Steps to Setup InfluxDB on Windows

This post details steps to set up InfluxDB on Windows.

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MILESTONE STEPS

Step 1 - Download InfluxDB

Step 2 - Configure InfluxDB instance

Step 3 - Start InfluxDB server

Step 4 - Verify Configuration

Step 5 - Start as Service

Step 6 - Run InfluxDB client & Get Started

• Go to the InfluxDB download page

• Click on the marked button which opens new window

In new window scroll till you reach Window binaries.

• Click on the URL in the box, and the download will start

• Unzip the downloaded file to a preferred location

• Below is the file content after extraction:

• Below 3 files are of interest to us for now:

influx.exe: Command-line interface to connect to the database & execute queries

influxd.exe: Launch InfluxDB server

influxdb.conf : Configure InfluxDB instance

• Configure InfluxDB instance by editing conf file as below :

Add folders named data, meta & wal inside the parent folder where InfluxDB is extracted:

Open conf file for editing:

Change the following sections:

Note double slash instead of single!

Meta Section

[meta]
  # Where the metadata/raft database is stored
  dir = "<Location of meta folder>\\meta"

Data Section

[data]
  # The directory where the TSM storage engine stores TSM files.
  dir = "<Location of meta folder>\\data"

  # The directory where the TSM storage engine stores WAL files.
  wal-dir = "<Location of meta folder>\\wal

HTTP Section

Below are default settings.This relates to http end point which interacts with InfluxDB.Change in case different port is to be used.

[http]
  # Determines whether HTTP endpoint is enabled.
  #enabled = true

  # The bind address used by the HTTP service.
  #bind-address = ":8086"

  # Determines whether HTTP request logging is enabled.
  #log-enabled = true

Start the InfluxDB server by double-clicking influxd or by going to command prompt & running command.

You might get firewall permission issue and need to accept to take it forward.

Finally, you should see below:

• By default, logs are shown on standard output console. To redirect log output to file:

Go to the command prompt > location of InfluxDB directory

Run below command:

• If you do any changes in conf file, run below command to make changes effective:

Since HTTP endpoint is enabled in the conf file, we can check by launching HTTP endpoint at configured port.

Launch url - http://localhost:8086/query .Below page should follow:

We need to start InfluxDB server by the above way every time we want to get started which is a hassle.It is preferable to run it as service for the same reason.

To run InfluxDB as a service:

• Download nssm utility

• Open a command prompt as an admin and go to the location of nssm utility command

nssm install

• Following window should open to configure service.

• Enter the path for InfluxD & conf file as below:

• Argument -> -config "<location of dir>/influxdb.conf"

• ServiceName--> InfluxDB

• Startup type -->Automatic

• Service start successfully message should be received once pressed ok

• Double click marked exe to start Influx CLI

• You should see below interface

Congratulations! You are ready to create DB, measurements and perform IFQL commands!

Check out next post for next steps - InfluxDB CLI - Begin with Influx database

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