Documentation

InfluxDB file system layout

The InfluxDB Enterprise file system layout depends on the installation method or containerization platform used to install InfluxDB Enterprise.

InfluxDB Enterprise file structure

The InfluxDB file structure includes the following:

Data directory

(Data nodes only) Directory path where InfluxDB Enterprise stores time series data (TSM files). To customize this path, use the [data].dir configuration option.

WAL directory

(Data nodes only) Directory path where InfluxDB Enterprise stores Write Ahead Log (WAL) files. To customize this path, use the [data].wal-dir configuration option.

Hinted handoff directory

(Data nodes only) Directory path where hinted handoff (HH) queues are stored. To customize this path, use the [hinted-handoff].dir configuration option.

Metastore directory

Directory path of the InfluxDB Enterprise metastore, which stores information about the cluster, users, databases, retention policies, shards, and continuous queries.

On data nodes, the metastore contains information about InfluxDB Enterprise meta nodes. To customize this path, use the [meta].dir configuration option in your data node configuration file.

On meta nodes, the metastore contains information about the InfluxDB Enterprise RAFT cluster. To customize this path, use the [meta].dir configuration option in your meta node configuration file.

InfluxDB Enterprise configuration files

InfluxDB Enterprise stores default data and meta node configuration file on disk. For more information about using InfluxDB Enterprise configuration files, see:

File system layout

InfluxDB Enterprise supports .deb- and .rpm-based Linux package managers. The file system layout is the same with each.

Data node file system layout

PathDefault
Data directory/var/lib/influxdb/data/
WAL directory/var/lib/influxdb/wal/
Metastore directory/var/lib/influxdb/meta/
Hinted handoff directory/var/lib/influxdb/hh/
Default config file path/etc/influxdb/influxdb.conf
Data node file system overview
  • /etc/influxdb/
    • influxdb.conf (Data node configuration file)
  • /var/lib/influxdb/
    • data/
      • TSM directories and files
    • hh/
      • HH queue files
    • meta/
      • client.json
    • wal/
      • WAL directories and files

Meta node file system layout

PathDefault
Metastore directory/var/lib/influxdb/meta/
Default config file path/etc/influxdb/influxdb-meta.conf
Meta node file system overview
  • /etc/influxdb/
    • influxdb-meta.conf (Meta node configuration file)
  • /var/lib/influxdb/
    • meta/
      • peers.json
      • raft.db
      • snapshots/
        • Snapshot directories and files

Directory permissions

The user running the influxd process should have the following permissions for directories in the InfluxDB file system:

Directory pathPermission
.../influxdb/755
.../influxdb/data/755
.../influxdb/hh/700
.../influxdb/meta/755
.../influxdb/wal/700

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New in InfluxDB 3.5

Key enhancements in InfluxDB 3.5 and the InfluxDB 3 Explorer 1.3.

See the Blog Post

InfluxDB 3.5 is now available for both Core and Enterprise, introducing custom plugin repository support, enhanced operational visibility with queryable CLI parameters and manual node management, stronger security controls, and general performance improvements.

InfluxDB 3 Explorer 1.3 brings powerful new capabilities including Dashboards (beta) for saving and organizing your favorite queries, and cache querying for instant access to Last Value and Distinct Value caches—making Explorer a more comprehensive workspace for time series monitoring and analysis.

For more information, check out:

InfluxDB Docker latest tag changing to InfluxDB 3 Core

On November 3, 2025, the latest tag for InfluxDB Docker images will point to InfluxDB 3 Core. To avoid unexpected upgrades, use specific version tags in your Docker deployments.

If using Docker to install and run InfluxDB, the latest tag will point to InfluxDB 3 Core. To avoid unexpected upgrades, use specific version tags in your Docker deployments. For example, if using Docker to run InfluxDB v2, replace the latest version tag with a specific version tag in your Docker pull command–for example:

docker pull influxdb:2