This is the first episode of InfluxDB. First, we introduce basic InfluxDB concepts, install InfluxDB from Ubnutu’s Docker, operate the database from the command line, and try out InfluxDB and Node-red with the built-in EPC1522.

Let’s started!

Thanks！

The EPC1522 Edge PC used in this article was loaned to us by Phoenix Contact Japan. Thank you very much.

Founded in Germany in 1923, Phoenix Contact is a global company with 20,300 employees at 55 locations worldwide.

With the concept “All Electric Society”, the company is committed to providing comprehensive electrification, networking and automation solutions in all industrial sectors. Phoenix Contact products are used in a variety of applications in industrial production facilities, infrastructure, energy and electronics connectivity.

Phoenix Contact Japan was established in Yokohama in December 1987 as the first local subsidiary in Asia, and currently operates from 10 sales offices in Japan.

HP.

https://www.phoenixcontact.com/ja-jp/

What is InfluxDB?

InfluxDB is an Open Source time series database. In a conventional Relational database, there are many tables in the database ,and each table is related to the image. On the other hand, InfluxDB is one of the time series databases that handles data with time information as the main key.

Time-series databases are often used in the IT world, for example, to monitor system memory, CPU utilization, disk capacity, and network tracking. In addition, it is convenient to handle sensor information over time with an IOT system, and it is easy to link with data visualization tools such as Grafana.

Elements

InfluxDB has various parts, but this article will only introduce some important parts. Let’s say we have time series data like this.

_time	_measurement	localtion	station	_field	_value
10:15	census	TOKYO	T-1	bees	15
10:15	census	OSAKA	O-1	ants	40
10:16	census	TOKYO	T-1	bees	18
10:16	census	OSAKA	O-1	ants	31
10:17	census	TOKYO	T-1	bees	29
10:17	census	OSAKA	O-1	ants	50
10:18	census	TOKYO	T-1	bees	26
10:18	census	OSAKA	O-1	ants	52

_time

It is the Timestamp. InfluxDB is a time-series database, so it’s natural to have a Timestamp. All data stored in InfluxDB has a _time, which stores the Timestamp when the data was written.

_measurement

The _measurement stored in String Format is census.

_field

A Field has a Field Key(_field)/Field Value(_value), and the combination of that Field Key x Field Value x Timestmap is a Field Set.

Field Key

Field Key is a string, in this example Field Key are bees and ants.

Field Value

Field Value will be the given value that represents the corresponding Field Key. Field Values can also be Strings, Floats, Integers and Bool. In this example the Field Values of Field Key bees are 15,18,29,26 and the Field Values of Field Key ants are 40,31,50,52.

Field Set

A field set is a field key-value combination that is further linked to a TimeStamp.

Organization

InfluxDB’s Organization is the User group’s Workspace. Organizations manage not only buckets, but also dashboards, tasks, etc. ,all these functions are managed by the organization.

Buckets

All InfluxDB data is stored in Buckets. The data stored in the Buckets will be saved forever until the set period. Let me give you another example. I am currently collecting weather data for some sites in the last 2 weeks, the information of my cpu will be saved inside the Bucket forever, and some API data is triggered by Customer.

Play with Docker First!

Ubuntu Version

Here is my Ubuntu Version and 220.04 LTS is used.

Docker Installation

Please follow this link to install Docker.

Docker#Installation in Ubuntu

Install InfluxDB Docker

Use this command to install influxdb Docker.

sudo docker pull influxdb

Start the InfluxDB Server

Launch InfluxDB Docker by this command.

Port is 8086,USERNAME=my-user,PASSWORD=my-password.

sudo docker run -p 8086:8086 \
-v influxdb:/var/lib/influxdb \
-v influxdb2:/var/lib/influxdb2 \
-e DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_MODE=upgrade \
-e DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_USERNAME=my-user \
-e DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_PASSWORD=my-password \
-e DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_ORG=my-org \
-e DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_BUCKET=my-bucket \
influxdb

Please access this link from chrome.

http://localhost:8086

username=my-user,password=my-password

Check the Condition

Use this Command to the status of Docker.

sudo docker ps

COTANIER IDとIMAGEはinfluxdbが見えるはずです。

Exectute

Start the InfluxDB command line.

sudo docker exec –it 35e2597700b4 /bin/bash

35e2597700b4 is the same as the CONTAINER ID identified earlier.

