influxdata/docs.influxdata.com-archive

ARCHIVE - 1.x docs for InfluxData

Note: This repository is for the InfluxData documentation archive and is not actively maintained. For the most recent InfluxData documentation repository, visit github.com/influxdata/docs-v2/.

InfluxData Documentation Archive

This repository powers archive.docs.influxdata.com, which includes archived documentation for the following InfluxData projects and versions:

• Telegraf v0.10 - v1.8
• InfluxDB v0.10 - v1.2
• InfluxDB Enterprise v1.0 - v1.3
• Chronograf v0.10 - v1.5
• Kapacitor v0.10 - v1.3
• Kapacitor Enterprise v1.3 - v1.5

docs.influxdata.com-archive's Issues

update database creation and retention policy docs

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/516

Once influxdata/influxdb#4866 is merged.

influxdata/influxdb#4866 is merged so let's get the docs for CREATE DATABASE updated for the 0.9.6 release. Might need to update the retention policy page with a note that the defaults can be altered when making the db.

I believe this comment has the final syntax: influxdata/influxdb#4866 (comment)

[new page] document size on disk guidelines

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/205

Will need to get numbers from perf testing, but for now just summarize influxdata/influxdb#3554 and talk a bit about influxdata/influxdb#3544

rethink downloads page and installation page

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/279

It's tough keeping them in sync and the version-specific download and installation data should probably live in only one place.

Also maybe we should link Downloads in the left side nav of the docs.
@beckettsean

add JS snippet to send traffic metrics to InfluxDB

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/291

Let's dogfood with our own traffic metrics.

@pauldix anything in particular you want to capture?

• browser string
• URL visited

Add note regarding regular expressions

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/337

There's an issue with WHERE section of documentation: https://influxdb.com/docs/v0.9/query_language/data_exploration.html#the-where-clause

It shows examples of using regular expressions, but it does not state that filtering
data by regular expressions does not work on fields, it only works on tags.

See: influxdata/influxdb#2715

Should document CollectD integration

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/297

show tag values throwing ERR

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/547

Is there some way I can send a trace or dump file for my database?
I'm using Influx 0.9.5.1.

See the problem:
[ksengal@csdev-ksengal influxdb]$ influx
Visit https://enterprise.influxdata.com to register for updates, InfluxDB server management, and monitoring.
Connected to http://localhost:8086 version 0.9.5.1
InfluxDB shell 0.9.5.1
% show databases

name: databases

name
_internal
cs

% use cs
Using database cs
% help
Usage:
connect host:port connect to another node
auth prompt for username and password
pretty toggle pretty print
use set current databases
format set the output format: json, csv, or column
precision set the timestamp format: h,m,s,ms,u,ns
consistency set write consistency level: any, one, quorum, or all
settings output the current settings for the shell
exit quit the influx shell

show databases        show database names
show series           show series information
show measurements     show measurement information
show tag keys         show tag key information
show tag values       show tag value information

a full list of influxql commands can be found at:
https://influxdb.com/docs/v0.9/query_language/spec.html

% show series

name: fakeMeasurementName

_key fakeTagLabel1 fakeTagLabel2
fakeMeasurementName,fakeTagLabel1=fakeTagValue1,fakeTagLabel2=fakeTagValue2 fakeTagValue1 fakeTagValue2

% show tag keys

name: fakeMeasurementName

tagKey
fakeTagLabel1
fakeTagLabel2

% show tag values

ERR: error parsing query: found EOF, expected WITH at line 1, char 17 <~~ Error?
% SELECT * from fakeMeasurementName
% <~~~~ Also, this should return something :(

What are the debugging commands available to help here?
Note, the data was inserted using golang code using v2 version of golang client api (pasting it here probably would not make sense).

Here I try to grab the entire series:

[ksengal@csdev-ksengal influxdb]$ curl -G 'http://localhost:8086/query?pretty=true' --data-urlencode "db=cs" --data-urlencode "q=SELECT value FROM fakeMeasurementName"
{
"results": [
{}
]
}

EMPTY, yet...

[ksengal@csdev-ksengal influxdb]$ influx
Visit https://enterprise.influxdata.com to register for updates, InfluxDB server management, and monitoring.
Connected to http://localhost:8086 version 0.9.5.1
InfluxDB shell 0.9.5.1
% use cs
Using database cs
% show series

name: fakeMeasurementName

_key fakeTagLabel1 fakeTagLabel2
fakeMeasurementName,fakeTagLabel1=fakeTagValue1,fakeTagLabel2=fakeTagValue2 fakeTagValue1 fakeTagValue2

%

update CLI page with precision switch

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/317

influxdata/influxdb#4065

Add full syntax example to regex

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/313

https://influxdb.com/docs/v0.9/query_language/data_exploration.html#regular-expressions needs to show a full regex query.

fix mis-statement on storage engine page

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/467

From influxdata/influxdb#4734 (comment), we need to remove that statement from the storage engine page.

