166 lines
8.7 KiB
Markdown
166 lines
8.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Get started with InfluxDB Cloud Serverless
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list_title: Get started
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description: >
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Start collecting, querying, processing, and visualizing data in InfluxDB Cloud Serverless.
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menu:
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influxdb3_cloud_serverless:
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name: Get started
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weight: 3
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influxdb3/cloud-serverless/tags: [get-started]
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---
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InfluxDB {{< current-version >}} is the platform purpose-built to collect, store,
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process and visualize time series data.
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The InfluxDB 3.0 storage engine provides a number of benefits including nearly
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unlimited series cardinality, improved query performance, and interoperability
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with widely used data processing tools and platforms.
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**Time series data** is a sequence of data points indexed in time order.
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Data points typically consist of successive measurements made from the same
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source and are used to track changes over time.
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Examples of time series data include:
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- Industrial sensor data
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- Server performance metrics
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- Heartbeats per minute
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- Electrical activity in the brain
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- Rainfall measurements
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- Stock prices
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This multi-part tutorial walks you through writing time series data to InfluxDB {{< current-version >}},
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querying, and then visualizing that data.
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## Key concepts before you get started
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Before you get started using InfluxDB, it's important to understand how time series
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data is organized and stored in InfluxDB and some key definitions that are used
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throughout this documentation.
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- [Data organization](#data-organization)
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- [Schema on write](#schema-on-write)
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- [Important definitions](#important-definitions)
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### Data organization
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The {{% product-name %}} data model organizes time series data into buckets and measurements.
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A bucket can contain multiple measurements. Measurements contain multiple
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tags and fields.
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- **Bucket**: Named location where time series data is stored.
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A bucket can contain multiple _measurements_.
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- **Measurement**: Logical grouping for time series data.
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All _points_ in a given measurement should have the same _tags_.
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A measurement contains multiple _tags_ and _fields_.
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- **Tags**: Key-value pairs that provide metadata for each point--for example,
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something to identify the source or context of the data like host,
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location, station, etc.
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Tag values may be null.
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- **Fields**: Key-value pairs with values that change over time--for example,
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temperature, pressure, stock price, etc.
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Field values may be null, but at least one field value is not null on any given row.
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- **Timestamp**: Timestamp associated with the data.
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When stored on disk and queried, all data is ordered by time.
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A timestamp is never null.
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<!-- _For detailed information and examples of the InfluxDB data model, see
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[Data elements](/influxdb/v2/reference/key-concepts/data-elements/)._ -->
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### Schema on write
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When using InfluxDB, you define your schema as you write your data.
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You don't need to create measurements (equivalent to a relational table) or
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explicitly define the schema of the measurement.
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Measurement schemas are defined by the schema of data as it is written to the measurement.
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### Important definitions
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The following definitions are important to understand when using InfluxDB:
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- **Point**: Single data record identified by its _measurement, tag keys, tag values, field key, and timestamp_.
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- **Series**: A group of points with the same _measurement, tag keys and values, and field key_.
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- **Primary key**: Columns used to uniquely identify each row in a table.
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Rows are uniquely identified by their _timestamp and tag set_.
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A row's primary key _tag set_ does not include tags with null values.
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##### Example InfluxDB query results
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{{< influxdb/points-series-sql >}}
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## Tools to use
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The following table compares tools that you can use to interact with {{% product-name %}}.
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This tutorial covers many of the recommended tools.
