Update a database

Use the influxctl database update command to update a database in your InfluxDB cluster.

1. If you haven’t already, download and install the influxctl CLI.

2. Run the influxctl database update command and provide the following:

   • Database name
   • Optional: Database retention period (default is infinite)
   • Optional: Database table (measurement) limit (default is 500)
   • Optional: Database column limit (default is 250)

influxctl database update 
DATABASE_NAME
 \
  --retention-period 
30d
 \
  --max-tables 
500 \
  --max-columns 250

• Retention period syntax
• Database naming restrictions
• InfluxQL DBRP naming convention
• Table and column limits

Retention period syntax

Use the --retention-period flag to define a specific retention period for the database. The retention period value is a time duration value made up of a numeric value plus a duration unit. For example, 30d means 30 days. A zero duration retention period is infinite and data will not expire. The retention period value cannot be negative or contain whitespace.

Database naming restrictions

Database names must adhere to the following naming restrictions:

• Cannot contain whitespace, punctuation, or special characters. Only alphanumeric, underscore (_), dash (-), and forward-slash (/) characters are permitted.
• Should not start with an underscore (_).
• Maximum length of 64 characters.

InfluxQL DBRP naming convention

In InfluxDB 1.x, data is stored in databases and retention policies. In InfluxDB Clustered, databases and retention policies have been merged into databases, where databases have a retention period, but retention policies are no longer part of the data model. Because InfluxQL uses the 1.x data model, a database must be mapped to a v1 database and retention policy (DBRP) to be queryable with InfluxQL.

When naming a database that you want to query with InfluxQL, use the following naming convention to automatically map v1 DBRP combinations to a database:

database_name/retention_policy_name

Database naming examples

Table and column limits

In InfluxDB Clustered, table (measurement) and column limits can be configured using the --max-tables and --max-columns flags.

Table limit

Default maximum number of tables: 500

Each measurement is represented by a table in a database. Your database’s table limit can be raised beyond the default limit of 500. InfluxData has production examples of clusters with 20,000+ active tables across multiple databases.

Increasing your table limit affects your InfluxDB cluster in the following ways:

Column limit

Default maximum number of columns: 250

Time, fields, and tags are each represented by a column in a table. Increasing your column limit affects your InfluxDB cluster in the following ways: