Install InfluxDB Enterprise on a single server

Installing and running InfluxDB Enterprise on a single server, or node, is an alternative to using InfluxDB OSS 1.x. InfluxDB Enterprise provides advanced functionality such as LDAP authentication, fine-grained authorization, incremental backup and grants you access to official Influx Help Desk Support.

• Requirements
• Set up, configure, and start the meta service
• Set up, configure, and start the data services
• Install Chronograf
• Next steps

Requirements

License key or file

InfluxDB Enterprise requires a license key or a license file to run. Your license key is available at InfluxPortal. Contact support at the email we provided at signup to receive a license file. License files are required only if the nodes in your cluster cannot reach portal.influxdata.com on port 80 or 443.

Networking

Data nodes communicate over ports 8088, 8089, and 8091.

For licensing purposes, data nodes must also be able to reach portal.influxdata.com on port 80 or 443. If the data nodes cannot reach portal.influxdata.com on port 80 or 443, you’ll need to set the license-path setting instead of the license-key setting in the data node configuration file.

User account

The installation package creates an influxdb user that is used to run the InfluxDB data service. The influxdb user also owns certain files that are needed for the service to start successfully. In some cases, local policies may prevent the local user account from being created and the service fails to start. Contact your systems administrator for assistance with this requirement.

Static hostname

If running InfluxDB Enterprise on a cloud provider like Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud Platform (GCP), ensure the hostname for your server is static. If the server is every restarted, the hostname must remain the same to ensure network connectivity between your InfluxDB Enterprise meta and data processes.

Persistent disk storage

If running InfluxDB Enterprise on a cloud provider like AWS or GCP, ensure the your server is configured to use a persistent disk store that will persist through server restarts.

Set up, configure, and start the meta service

The InfluxDB Enterprise meta process oversees and manages the InfluxDB Enterprise data process. In multi-node clusters, meta nodes (typically 3 nodes) manage data syncing and high availability of data nodes. In a single-server (single-node) installation, a meta process and the accompanying influxd-ctl utility still manage the “cluster”, but with a single meta node and the data processes running on the same server.

1. Download and install the InfluxDB Enterprise meta service:

   Ubuntu & Debian RedHat & CentOS

   wget https://dl.influxdata.com/enterprise/releases/influxdb-meta_1.11.8-c1.11.8-1_amd64.deb
   sudo dpkg -i influxdb-meta_1.11.8-c1.11.8-1_amd64.deb
   

   wget https://dl.influxdata.com/enterprise/releases/influxdb-meta-1.11.8_c1.11.8-1.x86_64.rpm
   sudo yum localinstall influxdb-meta-1.11.8_c1.11.8-1.x86_64.rpm
   

   Recommended – Verify the authenticity of the meta service download

   For added security, follow these steps to verify the signature of your InfluxDB Enterprise meta service download with gpg.

   1. Download and import InfluxData’s public key:

      curl -s https://repos.influxdata.com/influxdata-archive_compat.key | gpg --import
      

   2. Download the signature file for the release by adding .asc to the download URL. For example:

      wget https://dl.influxdata.com/enterprise/releases/influxdb-meta-1.11.8_c1.11.8-1.x86_64.rpm.asc
      

   3. Verify the signature with gpg --verify:

      gpg --verify influxdb-meta-1.11.8_c1.11.8-1.x86_64.rpm.asc influxdb-meta-1.11.8_c1.11.8-1.x86_64.rpm
      

      The output from this command should include the following:

      gpg: Good signature from "InfluxDB Packaging Service <support@influxdb.com>" [unknown]
      

2. Edit the InfluxDB Enterprise meta configuration file

   In /etc/influxdb/influxdb-meta.conf:

   • Uncomment hostname and set to the full hostname of the meta node.
   • Set [enterprise].license-key to the license key you received on InfluxPortal OR [enterprise].license-path to the local path to the JSON license file you received from InfluxData.
   • Uncomment [meta].internal-shared-secret set it to a long passphrase to be used in JWT authentication for intra-node communication. This value must the same for all of your meta nodes and match the [meta].meta-internal-shared-secret settings in the configuration files of your data nodes.

   The license-key and license-path settings are mutually exclusive and one must remain set to the empty string.

