InfluxDB

InfluxDB is the recommended destination for Butler SOS operational metrics.

Why InfluxDB?

• Purpose-built for metrics - Optimized for time-stamped data.
• Pairs with Grafana - Create powerful dashboards for real-time monitoring.
• Data retention policies - Automatically purge old data to manage disk space.
• Aggregation - Summarize historical data to save space while keeping long-term trends.

Configuration

Butler SOS uses Butler-SOS.influxdbConfig for storing metrics.

Config Block	Purpose	YAML Path
Operational Metrics	Health metrics, user/log events	Butler-SOS.influxdbConfig

Supported versions

Version	Status
InfluxDB 1.x	✅ Supported
InfluxDB 2.x	✅ Supported
InfluxDB Cloud	⚠️ Reported to work, not officially tested
InfluxDB 3.x	✅ Supported

InfluxDB v3 Naming Constraints

InfluxDB v3 does not allow a tag and a field to have the same name in the same measurement. Butler SOS ensures this by default, but keep this in mind if you customize the schema.

Data retention

Butler SOS stores data in full detail without aggregation. Consider:

• Storage growth - More servers + frequent polling + long retention = lots of data.
• Recommended retention - 10-14 days is usually sufficient for operational monitoring. Audit data retention depends on your organization's compliance requirements.
• Extended history - Use InfluxDB's aggregation features for longer-term trends.

TIP

The retention policy in the config file only applies when Butler SOS creates a new database/bucket. Existing databases keep their current settings.

Configuration: Operational Metrics

This section configures where general health metrics, user events, and log events are stored.

Butler-SOS:
  influxdbConfig:
    enable: true
    host: influxdb.mycompany.com
    port: 8086
    version: 2 # 1, 2 or 3
    maxBatchSize: 1000 # Max points per write batch

    # InfluxDB 3.x settings
    v3Config:
      database: butler-metrics
      token: mytoken
      retentionDuration: 10d

    # InfluxDB 2.x settings
    v2Config:
      org: myorg
      bucket: butler-metrics
      description: Butler SOS metrics
      token: mytoken
      retentionDuration: 10d

    # InfluxDB 1.x settings
    v1Config:
      auth:
        enable: false
        username: <username>
        password: <password>
      dbName: SenseOps
      retentionPolicy:
        name: 10d
        duration: 10d

    # Control what data is stored
    includeFields:
      activeDocs: false # Can generate lots of data
      loadedDocs: false # Can generate lots of data
      inMemoryDocs: false # Can generate lots of data

Document lists

The includeFields settings in influxdbConfig control whether lists of active, loaded, and in-memory documents are stored:

Caution

Enabling activeDocs, loadedDocs, or inMemoryDocs can generate significant data volume, especially in environments with many apps.

• activeDocs - Apps where users are currently working.
• loadedDocs - Apps loaded in memory with active sessions.
• inMemoryDocs - Apps in memory but without active sessions.

## Key Settings