SHOW MEASUREMENTS now allows regex matching

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/410

influxdata/influxdb#4501

Need to update the schema exploration page.

SHOW MEASUREMENTS WITH MEASUREMENT =~ /cpu.*/

document SHOW SHARDS

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/490

[new page] how to interpret SHOW DIAGNOSTICS

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/532

[new page] instructions on setting up HTTPS #284

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/

@toddboom
I'm not sure we have this documented anywhere yet, but some quick instructions on how to set up a PEM file to work with InfluxDB for the HTTP API and the admin interface would be helpful. I'll add some notes here on how it should be laid out.

@victorhooi
For reference, this was the question I posted on the InfluxDB group about this issue:

https://groups.google.com/d/topic/influxdb/onlhVW9WJ-A/discussion

and it also contains the steps I followed.

It would be awesome if the proper way could be captured in the docs though.

I've managed to get the InfluxDb server-side working, now I'm hitting issue with the Influx CLI seemingly not liking the self-signed certs. Hopefully will be able to nut those out on the Google Group =).

merge line protocol and line protocol syntax ref pages

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/542

no need for both

document SUBSCRIBE

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/476

influxdata/influxdb#4375

Add git commit author and date to leaf pages

Then people will be able to see when a specific doc was last updated.

Add instructions for upgrading cluster

See influxdata/influxdb#5073

document DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/461

influxdata/influxdb#4698

Document new command: SHOW SHARD GROUPS

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/485

influxdata/influxdb#4792

Thanks.

update boolean syntax in light of new PR

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/327

influxdata/influxdb#4160 adds support for T,F,t,f as query booleans.

Document INTO keyword

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/520

Starting from version 0.9.5 INTO keyword can be used outside of continuous queries: influxdata/influxdb#4409.

But it's still unclear how to use this feature.

I was able to make two-step filtering with queries like these:

SELECT last(size) INTO temp FROM vm GROUP BY hostname
SELECT sum(last) FROM temp
But here are two questions:

1. how to join them into a single query? Semicolon does not work by some reason.
2. I'm using temp, but what does this syntax mean? It is some kind of a local variable? Is it performant and safe to use on a large number of queries in Grafana?

Thanks.

[new page] migration from other tools

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/450

Graphite is the first one to tackle.

• how to configure carbon-relay to send existing graphite stream to graphite AND InfluxDB
• how to configure the graphite plugin, with basic templates for collectd and statsd metrics
• example queries for cpu usage and average network bandwidth on eth0

Backups warning

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/543

Given that influxdata/influxdb#3923 is still open there should be a warning on the backup and restore page

"GROUP BY time intervals" example doesn't explain time interval offsets

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/462

Related to influxdata/influxdb#1837

In the "GROUP BY time intervals" example in this section of the documentation, there is a lower time bound of 2015-08-18T00:00:00Z and a GROUP BY time(2d) in the query. The first timestamp returned is 2015-08-17T00:00:00Z.

A couple observations:

1. It is surprising that a timestamp is returned that lies outside the range specified in the WHERE clause.
2. It is not discussed why this particular timestamp was the first returned.

I infer from the issue linked above that this occurs because 2015-08-17T00:00:00Z is zero seconds modulo (2*24*60*60), but this is not obvious from reading the example. I could have just as easily concluded (falsely) that GROUP BY time(2d) assumes my time lower bound refers to the midpoint of the GROUP BY interval.

This example should be updated to indicate what exactly is going on by default, and perhaps link to the issue.

document shard group durations

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/275

If the RP has a duration less than 2 days, all shards are 1h shards. If the RP has a duration of 2 days to 6 months, all shards are 1d shards. For durations greater than 6 months, all shards are 7d shards.

If writes are slowing down as the BoltDB files grow, moving to a narrower shard duration should help.

[new page] open feature requests

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/234

Let's put up a page of the larger feature requests (timezone support, month/year support, custom functions, multiple mount points, etc) so that they are discoverable, and so that we can make some comments about them all in one place. It will help the community understand what's on the eventual roadmap, what's open for debate, and what's not going to be considered until 2.x or later.

should mention the CLI in the writing and querying data guides

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/326

No need to give the examples yet, but we should at least introduce it on both pages.

add note about mmap to FEI

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/530

Let's add a note to the frequently encountered issues page that describes our use of mmap and why that can look like a memory leak, but is not.