   /etc/influxdb/influxdb-meta.conf

   # Hostname advertised by this host for remote addresses.  This must be resolvable by all
   # other nodes in the cluster
   hostname="<your-host-name>"
   
   [enterprise]
     # license-key and license-path are mutually exclusive, use only one and leave the other blank
     license-key = "<your_license_key>" # Mutually exclusive with license-path
   
     # license-key and license-path are mutually exclusive, use only one and leave the other blank
     license-path = "/path/to/readable/JSON.license.file" # Mutually exclusive with license-key
   
   [meta]
     # The shared secret used by the internal API for JWT authentication.
     # This setting must have the same value as the data nodes' 
     # meta.meta-internal-shared-secret configuration.
     internal-shared-secret = "<internal-shared-secret>"
   

3. Start the InfluxDB Enterprise meta service in single-server mode:

   Run the start command appropriate to your operating system’s service manager. In the command, include the -single-server flag, which ensures that the single meta node is the leader and has all the metadata for the cluster.

   sysvinit systemd

   Edit the influxdb-meta init script to include the -single-server flag:

   1. Open the init script for editing, for example:

      sudo nano /etc/init.d/influxdb-meta
      

   2. Find the section of the script that starts the influxdb-meta service and add the -single-server flag–for example:

      case "$1" in
          start)
              echo "Starting InfluxDB Meta..."
              /usr/bin/influxdb-meta -single-server &
              ;;
          stop)
              echo "Stopping InfluxDB Meta..."
              killall influxdb-meta
              ;;
          restart)
              $0 stop
              $0 start
              ;;
          *)
              echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart}"
              exit 1
      esac
      
      exit 0
      

   3. Restart the service to apply the changes:

      sudo service influxdb-meta restart
      

   For more information about sysvinit and initscripts, see the sysvinit Gentoo Linux documentation.

   Edit the influxdb-meta service unit file or a drop-in configuration file to include the -single-server flag–for example:

   1. Use systemctl edit with the --drop-in option to create the drop-in configuration file for the service:

      sudo systemctl edit --drop-in influxdb-meta
      

   2. Add the following to the drop-in configuration file to include the -single-server flag in the startup command:

      [Service]
      ExecStart=
      ExecStart=/usr/bin/influxdb-meta -single-server
      

   3. Start the service using systemctl:

      sudo systemctl start influxdb-meta
      

   4. Reload the Systemd Daemon: Reload the systemd daemon to apply the changes:

      sudo systemctl daemon-reload
      

   5. Start the service using systemctl:

      sudo systemctl start influxdb-meta
      

   For more information about systemd unit files, see the Arch Linux documentation for Writing unit files

4. Ensure the influxdb-meta process is running:

   Use ps aux to list running processes and grep to filter the list of running process to those that contain influxdb-meta and filter out the grep process searching for influxdb-meta.

   ps aux | grep -v grep | grep influxdb-meta
   

   You should see output similar to:

   influxdb  3207  0.8  4.4 483000 22168 ?        Ssl  17:05   0:08 /usr/bin/influxd-meta -config /etc/influxdb/influxdb-meta.conf
   

5. Use influxd-ctl to add the meta process to the InfluxDB Enterprise “cluster”:

   influxd-ctl add-meta <your-host-name>:8091
   

   The output should be similar to:

   Added meta node x at <your-host-name>:8091
   

6. Use influxd-ctl to verify the meta node was added to the InfluxDB Enterprise “cluster”:

   influxd-ctl show
   

   The output should be similar to:

   Data Nodes
   ==========
   ID      TCP Address      Version
   
   Meta Nodes
   ==========
   ID      TCP Address             Version         Labels
   1       <your-host-name>:8091   1.11.8-c1.11.8    {}
   

   If you do not see your meta node in the output, repeat steps 5–6 to retry adding it to the cluster.

Set up, configure, and start the data services

The InfluxDB Enterprise data service runs the InfluxDB storage and query engines.

1. Download and install the InfluxDB Enterprise data service:

   Ubuntu & Debian RedHat & CentOS

   wget https://dl.influxdata.com/enterprise/releases/influxdb-data_1.11.8-c1.11.8-1_amd64.deb
   sudo dpkg -i influxdb-data_1.11.8-c1.11.8-1_amd64.deb
   

   wget https://dl.influxdata.com/enterprise/releases/influxdb-data-1.11.8_c1.11.8-1.x86_64.rpm
   sudo yum localinstall influxdb-data-1.11.8_c1.11.8-1.x86_64.rpm
   

   Recommended – Verify the authenticity of the data service download

   For added security, follow these steps to verify the signature of your InfluxDB Enterprise data service download with gpg.

