Use Chronograf to visualize data

Chronograf is a data visualization and dashboarding tool designed to visualize data in InfluxDB 1.x using the InfluxQL query language. This page walks through how to use Chronograf with {{% product-name %}}.

Prerequisites

• Download and install Chronograf
• An {{% product-name %}} account with:
  • A bucket to query
  • An API token with read permissions

Enable InfluxDB 3 support

To connect Chronograf to {{% product-name %}}, start Chronograf with InfluxDB 3 support enabled using one of the following methods:

{{< tabs-wrapper >}} {{% tabs %}} CLI flag Environment variable {{% /tabs %}} {{% tab-content %}}

chronograf --influxdb-v3-support-enabled

{{% /tab-content %}} {{% tab-content %}}

export INFLUXDB_V3_SUPPORT_ENABLED=true
chronograf

{{% /tab-content %}} {{< /tabs-wrapper >}}

Create an InfluxDB connection

1. Open Chronograf and click Configuration (wrench icon) in the navigation menu.

2. Click Add Connection.

   {{< img-hd src="/img/chronograf/1-6-connection-landing-page.png" alt="Chronograf connections landing page" />}}

3. In the Server Type dropdown, select InfluxDB Cloud Serverless.

   {{< img-hd src="/img/chronograf/v1-influxdb3/server-type-dropdown.png" alt="Chronograf Server Type dropdown" />}}

4. Enter your {{% product-name %}} connection credentials:

   • Connection URL: {{% product-name %}} region URL

     Copy

     https://{{< influxdb/host >}}
     

   • Connection Name: Name to uniquely identify this connection configuration

   • Database Token: InfluxDB API token with read permissions on the bucket you want to query

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

   • Unsafe SSL: Enable to skip SSL certificate verification for self-signed certificates

   {{< img-hd src="/img/chronograf/v1-influxdb3/cloud-serverless-connection.png" alt="Chronograf InfluxDB Cloud Serverless connection configuration" />}}

5. Click Add Connection.

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

7. To configure a Kapacitor connection, provide the necessary credentials, and then click Continue. Otherwise, click Skip.

8. Click Finish.

Configure connection via CLI

You can also configure the connection when starting Chronograf:

Replace the following:

• {{% code-placeholder-key %}}API_TOKEN{{% /code-placeholder-key %}}: API token with read permissions on the bucket
• {{% code-placeholder-key %}}BUCKET_NAME{{% /code-placeholder-key %}}: Bucket name

chronograf --influxdb-v3-support-enabled \
  --influxdb-type=influx-v3-serverless \
  --influxdb-url=https://{{< influxdb/host >}} \
  --influxdb-token=API_TOKEN \
  --influxdb-default-db=BUCKET_NAME

For a complete list of configuration options, see InfluxDB 3 connection options.

Query data in the Data Explorer

1. In Chronograf, click {{< icon "graph" "v2" >}} Explore in the left navigation bar.
2. Build and submit InfluxQL queries.

[!Note]

DBRPs map to InfluxDB buckets

In {{% product-name %}}, database and retention-policy (DBRP) combinations are mapped to buckets using the database-name/retention-policy naming convention or using manually created DBRP mappings. DBRP mappings are required to query InfluxDB Cloud using InfluxQL.

For information, see Create DBRP mappings.

You can use fully qualified measurements in the FROM clause. For example:

sqlCopy

-- Fully qualified measurement
SELECT * FROM "db-name"."rp-name"."measurement-name"

-- Fully qualified measurement shorthand (use the default retention policy)
SELECT * FROM "db-name".."measurement-name"

For more information about available InfluxQL functionality, see InfluxQL feature support.

Important notes

• Database view is read-only
• No administrative functionality
• Annotations and variables

Database view is read-only

When connected to {{% product-name %}}, the database view in Chronograf is read-only.

No administrative functionality

Chronograf cannot be used for administrative tasks in {{% product-name %}}. For example, you cannot do the following:

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

When connected to an {{% product-name %}} bucket, functionality in the {{< icon "crown" >}} InfluxDB Admin section of Chronograf is disabled.

To complete administrative tasks, use the following:

• InfluxDB user interface (UI)
• InfluxDB CLI

Annotations and variables

Annotations and dashboard variables work with {{% product-name %}} when a chronograf bucket exists and is accessible with the same API token.

When setting up variables with dynamic tag values, the backend query limits the scope of the record search with a time condition. By default, this is time > now() - 7d. Tags from records older than this limit are ignored. To change this setting, use the --influxdb-v3-time-condition flag or INFLUXDB_V3_TIME_CONDITION environment variable.