Skip to content

Influx Configuration

influx_logo
Now that we have the InfluxDB software installed, the next step is to create a database in which data from our wiperf probes will be stored.

To create the database, we need to execute a series of commands on the CLI of the Influx DB server. Follow the following steps to create the required database:

  • Check the InfluxDB service is running before starting sudo systemctl status influxdb (ensure the process is "active (running)" )
  • Enter the InfluxDB shell using the following command: sudo influx (shell is indicated by the new ">" prompt)
    • Create an admin user to administer InfluxDB:
      • CREATE USER admin WITH PASSWORD 'letmein' WITH ALL PRIVILEGES
  • Exit the InfluxDB shell with the command exit to return to the standard Linux CLI
  • Edit the InfluxDB configuration file (/etc/influxdb/influxdb.conf):
    • sudo nano /etc/influxdb/influxdb.conf
    • uncomment the line # auth-enabled = false in the [http] section and change to auth-enabled = true to enable authentication of access to the database
    • restart the InfluxDB process for the change to take effect: sudo systemctl restart influxdb
  • Enter the InfluxDB shell again using the following command: sudo influx -username admin -password letmein (now using authentication)
    • Create a new database with the following commands:
      • CREATE DATABASE wiperf
      • Check the new database exists using: SHOW DATABASES (the database "wiperf" should be shown in the list)
    • Create and assign a user who can write to the wiperf database (i.e. a probe) using the following CLI commands (note the single and double quotes are signifcant for the user & pwd fields):
      • CREATE USER "wiperf_probe" WITH PASSWORD 's3cr3tpwd99'
      • GRANT WRITE ON "wiperf" TO "wiperf_probe"
    • Create and assign a user who can read from the wiperf database (i.e. the Grafana program) using the following CLI commands (note the single and double quotes are signifcant for the user & pwd fields):
      • CREATE USER "grafana" WITH PASSWORD 'R34dth3DB'
      • GRANT read ON "wiperf" TO "grafana"
  • Exit the InfluxDB shell with the command exit t return to the Linux CLI

At this point, the InfluxDB service is ready to receive data from a probe. If you have any probes ready to go, make sure they use the "wiperf_probe" user credentials in their configuration file so that they can add their data to the database.

If you believe you have a probe that has successfully sent data, you can check the database contents using the following commands in the InfluxDB shell:

  • USE wiperf
  • SHOW SERIES
  • SELECT * FROM "wiperf-speedtest"
  • SHOW FIELD KEYS ON "wiperf" FROM "wiperf-speedtest"

To find out more details, please checkout the official getting started guide: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/v1.8/introduction/get-started/

For more information about adding users, check out: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/v1.8/administration/authentication_and_authorization/

Note: You are advised to use your own passwords for the password fields shown in this document to ensure they are secured.

Last update: July 13, 2020