Set up prerequisites

InfluxDB Clustered requires the following prerequisite external dependencies:

• kubectl command line tool (version 1.27 or higher)
• Kubernetes cluster (version 1.25 or higher)
• kubecfg kubit operator
• Kubernetes ingress controller
• Object storage: AWS S3 or S3-compatible storage (including Google Cloud Storage or Azure Blob Storage) to store the InfluxDB Parquet files.
• PostgreSQL-compatible database (AWS Aurora, hosted PostgreSQL, etc.): Stores the InfluxDB Catalog.
• Local or attached storage: Stores the Write-Ahead Log (WAL) for InfluxDB Ingesters.

The following walks through preparing these prerequisites.

• Install kubectl
• Set up your Kubernetes cluster
• Install the kubecfg kubit operator
• Set up a Kubernetes ingress controller
• Set up your object store
• Set up your PostgreSQL-compatible database
• Set up local or attached storage

Install kubectl

Kubernetes provides the kubectl command line tool for communicating with a Kubernetes cluster’s control plane. kubectl is used to manage your InfluxDB cluster. Install kubectl on your local machine.

• Install kubectl on Linux
• Install kubectl on macOS
• Install kubectl on Windows

Set up your Kubernetes cluster

1. Deploy a Kubernetes cluster. The deployment process depends on your Kubernetes environment or Kubernetes cloud provider. Refer to the Kubernetes documentation or your cloud provider’s documentation for information about deploying a Kubernetes cluster.

   InfluxDB Clustered requires Kubernetes v1.25 or later.

2. Ensure kubectl can connect to your Kubernetes cluster. Your Manage kubconfig file defines cluster connection credentials.

3. Create two namespaces–influxdb and kubit. Use kubectl create namespace to create the namespaces:

   kubectl create namespace influxdb && \
   kubectl create namespace kubit
   

4. Install an ingress controller in the cluster and a mechanism to obtain a valid TLS certificate (for example: cert-manager or provide the certificate PEM manually out of band). To use the InfluxDB-specific ingress controller, install Ingress NGINX.

5. Ensure your Kubernetes cluster can access the InfluxDB container registry, or, if running in an air-gapped environment, a local container registry to which you can copy the InfluxDB images.

Cluster sizing recommendation

For a medium-size workload, InfluxData has tested InfluxDB Clustered using the following AWS products and sizing:

• EC2 instances - primarily m6i.2xlarge (8 CPU, 32 GB RAM)
  • 3 m6i.2xlarge instances for ingesters and routers (with minimum of 2Gi of local storage)
  • 3 m6i.2xlarge instances for queriers
  • 1 m6i.2xlarge instance for compactors
  • 1 t3.large for the Kubernetes control plane

Your sizing may need to be different based on your environment, cloud provider, and workload, but this is a reasonable starting size for your initial testing.

Install the kubecfg kubit operator

The kubecfg kubit operator (maintained by InfluxData) simplifies the installation and management of the InfluxDB Clustered package. It manages the application of the jsonnet templates used to install, manage, and update an InfluxDB cluster.

Use kubectl to install the kubecfg kubit operator v0.0.18 or later.

kubectl apply -k 'https://github.com/kubecfg/kubit//kustomize/global?ref=v0.0.19'

Set up a Kubernetes ingress controller

Kubernetes ingress routes HTTP/S requests to services within the cluster and requires deploying an ingress controller. You can provide your own ingress or you can install Nginx Ingress Controller to use the InfluxDB-defined ingress.

Set up your object store

InfluxDB Clustered supports AWS S3 or S3-compatible storage (including Google Cloud Storage, Azure Blob Storage, and MinIO) for storing InfluxDB Parquet files. Refer to your object storage provider’s documentation for information about setting up an object store.

• Create an AWS S3 bucket
• Create a Google Cloud Storage bucket
• Create an Azure Blog Storage container
• Create a MinIO bucket

Configure object storage permissions

Ensure the identity you use to connect to your S3-compatible object store has the correct permissions to allow InfluxDB to perform all the actions it needs to.

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Sid": "",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "s3:PutObjectAcl",
                "s3:PutObject",
                "s3:ListMultipartUploadParts",
                "s3:GetObjectAcl",
                "s3:GetObject",
                "s3:DeleteObject",
                "s3:AbortMultipartUpload"
            ],
            "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::
S3_BUCKET_NAME
/*",
        },
        {
            "Sid": "",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "s3:ListBucket",
                "s3:GetBucketLocation"
            ],
            "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::
S3_BUCKET_NAME
",
        },
        {
            "Sid": "",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "s3:ListAllMyBuckets",
            "Resource": "*",
        }
    ]
}

gcloud storage buckets add-iam-policy-binding \
    gs://
GCP_BUCKET
 \
    --member="serviceAccount:
GCP_SERVICE_ACCOUNT
" \
    --role="roles/storage.objectUser"

az role assignment create \
    --role "Storage Blob Data Contributor" \
    --assignee 
PRINCIPAL
 \
    --scope "/subscriptions/
AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION
/resourceGroups/
AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP
/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/
AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT
/blobServices/default/containers/
AZURE_STORAGE_CONTAINER
"

Set up your PostgreSQL-compatible database

The InfluxDB Catalog that stores metadata related to your time series data requires a PostgreSQL or PostgreSQL-compatible database (AWS Aurora, hosted PostgreSQL, etc.). The process for installing and setting up your PostgreSQL-compatible database depend on the database you use or the database provider. Refer to your database’s or provider’s documentation for setting up your PostgreSQL-compatible database.

PosgreSQL-compatible database requirements

• PostgreSQL versions 13.8–14.6.
• Minimum of 4 GB of memory or equivalent provider-specific units.
• To avoid conflicts and prevents issues caused by shared usage with other applications, ensure that your PostgreSQL-compatible instance is dedicated exclusively to InfluxDB.

Set up local or attached storage

The InfluxDB Ingester needs local or attached storage to store the Write-Ahead Log (WAL). The read and write speed of the attached storage affects the write performance of the Ingester, so the faster the storage device, the better your write performance will be. The recommended minimum size of the local storage is 2 gibibytes (2Gi).

Installation and setup of local or attached storage depends on your underlying hardware or cloud provider. Refer to your provider’s documentation for information about installing and configuring local storage.