⏱ Time Series

InfluxDB on Windows + Grafana — Full Setup Guide

Install InfluxDB on Windows, create a database and API token, connect it to Grafana as a data source and write your first Flux queries. Covers both InfluxDB 2.x and legacy 1.x.

Step 1 — Download and install InfluxDB on Windows

# Download InfluxDB 2.x for Windows
$version = "2.7.11"
$url = "https://dl.influxdata.com/influxdb/releases/influxdb2-$version-windows.zip"
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -OutFile "influxdb.zip"
Expand-Archive -Path "influxdb.zip" -DestinationPath "C:\InfluxDB" -Force

# Create data directory
New-Item -ItemType Directory "C:\InfluxDB\data" -Force | Out-Null

Step 2 — Install InfluxDB as a Windows Service

# Register the service
sc.exe create InfluxDB `
  binPath= "C:\InfluxDB\influxd.exe" `
  start= auto `
  DisplayName= "InfluxDB"

# Start InfluxDB
Start-Service -Name "InfluxDB"

# Verify it is running
Invoke-WebRequest "http://localhost:8086/ping" -UseBasicParsing

Step 3 — Initial setup

Open http://localhost:8086 in your browser. Complete the setup wizard:

Create an admin username and password
Enter an organisation name (e.g. my-org)
Create an initial bucket (e.g. metrics)
Copy the generated API token — you will need it for Grafana and Telegraf

# Or set up via CLI
C:\InfluxDB\influx.exe setup `
  --username admin `
  --password StrongPassword! `
  --org my-org `
  --bucket metrics `
  --retention 30d `
  --force

Step 4 — Collect Windows metrics with Telegraf

Telegraf is the official metrics agent for InfluxDB. It collects Windows performance counters and sends them to InfluxDB.

# Download Telegraf for Windows
$tUrl = "https://dl.influxdata.com/telegraf/releases/telegraf-1.32.0_windows_amd64.zip"
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $tUrl -OutFile "telegraf.zip"
Expand-Archive -Path "telegraf.zip" -DestinationPath "C:\Telegraf" -Force

Create C:\Telegraf\telegraf.conf:

[agent]
  interval = "10s"
  flush_interval = "10s"

[[outputs.influxdb_v2]]
  urls = ["http://localhost:8086"]
  token = "YOUR_INFLUXDB_API_TOKEN"
  organization = "my-org"
  bucket = "metrics"

# Windows CPU
[[inputs.win_perf_counters]]
  [[inputs.win_perf_counters.object]]
    ObjectName = "Processor"
    Instances = ["_Total"]
    Counters = ["% Processor Time", "% Idle Time"]
    Measurement = "win_cpu"

# Windows Memory
[[inputs.win_perf_counters]]
  [[inputs.win_perf_counters.object]]
    ObjectName = "Memory"
    Counters = ["Available Bytes", "% Committed Bytes In Use"]
    Measurement = "win_mem"

# Install Telegraf as a service
C:\Telegraf\telegraf.exe --service install --config C:\Telegraf\telegraf.conf
Start-Service -Name "telegraf"

Step 5 — Connect InfluxDB to Grafana

In Grafana go to Connections → Data sources → Add new → InfluxDB:

Query language: Flux
URL:           http://localhost:8086
Organisation:  my-org
Token:         YOUR_INFLUXDB_API_TOKEN
Default bucket: metrics

Click Save & test. Then explore data in Grafana → Explore with a Flux query:

from(bucket: "metrics")
  |> range(start: -1h)
  |> filter(fn: (r) => r._measurement == "win_cpu")
  |> filter(fn: (r) => r._field == "% Processor Time")

Firewall rules for InfluxDB

# Allow Grafana and Telegraf to reach InfluxDB
New-NetFirewallRule `
  -DisplayName "InfluxDB API" `
  -Direction Inbound `
  -Protocol TCP `
  -LocalPort 8086 `
  -RemoteAddress 127.0.0.1 `
  -Action Allow

Security: For local-only use, restrict InfluxDB to localhost (127.0.0.1) and block external access to port 8086.