoints are used

InfluxDB 2 Connector

Natively supports InfluxDB v2
Does not support InfluxDB v1
Available in Seeq Server version R59 and later

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for connecting to InfluxDB, but you may want to read through Understanding the InfluxDB Connector, particularly the Schema Recommendations section.

Configuration

This is an example configuration template that is displayed in the Additional Configuration box that appears when you click Configure for an existing datasource (or if a new datasource is being created, in the Create new datasource connection modal that appears after clicking Add Datasource) on the Datasources administration page.

InfluxDB V1

CODE

{
    "HostName" : "localhost",
    "Port" : 8086,
    "Ssl" : false,
    "Username" : "admin",
    "Password" : "admin",
    "Token": null,
    "ConnectTimeoutInSeconds" : 30,
    "ReadTimeoutInSeconds" : 120,
    "CallTimeoutInSeconds" : 150,
    "Databases" : [ ],
    "Simulation" : false
}

InfluxDB V1 Additional Configuration

Property Name	Default Value	Data Type	Description
`HostName`	`localhost`	String	The name or IP address of the InfluxDB server that will be accessed.
`Port`	8086	Integer	The port of the InfluxDB server. This only needs to be changed if you know that your server is running on a different port.
`Ssl`	`false`	Boolean	Set to `true` if you are using a secure HTTPS connection, leave `false` otherwise.
`Username`	`admin`	String	This is the username of a user that has access to InfluxDB. If you prefer not to use username / password authentication, you can also opt for JWT token authentication using the `Token` field.
`Password`	`admin`	String/SecretFile	The password of a user that has access to the database. It is recommended to leverage a Secrets File to store this information. If you prefer not to use username / password authentication, you can also opt for JWT token authentication using the `Token` field.
`Token`	null	String/SecretFile	The JWT token that will be used to authenticate to InfluxDB. It is recommended to leverage a Secrets File to store this information. Conversely, you can also authenticate via username / password.
`ConnectTimeoutInSeconds`	30	Integer	How long the connector will wait for a response when connecting to InfluxDB.
`ReadTimeoutInSeconds`	120	Integer	How long the connector will wait for a response when reading data from InfluxDB.
`CallTimeoutInSeconds`	150	Integer	Coming soon in R63 The call timeout spans the entire call: resolving DNS, connecting, writing the request body, server processing, and reading the response body. If the call requires redirects or retries they must all be completed within one timeout period.
`Databases`	Empty List	List of Databases	Seeq will automatically fill in this property on the first connection. Afterward, you may modify the database definition as specified in https://seeq.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/KB/pages/164003895/InfluxDB+Connector#Rearranging-the-Asset-Tree.
`Simulation`	`false`	Boolean	If you have a blank InfluxDB server and you're just experimenting, you can load simulated data into InfluxDB by changing this field to `true`, leave false otherwise.

InfluxDB V2

CODE

{
    "Url" : "http://localhost:8086",
    "Username" : "admin",
    "Password" : "admin",
    "Token" : null,
    "ConnectTimeoutInSeconds" : 30,
    "ReadTimeoutInSeconds" : 120,
    "CallTimeoutInSeconds" : 150,
    "Organizations" : [ ],
    "Simulation" : false,
    "IndexingSchemaQueryStart" : null,
    "IndexingSchemaQueryStop" : null,
    "IndexingSchemaDiscoverOnly" : false
}