Check Version

Check the InfluxDB Version. The InfluxDB Image Version is now 2.4.0.

root@35e2597700b4:/# influx version
Influx CLI 2.4.0 (git: 5c7c34f) build_date: 2022-08-18T19:26:48Z

Check Configuration

InfluxDB URL, Check if it is enabled.

root@35e2597700b4:/# influx config
Active Name URL Org
* default http://localhost:8086

Create Organization

First try creating an Organisation.

The Server returns a 401 error and says that access without authentication is not allowed.

root@35e2597700b4:/# influx org create -n soup01
Error: failed to create org “soup01”: 401 Unauthorized: unauthorized access

Authentication

Do the authentication first. Access the InfluxDB Server Dashboard as described earlier.

Click on my-user’s Token.

You have a Token.” Copy the Token using the “COPY TO CLIPBOARD” button.

The following command defines the INFLUX_TOKEN variable and pastes the Token of the destination.

root@35e2597700b4:/# export INFLUX_TOKEN=Zknskd0l6yGlcu-WlkTfMWBBIdsqR7V7RpznIB3Aal03bs0BIr5Cnnnm-h1_NbzS-EjxsOU-nYcvOgiR801QbQ==

Create Organization Again

You can create an Organisation by running it again with the same command as before and adding -t $INFLUX_TOKEN as the last parameter.

root@35e2597700b4:/# influx org create -n soup01 -t $INFLUX_TOKEN
ID Name
39f953d4a69e707e soup01

Check again in the Dashboard – click on Switch Organisations.

A popup is displayed and a new Organisation for soup01 has been created!

Check Organization List

The same can also be found on the command line.

root@35e2597700b4:/# influx org list
ID Name
39f953d4a69e707e soup01
64eeccdac1a33dcd my-org

If a duplicate Organisation name is created, an error 422 is returned.

root@35e2597700b4:/# influx org create -n soup01
Error: failed to create org “soup01”: 422 Unprocessable Entity: organization with name soup01 already exists

Create the Buckets

Create new Buckets.

root@35e2597700b4:/# influx bucket create -n soup01 -o my-org -t $INFLUX_TOKEN

Create Data

We can create the data by this command.

Organization my-org、Buckets ST2、myHostでtestField=”testData”
Organization my-org、Buckets ST2、myHostでtestField=”testData2”
Organization my-org、Buckets ST2、myHostでtempature=30.5
Organization my-org、Buckets ST2、myHostでtempature=30.7

root@5e024f1d1590:/# influx write -b ST2 -o my-org -p s -t $INFLUX_TOKEN ‘myMeasurement,host=myHost testField=”testData”‘

root@5e024f1d1590:/# influx write -b ST2 -o my-org -p s -t $INFLUX_TOKEN ‘myMeasurement,host=myHost testField=”testData2″‘

root@5e024f1d1590:/# influx write -b ST2 -o my-org -p s -t $INFLUX_TOKEN ‘myMeasurement,host=myHost temperature=30.5’

root@5e024f1d1590:/# influx write -b ST2 -o my-org -p s -t $INFLUX_TOKEN ‘myMeasurement,host=myHost temperature=30.7’

Check Query

Create a Query and retrieve data.

Retrieve data from bucket ST2 in Organisation my-org for the last hour!

root@5e024f1d1590:/# influx query -o my-org ‘from (bucket:”ST2″) |> range(start:-1h)’
Result: _result
Table: keys: [_start, _stop, _field, _measurement, host]
_start:time _stop:time _field:string _measurement:string host:string _time:time _value:float
—————————— —————————— ———————- ———————- ———————- —————————— —————————-
2022-10-02T13:19:46.301108942Z 2022-10-02T14:19:46.301108942Z temperature myMeasurement myHost 2022-10-02T14:07:04.000000000Z 30.5
2022-10-02T13:19:46.301108942Z 2022-10-02T14:19:46.301108942Z temperature myMeasurement myHost 2022-10-02T14:17:18.000000000Z 30.7
Table: keys: [_start, _stop, _field, _measurement, host]
_start:time _stop:time _field:string _measurement:string host:string _time:time _value:string
—————————— —————————— ———————- ———————- ———————- —————————— ———————-
2022-10-02T13:19:46.301108942Z 2022-10-02T14:19:46.301108942Z testField myMeasurement myHost 2022-10-02T14:00:32.000000000Z testData
2022-10-02T13:19:46.301108942Z 2022-10-02T14:19:46.301108942Z testField myMeasurement myHost 2022-10-02T14:06:08.000000000Z testData2
root@5e024f1d1590:/#

Check in dashboard

It can also be checked via Checkbox.

