Use Chronograf with InfluxDB OSS

Chronograf is a data visualization and dashboarding tool designed to visualize data in InfluxDB 1.x. It is part of the TICKstack that provides an InfluxQL data explorer, Kapacitor integrations, and more. Continue to use Chronograf with InfluxDB Cloud and InfluxDB OSS 2.1 and the 1.x compatibility API.

Create an InfluxDB connection

  1. In Chronograf, click Configuration in the left navigation bar, and then click Add Connection.

  2. Toggle the InfluxDB v2 Auth option at the bottom of the form. InfluxDB v2 Auth toggle

  3. Enter your InfluxDB connection credentials:

    • Connection URL: InfluxDB URL (see InfluxDB Cloud regions or InfluxDB OSS URLs)

      1. http://localhost:8086

    • Connection Name: Name to uniquely identify this connection configuration

    • Organization: InfluxDB organization

    • Token: InfluxDB API token

    • Telegraf Database Name: InfluxDB bucket Chronograf uses to populate parts of the application, including the Host List page (default is telegraf)

    • Default Retention Policy: default retention policy (leave blank)

      DBRPs map to InfluxDB buckets

      In InfluxDB Cloud and InfluxDB OSS 2.1, database/retention-policy (DBRP) combinations are mapped to buckets using the database-name/retention-policy naming convention. DBRP mappings are required to query InfluxDB OSS 2.x or InfluxDB Cloud using InfluxQL.

      For information, see DBRP mapping and Map unmapped buckets.

  4. Click Add Connection.

  5. Select the dashboards you would like to create, and then click Next.

  6. To configure a Kapacitor connection, provide the necessary credentials, and then click Continue. Otherwise, click Skip. For information about using Kapacitor with InfluxDB Cloud or InfluxDB OSS 2.1, see Use Kapacitor with InfluxDB.

  7. Click Finish.

Important notes

Update upgraded InfluxDB connections

If using Chronograf with an InfluxDB instance that was upgraded from 1.x to 2.x, update your InfluxDB connection configuration in Chronograf to use the InfluxDB v2 Auth option and provide an organization and a token. Without an organization, Chronograf cannot use Flux to query InfluxDB.

No administrative functionality

Chronograf cannot be used for administrative tasks in InfluxDB Cloud and InfluxDB OSS 2.1. For example, you cannot do the following:

  • Define databases
  • Modify retention policies
  • Add users
  • Kill queries

When connected to an InfluxDB Cloud or InfluxDB 2.1 database, functionality in the InfluxDB Admin section of Chronograf is disabled.

To complete administrative tasks, use the following:

Limited InfluxQL support

InfluxDB Cloud and InfluxDB OSS 2.1 support InfluxQL read-only queries. For more information, see InfluxQL support.