InfluxDB V2 Additional Configuration

Property Name	Default Value	Data Type	Description
`Url`	`localhost`	String	The URL of the InfluxDB v2 server you wish to connect to. If you are using InfluxDB Cloud, this is the root of the URL you will see in your browser address bar when using the web-based admin console (e.g.: `https://us-east-1-1.aws.cloud2.influxdata.com/`).
`Username`	`admin`	String	NOT RECOMMENDED: This is the username of a user that has access to InfluxDB. It is strongly recommended that you commission an API Token and use that instead, as described here: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/cloud/security/tokens/create-token/. You will place the token string in the `Token` field and ignore this field.
`Password`	`admin`	String/SecretFile	NOT RECOMMENDED: The password of a user that has access to the database. It is recommended to leverage a Secrets File to store this information. It is strongly recommended that you commission an API Token and use that instead, as described here: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/cloud/security/tokens/create-token/. You will place the token string in the `Token` field and ignore this field.
`Token`	null	String/SecretFile	The API Token used to access InfluxDB. Follow the instructions at https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/cloud/security/tokens/create-token/ to generate your token. It is recommended to leverage a Secrets File to store this information. You can also authenticate via username / password, but it is not recommended.
`ConnectTimeoutInSeconds`	30	Integer	The connect timeout is applied when connecting a TCP socket to the target host.
`ReadTimeoutInSeconds`	120	Integer	The read timeout is applied to both the TCP socket and for individual read IO operations including on Source of the Response.
`CallTimeoutInSeconds`	150	Integer	The call timeout spans the entire call: resolving DNS, connecting, writing the request body, server processing, and reading the response body. If the call requires redirects or retries they must all be completed within one timeout period.
`Organizations`	Empty List	List of Organizations	Seeq will automatically fill in this property on the first connection. Afterward, you may modify the organization definition as specified in Rearranging the Asset Tree.
`Simulation`	`false`	Boolean	If you have a blank InfluxDB server and you're just experimenting, you can load simulated data into InfluxDB by changing this field to `true`, leave false otherwise.
`IndexingSchemaQueryStart`	null (30 days ago)	String	InfluxDB v2 requires that a time period is included when querying for the set of measurements / tag keys / field keys that are present in a bucket. When this field is set to null, a default of 30 days ago is used. If you find that “old” measurements/tags/fields are not being indexed, considering setting this field to `"2016-01-01T00:00:00Z"` or whatever date makes sense for you.
`IndexingSchemaQueryStop`	null (now)	String	InfluxDB v2 requires that a time period is included when querying for the set of measurements / tag keys / field keys that are present in a bucket. When this field is set to null, a default of “now” is used.
`IndexingSchemaDiscoverOnly`	`false`	Boolean	Coming soon in R63 If set to `true`, the indexing operation will not create an asset tree and associated signals in Seeq, it will just scan the InfluxDB server for Organizations, Buckets, Measurements and Tag Keys and add them to the configuration. You can then modify the configuration as you please and set this option back to `false` to re-enable full indexing.

Known Issues

InfluxDB does not currently have a clean mechanism for storing metadata for a series. Find our schema recommendations for working around this limitation here.

Please report any other issues you find to our support portal.

Troubleshooting

Self-Signed Certificates

If the InfluxDB connector encounters an SSL certificate that is not trusted (e.g., it is self-signed or otherwise not derived from a root certificate authority), it will add the certificate to the hosting Agent’s <global_folder>/keys/untrusted folder. You can choose to trust the certificate by moving it to the <global_folder>/keys/trusted folder.

If you don’t see a PEM file in the folder above, you may be using an earlier version of Seeq that does not support this certificate trust mechanism (R63 and earlier).

Rearranging the Asset Tree

You may be interested in rearranging the ordering of the asset tree in Seeq. The default asset tree organization will be populated within the configuration file, as shown on the right.

To rearrange the ordering, change the Tree field to reflect the new ordering. Each level of the asset tree is separated by >> and the levels can contain static text as well. You can omit levels by just removing them. For example, this tree specification removes the database level and adds a "Model" and "Unit#" prefix to make the asset tree easier to understand:

CODE

"Tree" : "${_measurement} >> ${Location} >> Model ${Model} >> Unit# ${Unit Serial No}"

You can also enable/disable databases and measurements using the Enabled field.

JSON

{
    "Databases" : [ {
      "Database" : "American_Manufacturing",
      "Enabled" : true,
      "Measurements" : [ {
        "Measurement" : "Power Generators",
        "Enabled" : true,
        "Tree" : "${_database} >> ${_measurement} >> ${Location} >> ${Model} >> ${Unit Serial No}"
      } ]
    } ]
}

Note: This example is for an InfluxDB v1 configuration. InfluxDB v2 configurations will have Organizations and Buckets in place of Databases.

If you are running into other issues with connecting to or access data from InfluxDB, view our guide for troubleshooting datasource issues.

Performance considerations

The InfluxDB connector does not have any special performance considerations. View our guide on optimizing datasource performance for general guidance.