InfluxQL cheat sheet

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/359

List all queries with their full syntax, in alphabetical order.

https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb/blob/master/influxql/INFLUXQL.md has the list of all queries and a lot of the syntax, but it needs to be simplified and we need to make some of the syntax more explicit, e.g. what can accept regex operators and what cannot.

[new page] how to interpret SHOW STATS

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/531

add upgrade instructions to the installation page

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/533

let's be explicit about any upgrade needs, for example:

when upgrading from 0.9.4 and prior, file paths have changed
when upgrading from 0.9.2 and prior, integers now require i
etc.

@rossmcdonald

[new page] how to improve write performance influxdb

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/188

how to improve write performance influxdb

ALTER RETENTION doesn't affect existing shards

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/370

We could do with an entry in the FAQ about this, it confuses many people. See influxdata/influxdb#4354 (comment) for an example.

[new page] Shards and Shard Management

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/491

Under Concepts:

• how data are organized into shards
  • by time (If the RP has a duration less than 2 days, all shards are 1h shards. If the RP has a duration of 2 days to 6 months, all shards are 1d shards. For durations greater than 6 months, all shards are 7d shards.)
  • by series (modulo assignment)
  • how replicated
  • what duration and expiration means
• SHOW SHARDS
• SHOW SHARD GROUPS, see influxdata/influxdb#4792

Probably link to the FEI about data not being dropped after altering a retention policy: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/v0.9/troubleshooting/frequently_encountered_issues/#data-aren-t-dropped-after-altering-a-retention-policy.

[new page] how to file bug reports

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/257

I like https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/blob/master/share/doc/homebrew/Troubleshooting.md#troubleshooting as an example.

[new section] Create section for sample datasets

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/464

Include the NOAA sample data and the Telegraf sine wave, NASDAQ dataset

update code block styling for InfluxQL

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/193

Currently the sql blocks get SQL styling, which doesn't recognize many InfluxQL tokens. Let's update the parser/highlighter as appropriate so we can show InfluxQL without artifacts from SQL.

[new page] migrating from a prior version

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/349

We need to duplicate the 0.7 to 0.8 upgrade page with a doc on how to migrate from 0.8 to 0.9. Link to the import/export README, don't re-write it.

FAQ -- timezone support

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/429

Perhaps we need a question-and-answer here explaining that InfluxDB uses UTC as the timezone, regardless of the timezone of the host machine.

[new page] schema design

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/231

for the Guides section

update write pages to reflect new partial batch success writes

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/436

From influxdata/influxdb#4587:

"HTTP line protocol handler will now write all successfully parsed points instead of failing the entire batch if one failed. When some points fail to parse and the remaining are written successfully, the endpoint returns a partial write error with the failed lines in the response. This makes the behavior more consistent with the other inputs."

link database management to schema exploration page

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/536

Because people need to know about the SHOW commands!

create new docs structure

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/329

In advance of the new website and docs support for the new products, let's build the skeleton organization.

Each product will have the following sections:

• Intro
  • Overview
  • Installation
  • Getting Started
• Learning (replaces Guides)
• Reference (can be multiple sections here)
  • Configuration
  • Plugins (if appropriate)
  • Libraries (if appropriate)
  • DSL (if appropriate)
• About
  • Contributing
  • License
  • Getting Help

add FAQ entry about apparent loss of data when making a new default RP

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/395

When a user creates a new RP and makes it the default, all queries go to the new RP by default. That can make it look like data has gone missing, since queries that used to work no longer return values.

E.g.

SELECT count(value) FROM foo returns 10000.
CREATE RETENTION POLICY bar ON mydb DURATION INF REPLICATION 1 DEFAULT
SELECT count(value) FROM foo returns 0. (because it's actually querying bar.foo, and the existing points are in default.foo.
SELECT count(value) FROM default.foo returns 10000.

Another instance of this confusion: influxdata/influxdb#4832 (comment).

[new page] JSON query results

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/186

Document format, syntax, and meaning of the JSON query results returned from SELECT, SHOW, CREATE, DROP, ALTER, SET queries.

describe why clusters must be at least three machines, not two

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/537

@pauldix I think you are best able to elucidate this. Let's chat and then my team can write it up.

[new page] downsampling

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/160

Describe a downsampling strategy and lay out all the CQ create statements, show how to query the new measurements in non-default RPs. Mention the restriction about querying across RPs.

Better documentation around collectd + InfluxDB and Telegraf

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/501

Please add to the docs:

• How to configure collectd to send data to InfluxDB
• How to configure collectd in the InfluxDB Managed Hosting environment
• Documentation about the native collectd plugin

document data sources, relink in navigation

Originally: https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/issues/290

https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb.com/tree/master/content/docs/v0.9/data_sources is unlinked and the files there are mostly empty.