   1. Download and import InfluxData’s public key:

      curl -s https://repos.influxdata.com/influxdata-archive_compat.key | gpg --import
      

   2. Download the signature file for the release by adding .asc to the download URL. For example:

      wget https://dl.influxdata.com/enterprise/releases/influxdb-data-1.11.8_c1.11.8-1.x86_64.rpm.asc
      

   3. Verify the signature with gpg --verify:

      gpg --verify influxdb-data-1.11.8-c1.11.8.x86_64.rpm.asc influxdb-data-1.11.8_c1.11.8-1.x86_64.rpm
      

      The output from this command should include the following:

      gpg: Good signature from "InfluxDB Packaging Service <support@influxdb.com>" [unknown]
      

2. Edit the data node configuration files:

   In /etc/influxdb/influxdb.conf:

   • Uncomment hostname at the top of the file and set it to the full hostname of the data node.
   • Set enterprise.license-key to the license key you received on InfluxPortal OR enterprise.license-path to the local path to the JSON license file you received from InfluxData.
   • Uncomment [meta].meta-auth-enabled and set it to true.
   • Uncomment [meta].meta-internal-shared-secret and set it to a long pass phrase. The internal shared secret is used in JWT authentication for intra-node communication. This value must match the [meta].internal-shared-secret value in the your meta node configuration file (/etc/influxdb/influxdb-meta.conf).
   • Uncomment [http].auth-enabled set it to true.

   The license-key and license-path settings are mutually exclusive and one must remain set to the empty string.

   # Change this option to true to disable reporting.
   # reporting-disabled = false
   # bind-address = ":8088"
   hostname="<your-host-name>"
   
   [enterprise]
     # license-key and license-path are mutually exclusive, use only one and leave the other blank
     license-key = "<your_license_key>" # Mutually exclusive with license-path
   
     # The path to a valid license file.  license-key and license-path are mutually exclusive,
     # use only one and leave the other blank.
     license-path = "/path/to/readable/JSON.license.file" # Mutually exclusive with license-key
   
   [meta]
     # Where the cluster metadata is stored
     dir = "/var/lib/influxdb/meta" # data nodes do require a local meta directory
   
     # This setting must have the same value as the meta nodes' meta.auth-enabled configuration.
     meta-auth-enabled = true
   
     # This setting must have the same value as the meta nodes' meta.internal-shared-secret configuration
     # and must be non-empty if set.
     meta-internal-shared-secret = "<internal-shared-secret>"
   
   # ...
   
   [http]
     # Determines whether HTTP endpoint is enabled.
     enabled = true
   
     # The bind address used by the HTTP service.
     bind-address = ":8086"
   
     # Determines whether HTTP authentication is enabled.
     auth-enabled = true # Recommended, but not required
   

3. Start the InfluxDB Enterprise data service:

   Run the command appropriate to your operating system’s service manager.

   sysvinit systemd

   service influxdb start
   

   sudo systemctl start influxdb
   

4. Ensure the influxdb process is running:

   Use ps aux to list running processes and grep to filter the list of running process to those that contain influxdb and filter out the grep process searching for influxdb.

   ps aux | grep -v grep | grep influxdb
   

   You should see output similar to:

   influxdb  3207  0.8  4.4 483000 22168 ?        Ssl  17:05   0:08 /usr/bin/influxd -config /etc/influxdb/influxdb.conf
   

   If you do not see the expected output, the process is either not launching or is exiting prematurely. Check the logs for error messages and verify the previous setup steps are complete.

5. Use influxd-ctl to add the data process to the InfluxDB Enterprise “cluster”:

   influxd-ctl add-data <your-host-name>:8088
   

   The output should be similar to:

   Added meta node y at <your-host-name>:8088
   

6. Use influxd-ctl to verify the data node was added to the InfluxDB Enterprise “cluster”:

   influxd-ctl show
   

   The output should be similar to:

   Data Nodes
   ==========
   ID      TCP Address             Version         Labels
   2       <your-host-name>:8088   1.11.8-c1.11.8    {}
   
   Meta Nodes
   ==========
   ID      TCP Address             Version         Labels
   1       <your-host-name>:8091   1.11.8-c1.11.8    {}
   

   If you do not see your data node in the output, repeat steps 5–6 to retry adding it to the cluster.

7. Create an admin user:

   In Step 2, you modified the InfluxDB Enterprise configuration file to enable authentication. To access the cluster, create at least one admin user:

   1. Use the influx CLI to start an interactive shell.

      influx
      

   2. Use the CREATE USER statement to create a user with all privileges.

      CREATE USER admin WITH PASSWORD '<password>' WITH ALL PRIVILEGES
      

Install Chronograf

Chronograf is InfluxData’s open source web application that visualizes your time series data, manage InfluxDB Enterprise users, and easily create alerting and automation rules.

For Chronograf installation instructions, see Install Chronograf.

Next steps

• Add more users if necessary. See Manage users and permissions for more information.
• Enable TLS.
• Write data with the InfluxDB API.
• Query data with the InfluxDB API.