HTTPS Setup | InfluxData Documentation Archive

This guide describes how to enable HTTPS with InfluxDB. Setting up HTTPS secures the communication between clients and the InfluxDB server, and, in some cases, HTTPS verifies the authenticity of the InfluxDB server to clients.

If you plan on sending requests to InfluxDB over a network, we strongly recommend that you set up HTTPS.

Requirements

To set up HTTPS with InfluxDB, you’ll need an existing or new InfluxDB instance and a Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificate (also known as a Secured Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate). InfluxDB supports three types of TLS/SSL certificates:

Single domain certificates signed by a Certificate Authority
These certificates provide cryptographic security to HTTPS requests and allow clients to verify the identity of the InfluxDB server. With this certificate option, every InfluxDB instance requires a unique single domain certificate.
Wildcard certificates signed by a Certificate Authority
These certificates provide cryptographic security to HTTPS requests and allow clients to verify the identity of the InfluxDB server. Wildcard certificates can be used across multiple InfluxDB instances on different servers.
Self-signed certificates
Self-signed certificates are not signed by a CA and you can generate them on your own machine. Unlike CA-signed certificates, self-signed certificates only provide cryptographic security to HTTPS requests. They do not allow clients to verify the identity of the InfluxDB server. We recommend using a self-signed certificate if you are unable to obtain a CA-signed certificate. With this certificate option, every InfluxDB instance requires a unique self-signed certificate.

Regardless of your certificate’s type, InfluxDB supports certificates composed of a private key file (.key) and a signed certificate file (.crt) file pair, as well as certificates that combine the private key file and the signed certificate file into a single bundled file (.pem).

The following two sections outline how to set up HTTPS with InfluxDB using a CA-signed certificate and using a self-signed certificate on Ubuntu 16.04. Specific steps may be different for other operating systems.

Setup HTTPS with a CA-Signed Certificate

Step 1: Install the SSL/TLS certificate

Place the private key file (.key) and the signed certificate file (.crt) or the single bundled file (.pem) in the /etc/ssl directory.

Step 2: Ensure file permissions

Certificate files require read and write access by the root user. Ensure that you have the correct file permissions by running the following commands:

sudo chown root:root /etc/ssl/<CA-certificate-file>
sudo chmod 644 /etc/ssl/<CA-certificate-file>
sudo chmod 600 /etc/ssl/<private-key-file>

Step 3: Enable HTTPS in InfluxDB’s configuration file

HTTPS is disabled by default. Enable HTTPS in InfluxDB’s the [http] section of the configuration file (/etc/influxdb/influxdb.conf) by setting:

https-enabled to true
https-certificate to /etc/ssl/<signed-certificate-file>.crt (or to /etc/ssl/<bundled-certificate-file>.pem)

https-private-key to /etc/ssl/<private-key-file>.key (or to /etc/ssl/<bundled-certificate-file>.pem)

[http]

[...]

# Determines whether HTTPS is enabled.
https-enabled = true

[...]

# The SSL certificate to use when HTTPS is enabled.
https-certificate = "<bundled-certificate-file>.pem"

# Use a separate private key location.
https-private-key = "<bundled-certificate-file>.pem"

Step 4: Restart InfluxDB

Restart the InfluxDB process for the configuration changes to take effect:

sudo systemctl restart influxdb

Step 5: Verify the HTTPS Setup

Verify that HTTPS is working by connecting to InfluxDB with the CLI tool:

influx -ssl -host <domain_name>.com

A successful connection returns the following:

Connected to https://<domain_name>.com:8086 version 1.x.x
InfluxDB shell version: 1.x.x
>

That’s it! You’ve successfully set up HTTPS with InfluxDB.

Setup HTTPS with a Self-Signed Certificate

Step 1: Generate a self-signed certificate

The following command generates a private key file (.key) and a self-signed certificate file (.crt) which remain valid for the specified NUMBER_OF_DAYS. It outputs those files to InfluxDB’s default certificate file paths and gives them the required permissions.

sudo openssl req -x509 -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/ssl/influxdb-selfsigned.key -out /etc/ssl/influxdb-selfsigned.crt -days <NUMBER_OF_DAYS>

When you execute the command, it will prompt you for more information. You can choose to fill out that information or leave it blank; both actions generate valid certificate files.

Step 2: Enable HTTPS in InfluxDB’s configuration file

HTTPS is disabled by default. Enable HTTPS in InfluxDB’s the [http] section of the configuration file (/etc/influxdb/influxdb.conf) by setting:

https-enabled to true
https-certificate to /etc/ssl/influxdb-selfsigned.crt

https-private-key to /etc/ssl/influxdb-selfsigned.key

[http]

[...]

# Determines whether HTTPS is enabled.
https-enabled = true

[...]

# The SSL certificate to use when HTTPS is enabled.
https-certificate = "/etc/ssl/influxdb-selfsigned.crt"

# Use a separate private key location.
https-private-key = "/etc/ssl/influxdb-selfsigned.key"

Step 3: Restart InfluxDB

Restart the InfluxDB process for the configuration changes to take effect:

sudo systemctl restart influxdb

Step 4: Verify the HTTPS Setup

Verify that HTTPS is working by connecting to InfluxDB with the CLI tool:

influx -ssl -unsafeSsl -host <domain_name>.com

A successful connection returns the following:

Connected to https://<domain_name>.com:8086 version 1.x.x
InfluxDB shell version: 1.x.x
>

That’s it! You’ve successfully set up HTTPS with InfluxDB.

Connect Telegraf to a secured InfluxDB instance
Connecting Telegraf to an InfluxDB instance that’s using HTTPS requires some additional steps.
In Telegraf’s configuration file (/etc/telegraf/telegraf.conf), edit the urls setting to indicate https instead of http and change localhost to the relevant domain name. If you’re using a self-signed certificate, uncomment the insecure_skip_verify setting and set it to true.
###############################################################################
#                            OUTPUT PLUGINS                                   #
###############################################################################

# Configuration for influxdb server to send metrics to
[[outputs.influxdb]]
  ## The full HTTP or UDP endpoint URL for your InfluxDB instance.
  ## Multiple urls can be specified as part of the same cluster,
  ## this means that only ONE of the urls will be written to each interval.
  # urls = ["udp://localhost:8089"] # UDP endpoint example
  urls = ["https://<domain_name>.com:8086"]

[...]

  ## Optional SSL Config
  [...]
  insecure_skip_verify = true # <-- Update only if you're using a self-signed certificate
Next, restart Telegraf and you’re all set!