ST2>myMeasurement>testField>choose testField>testField, select Medium last” >click SUBMIT and issue QUERY.

ST2>myMeasurement>testField>temperature, select Medium>click SUBMIT and issue QUERY.

Play with EPC1522!

Next, try it from InfluxDB and NodeRed, which are built into Phoenix Contact.

Check Status

First, check whether InfluxDB is Running from Edge>Dashboard.

Configuration

Access the https://yourip:8086 from Chrome.

Get Started starts the configuration.

The initial USER screen is displayed.

Enter the USER information and Continue.

Done!

Quick Start completes the process.

Node-red

Access Node-Red via the following Link.

https://192.168.2.10:1880

This time, the Plug-in is used to interact with InfluxDB.

https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-influxdb

Create Data

Put the data on InfluxDB Buckets. Add the Influx batch Node on the left to the Flow screen.

The Influx batch Node is added and double-clicked.

Set the Sever to be accessed.

Server

Click on the pen ICON in the Server’s Field.

Name is the Node name to be displayed in Node-Red and does not have to be entered.

Version

Set the Version of the relevant Server in the Version Field. In this case, set it to V2.0.

URL

For the URL Field enter Https://yourIP:8086.

Token

Enter Token.

To check the Token Key, go to the InfluxDB Dashboard and double-click on Data>Tokens>User name.

Copy the Token and paste it into the previous Token Field.

Organization

You also need to access the InfluxDB Dashboard to check the Organisation.

Under User>User name is the Organisation.

Bucket

The next step is to set up the Bucket.

Dashboard>Explorer lists the Buckets that are now managed in the Organisation.

The buckets used in this case are called Station1.

Function

Add Function Nodes to Flow with Node-Red.

Open Function Node.

Paste this Code.

msg.payload = [
{
measurement: “weather_sensor”,
fields: {
temp: 5.5,
light: 481,
humidity: 51
},
tags:{
location:”garden”
},
timestamp: new Date()
},
{
measurement: “alarm_sensor”,
fields: {
proximity: 1003,
temp: 19.5
},
tags:{
location:”home”
},
timestamp: new Date()
}
];
return msg;

Concepts

The previous Message actually sends such a message to InfluxDB.

Inject

Add an inject Node to create a Trigger for sending data to InfluxDB.

Set Delay of activation to Inject once after x seconds.

Select Interval for Repeat and set >Cycle time to 1s, i.e. it will be triggered every 1s.

Connect the three Nodes.

Deploy

Download the Flow using the Deloy bodan in the top right-hand corner.

Check it

Check the data from Explore>Data Explorer.

Create a Query. Think of that Query as a request to retrieve data. Select all of the _field and _measurement.

Data is now displayed in Graph above when the Submit button is clicked!

Query Data

The next step is to create a Query request from Node-Red.

Add the Node of influxdb into Flow.

Flow

The Flow is not much different from the previous one.

Function

Paste the following Code into the Function’s Node.

Extract 1 hour of data in the temp field of weather_sensor of _measurement from bucket name “Station1”.

msg.query =

`
from(bucket: “Station1”)
|> range(start: -1h, stop: now())
|> filter(fn: (r) => r._measurement == “weather_sensor”)
|> filter(fn: (r) => r._field == “temp”)
`
return msg;

debug

Add a debug Node from the Common Node, as you want to see the results.

Test it

Finally, click Inject to confirm the reply.

You have received a reply from the Server with the data you requested!

Thanks！

What is InfluxDB?

Elements

_time

_measurement

_field

Field Key

Field Value

Field Set

Tags

Tags Key

Tag Values

Tag sets

Organization

Buckets

Play with Docker First!

Ubuntu Version

Docker Installation

Install InfluxDB Docker

Start the InfluxDB Server

Check the Condition

Exectute

Check Version

Check Configuration

Create Organization

Authentication

Create Organization Again

Check Organization List

Create the Buckets

Create Data

Check Query

Check in dashboard

Play with EPC1522!

Check Status

Configuration

Node-red

Create Data

Server

Version

URL

Token

Organization

Bucket

Function

Concepts

Inject

Deploy

Check it

Query Data

Flow

Function

debug

Test it