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InfluxDB

What is InfluxDB?​

InfluxDB is an open-source time-series database purpose-built for high-volume metrics, events, and IoT/analytics data. It's commonly paired with Grafana for dashboards. Laradock builds it (InfluxDB 2.x) as its own container from the official image.

Start InfluxDB​

./laradock start influxdb

Your organization, bucket, and admin user are created on first boot and kept between restarts. Name any other services alongside it to start them together, for example ./laradock start influxdb workspace.

Stop InfluxDB​

Stopping just pauses the container; your data is safe (kept in the influxdb volume):

./laradock stop influxdb

To delete the container entirely (the data in the influxdb volume is still untouched):

./laradock remove influxdb

Configuration​

All settings live in influxdb/defaults.env and can be overridden by adding the same line to your own .env:

VariableDefaultWhat it does
INFLUXDB_VERSION2.7Image version built via influxdb/Dockerfile.
INFLUXDB_HOST_PORT8086Host-side port InfluxDB is published on (container port 8086).
INFLUXDB_INIT_USERNAMElaradockAdmin username created on first boot.
INFLUXDB_INIT_PASSWORDsecretpasswordPassword for that admin user.
INFLUXDB_INIT_ORGlaradockOrganization created on first boot.
INFLUXDB_INIT_BUCKETdefaultBucket (database) created on first boot.

These map directly to InfluxDB's own DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_* environment variables (set in influxdb/compose.yml), with DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_MODE=setup triggering the automatic first-run setup. Data itself persists in the influxdb named Docker volume, mounted at /var/lib/influxdb2 inside the container, not a DATA_PATH_HOST folder.

Connect​

Open the UI and API at http://localhost:8086; check readiness with curl http://localhost:8086/health. Log in with INFLUXDB_INIT_USERNAME/INFLUXDB_INIT_PASSWORD, org INFLUXDB_INIT_ORG, bucket INFLUXDB_INIT_BUCKET. From another container, use http://influxdb:8086. The UI login is username/password, but the write and query APIs (and any client library, including Grafana's InfluxDB data source) need a token instead, see Get an API token below.

Get an API token​

influxdb/compose.yml doesn't pin DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_ADMIN_TOKEN, so InfluxDB generates a random all-access token during first-run setup rather than a predictable one. The official image also writes a CLI config pointing at that token, so the influx CLI works inside the container without any extra flags.

Open a terminal inside the container and list existing tokens:

./laradock enter influxdb

Then, inside the container:

influx auth list

Or from the UI: log in at http://localhost:8086, then Load Data > API Tokens to view or copy one. Use the token in an Authorization: Token <token> header on API requests, or paste it into Grafana's InfluxDB data source config.

To create a new, separate token instead of reusing the auto-generated one:

influx auth create --org laradock --all-access

Buckets and retention​

A bucket is InfluxDB 2.x's unit of storage, roughly a database and a retention period combined. INFLUXDB_INIT_BUCKET only creates one bucket on first boot; day-to-day you'll likely want more, each with its own retention.

List existing buckets (run after ./laradock enter influxdb, same as above):

influx bucket list --org laradock

Create a new bucket with, for example, 30 days of retention:

influx bucket create --name metrics_30d --org laradock --retention 30d

Backup and restore​

Back up all organizations and buckets to a folder inside the container, then copy that folder to your host:

./laradock exec influxdb influx backup /tmp/influxdb-backup
docker cp "$(docker compose ps -q influxdb)":/tmp/influxdb-backup ./influxdb-backup

Restore by copying a backup folder back in, then restoring from it:

docker cp ./influxdb-backup "$(docker compose ps -q influxdb)":/tmp/influxdb-backup
./laradock exec influxdb influx restore /tmp/influxdb-backup

Restore flags and behavior have changed across InfluxDB releases, check the InfluxDB backup/restore docs for options specific to your INFLUXDB_VERSION. Keep the influxdb-backup folder itself somewhere safe, it's the actual backup.

Start completely fresh (wipe all data)​

To throw away every organization, bucket, and data point, and start InfluxDB from a clean, empty state (⚠️ this permanently deletes everything in the influxdb volume, back up first if you need anything):

./laradock stop influxdb
./laradock remove influxdb
docker volume rm "${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_influxdb"
./laradock start influxdb

Unlike bind-mounted services, InfluxDB's storage lives in a named Docker volume, not a folder under DATA_PATH_HOST, so wiping it means removing the volume itself. If you're unsure of the exact volume name on your machine (it's prefixed with your COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME), list it first with docker volume ls | grep influxdb. Deleting it and starting again re-runs first-boot setup: INFLUXDB_INIT_USERNAME, INFLUXDB_INIT_PASSWORD, INFLUXDB_INIT_ORG, and INFLUXDB_INIT_BUCKET all apply fresh, and a new admin token is generated, exactly like a brand-new install.

Talk to this database from another Laradock project​

Each Laradock project is its own isolated Docker network by default, so a second project's containers can't reach this InfluxDB by container name out of the box. Easiest fix: the API port is already published (INFLUXDB_HOST_PORT), so point the other project (or a shared Grafana) at your host machine's address instead of influxdb, for example http://host.docker.internal:8086 (Docker Desktop). Make sure the two projects use different INFLUXDB_HOST_PORT values if they're both running at once.

Common issues​

  • Port already in use on your host. Change INFLUXDB_HOST_PORT in .env and restart: ./laradock restart influxdb.
  • INFLUXDB_INIT_* changes don't take effect. These only apply during the automatic first-run setup. If InfluxDB already initialized its volume, changing them afterward has no effect, you'd need to create a new user/org/bucket manually or start completely fresh.
  • Default credentials in a shared environment. secretpassword is a placeholder meant for local dev only, override INFLUXDB_INIT_PASSWORD in .env before exposing this beyond your machine.
  • API requests return 401 Unauthorized. The UI login (username/password) doesn't work for the write/query API, you need a token, see Get an API token.
  • App can't connect but the container is running. Confirm your app or Grafana data source uses influxdb as the host, not localhost, that only works from your host machine.

Want to chart this data with dashboards? See Grafana. Want PromQL-based metrics instead? See Prometheus. New to Laradock? Start with Getting Started.