InfluxDB failed to start as a service

I'm trying to configure InfluxDB for Automatic start-up on a RHEL7 machine.

if I do:

sudo systemctl start influxdb 

the service fails

[dadmin@localhost dashboard]$ sudo systemctl start influxdb [sudo] password for dadmin: [dadmin@localhost dashboard]$ sudo systemctl status influxdb ● influxdb.service - InfluxDB is an open-source, distributed, time series database Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/influxdb.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled) Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/influxdb.service.d └─override.conf Active: failed (Result: start-limit) since Thu 2017-05-11 13:16:29 CEST; 10s ago Docs: Process: 2562 ExecStart=/usr/bin/influxd -config /dashboard/influxdb.conf ${INFLUXD_OPTS} (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE) Main PID: 2562 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE) May 11 13:16:29 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: influxdb.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE May 11 13:16:29 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Unit influxdb.service entered failed state. May 11 13:16:29 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: influxdb.service failed. May 11 13:16:29 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: influxdb.service holdoff time over, scheduling restart. May 11 13:16:29 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: start request repeated too quickly for influxdb.service May 11 13:16:29 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Failed to start InfluxDB is an open-source, distributed, time series database. May 11 13:16:29 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Unit influxdb.service entered failed state. May 11 13:16:29 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: influxdb.service failed. 

This is the unit file:

[dadmin@localhost dashboard]$ sudo systemctl cat influxdb.service [sudo] password for dadmin: # /usr/lib/systemd/system/influxdb.service # If you modify this, please also make sure to edit init.sh [Unit] Description=InfluxDB is an open-source, distributed, time series database Documentation= After=network-online.target [Service] User=influxdb Group=influxdb LimitNOFILE=65536 EnvironmentFile=-/etc/default/influxdb ExecStart=/usr/bin/influxd -config /etc/influxdb/influxdb.conf ${INFLUXD_OPTS} KillMode=control-group Restart=on-failure [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target Alias=influxd.service # /etc/systemd/system/influxdb.service.d/override.conf [Service] ExecStart= ExecStart=/usr/bin/influxd -config /dashboard/influxdb.conf ${INFLUXD_OPTS} 

But if I execute directly

/usr/bin/influxd -config /dashboard/influxdb.conf 

InfluxDB start smoothly.

Where am I wrong?

3 Answers

I found the problem:

[dadmin@localhost dashboard]$ sudo tail /var/log/messages May 11 16:21:41 localhost influxd: [I] 2017-05-11T14:21:41Z Using data dir: /dashboard/influxdb/data service=store May 11 16:21:41 localhost influxd: run: open server: open tsdb store: open /dashboard/influxdb/data/_internal: permission denied May 11 16:21:41 localhost systemd: influxdb.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE May 11 16:21:41 localhost systemd: Unit influxdb.service entered failed state. May 11 16:21:41 localhost systemd: influxdb.service failed. May 11 16:21:41 localhost systemd: influxdb.service holdoff time over, scheduling restart. May 11 16:21:41 localhost systemd: start request repeated too quickly for influxdb.service May 11 16:21:41 localhost systemd: Failed to start InfluxDB is an open-source, distributed, time series database. May 11 16:21:41 localhost systemd: Unit influxdb.service entered failed state. May 11 16:21:41 localhost systemd: influxdb.service failed. 

When I had executed

/usr/bin/influxd -config /dashboard/influxdb.conf 

The folders had been created with dadmin as owner

I removed the folders and restarted the service. Now all works fine.

The config script does not have permissions.

It references directories. When you run /opt/influxdb/influxd config > /etc/opt/influxdb/influxdb.conf the outputted config file puts all the directories under ~. When you are root, ~ translates to /root.

If you don't want to use /root as your InfluxDB data directory there are a few options.

Run /opt/influxdb/influxd config > /etc/opt/influxdb/influxdb.conf as the user you want to run influxd. Then the config file will use that user's home directory as the install location. Explicitly edit /etc/opt/influxdb/influxdb.conf to reference the directories you want to use.

Also check this blog this might clear it out for you

you can change the user and the group to root

[dadmin@localhost dashboard]$ sudo systemctl cat influxdb.service [sudo] password for dadmin: # /usr/lib/systemd/system/influxdb.service # If you modify this, please also make sure to edit init.sh [Unit] Description=InfluxDB is an open-source, distributed, time series database Documentation= After=network-online.target [Service] User=root Group=root LimitNOFILE=65536 EnvironmentFile=-/etc/default/influxdb ExecStart=/usr/bin/influxd -config /etc/influxdb/influxdb.conf ${INFLUXD_OPTS} KillMode=control-group Restart=on-failure [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target Alias=influxd.service # /etc/systemd/system/influxdb.service.d/override.conf [Service] ExecStart= ExecStart=/usr/bin/influxd -config /dashboard/influxdb.conf ${INFLUXD_OPTS}