TL;DR InfluxDB Tech Tips - InfluxData Resolutions For The New Year

By Regan Kuchan / Developer
Dec 29, 2016

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In the spirit of 1483228800000000000 we’ve put together some InfluxData resolutions for the new year. Check out the sections below for advice on working with InfluxDB, recommendations for maintaining a healthy database, and for something new to discover!

Resolution 1: Downsample to get your database in shape

Downsampling is moving high precision data to a lower precision. That’s as simple as taking one-second resolution data, aggregating those data to the one-hour resolution, and deleting the now unnecessary high precision data from your database. Adding downsampling to your database routine can:

  • Eliminate storage concerns
  • Improve query performance
  • Improve graphing tool performance

InfluxDB has two features that automate the downsampling process. Continuous Queries (CQs) automatically and periodically run a downsampling query and Retention Policies (RPs) delete any old, unwanted data. Check out the Downsampling and Data Retention guide for more information and for a sample setup.

Resolution 2: Focus on series cardinality to maintain database health

Series cardinality is the number of unique database, measurement, and tag set combinations in an InfluxDB instance. We talk about it quite a bit because extremely high series cardinality can kill your InfluxDB process.

Here are a couple things you can do to monitor and manage your series cardinality:

Finally, review our schema dos and don’ts and this technical paper to identify and fix any unsustainable data setups.

Resolution 3: Get started with Chronograf to simplify your monitoring solution

Chronograf is the open source user interface component of InfluxData’s TICK stack. Chronograf offers an application-based view of your infrastructure, data visualizations, and a user interface for Kapacitor (InfluxData’s data processing engine).

Chronograf is currently in beta. To get started check out the Chronograf repository on GitHub. Please feel free to give us feedback - we’d  love to hear what you think!

What’s next:

  • Downloads for the TICK-stack are live on our "downloads" page
  • Deploy on the Cloud: Get started with a FREE trial of InfluxDB Cloud featuring fully-managed clusters, Kapacitor and Grafana.
  • Deploy on Your Servers: Want to run InfluxDB clusters on your servers? Try a FREE 14-day trial of InfluxDB Enterprise featuring an intuitive UI for deploying, monitoring and rebalancing clusters, plus managing backups and restores. 
  • Tell Your Story: Over 100 companies have shared their story on how InfluxDB is helping them succeed. Submit your testimonial and get a limited edition hoodie as a thank you.