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| Tool | Administration | Write | Query |
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|:--------------------------------- |:---------------:|:-------:|:-------:|
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| [Chronograf](/chronograf/v1/) | - | - | **{{< icon "check" >}}** |
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| [`influx` CLI](#influx-cli) | **{{< icon "check" >}}** | **{{< icon "check" >}}** | - |
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| [`influx3` data CLI](#influx3-data-cli){{< req text="\* " color="magenta" >}} | - | **{{< icon "check" >}}** | **{{< icon "check" >}}** |
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| <span style="color:gray">`influxctl` CLI</span> | - | - | - |
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| [InfluxDB HTTP API](#influxdb-http-api) | **{{< icon "check" >}}** | **{{< icon "check" >}}** | **{{< icon "check" >}}** |
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| [InfluxDB user interface](#influxdb-user-interface) {{< req text="\* " color="magenta" >}} | **{{< icon "check" >}}** | - | **{{< icon "check" >}}** |
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| [InfluxDB 3 client libraries](#influxdb-3-client-libraries){{< req text="\* " color="magenta" >}} | - | **{{< icon "check" >}}** | **{{< icon "check" >}}** |
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| [InfluxDB v1 client libraries](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/reference/client-libraries/v1/) | - | **{{< icon "check" >}}** | **{{< icon "check" >}}** |
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| [InfluxDB v2 client libraries](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/reference/client-libraries/v2/) | **{{< icon "check" >}}** | **{{< icon "check" >}}** | - |
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| Telegraf | - | **{{< icon "check" >}}** | - |
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| **Third-party tools** |
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| Flight SQL clients | - | - | **{{< icon "check" >}}** |
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| [Grafana](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/query-data/sql/execute-queries/grafana/) | - | - | **{{< icon "check" >}}** |
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| [Superset](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/query-data/sql/execute-queries/superset/) | - | - | **{{< icon "check" >}}** |
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| [Tableau](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/process-data/visualize/tableau/) | - | - | **{{< icon "check" >}}** |
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{{< req type="key" text="Covered in this tutorial" color="magenta" >}}
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{{% warn %}}
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The `influxctl` admin CLI isn't available for {{% product-name %}}.
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It only works with InfluxDB Cloud Dedicated and InfluxDB Clustered.
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{{% /warn %}}
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### InfluxDB user interface
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The InfluxDB user interface (UI) provides a web-based visual interface for interacting with and managing InfluxDB.
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To access the {{% product-name %}} UI, [log into your InfluxDB Cloud account](https://cloud2.influxdata.com).
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### `influx` CLI
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The `influx` CLI lets you manage {{% product-name %}} and write data from a command line.
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Querying {{% product-name %}} isn't supported.
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For detailed CLI installation instructions, see
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the [`influx` CLI reference](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/reference/cli/influx/).
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### `influx3` data CLI
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The [`influx3` data CLI](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/get-started/query/?t=influx3+CLI#execute-an-sql-query) is a community-maintained tool that lets you write and query data in {{% product-name %}} from a command line.
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It uses the HTTP API to write data and uses Flight gRPC to query data.
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### InfluxDB HTTP API
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The [InfluxDB HTTP API](/influxdb/v2/reference/api/) provides a simple way to let you manage {{% product-name %}} and write and query data using HTTP(S) clients.
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Examples in this tutorial use cURL, but any HTTP(S) client will work.
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The `/write` and `/query` v1-compatible endpoints work with the username/password authentication schemes and existing InfluxDB 1.x tools and code.
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The `/api/v2/write` v2-compatible endpoint works with existing InfluxDB 2.x tools and code.
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### InfluxDB client libraries
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InfluxDB client libraries are community-maintained, language-specific clients that interact with InfluxDB APIs.
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[InfluxDB 3 client libraries](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/reference/client-libraries/v3/) are the recommended client libraries for writing and querying data {{% product-name %}}.
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They use the HTTP API to write data and use Flight gRPC to query data.
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[InfluxDB v2 client libraries](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/reference/client-libraries/v2/) can use `/api/v2` HTTP endpoints to manage resources such as buckets and API tokens, and write data in {{% product-name %}}.
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[InfluxDB v1 client libraries](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/reference/client-libraries/v1/) can write data to {{% product-name %}}.
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## Authorization
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**{{% product-name %}} requires authentication** using [API tokens](/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/admin/tokens/).
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Each API token is associated with a user and a specific set of permissions for InfluxDB resources.
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You can use administration tools such as the InfluxDB UI, the `influx` CLI, or the InfluxDB HTTP API to create and manage API tokens.
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{{< page-nav next="/influxdb3/cloud-serverless/get-started/setup/" >}}
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