Installation and Initialization of Time-Series Database Service QuestDB (Optional)

The historical data storage of Apache HertzBeat™ relies on a time-series database. You can choose to install and initialize one of the supported databases, or skip the installation (⚠️ However, it is strongly recommended to configure one in the production environment).

We recommend using and providing long-term support for VictoriaMetrics as the storage solution.

QuestDB is an open-source time-series database that stands out in the field of time-series data processing due to its high performance and low latency. We use it to store and analyze the collected historical monitoring metric data.

⚠️ Note: Configuring a time-series database is optional, but it is strongly recommended for production environments to ensure more comprehensive historical chart functions, high performance, and stability.

⚠️ If no time-series database is configured, only the historical data of the last hour will be retained.

If you already have an existing QuestDB environment, you can skip directly to the YML configuration step.

Install QuestDB

1. Download the installation package

​ Download the latest version for your operating system from the official GitHub repository:

# For Linux/macOS (taking v7.3.9 as an example; replace with the latest version number)
wget https://github.com/questdb/questdb/releases/download/7.3.9/questdb-7.3.9-no-jre-bin.tar.gz

# Extract the package
tar -zxvf questdb-7.3.9-no-jre-bin.tar.gz
mv questdb-7.3.9 /opt/questdb  # Move to a common directory

​ For Windows users:

​ Download the zip package and extract it to C:\questdb or a custom directory.

2. Start QuestDB

# For Linux/macOS: Navigate to the installation directory and start the service
cd /opt/questdb/bin
./questdb start

# For Windows (Command Prompt):
cd C:\questdb\bin
questdb.exe start

3. Set up access password

​ QuestDB enables authentication through a configuration file, which needs to be modified manually.

​ Edit the configuration file:

# For Linux/macOS
vi /opt/questdb/conf/server.conf

# For Windows
notepad C:\questdb\conf\server.conf

​ Enable authentication and configure the password:

# Enable authentication (disabled by default)
http.security.enabled=true
pg.security.enabled=true  # PostgreSQL protocol authentication

# Set admin account and password (customize as needed)
http.security.admin.username=admin
http.security.admin.password=YourStrongPassword123!

# Optional: Restrict Web Console access to specific IPs (e.g., local access only)
http.bind.to=127.0.0.1:9000

​ Restart QuestDB for the changes to take effect:

# For Linux/macOS
./questdb stop
./questdb start

# For Windows
questdb.exe stop
questdb.exe start

4. Configure QuestDB connection in HertzBeat's application.yml file

​ Modify HertzBeat's configuration file

​ Locate and edit the configuration file at hertzbeat/config/application.yml

​ ⚠️ Note: For Docker container deployment, you need to mount the application.yml file to the host machine. For the installation package deployment, simply extract the package and modify the file at hertzbeat/config/application.yml.

​ Set the warehouse.store.jpa.enabled parameter to false**, configure the** warehouse.store.questdb data source parameters (HOST, username, password, etc.), and set enabled to true to enable QuestDB.

warehouse:
  store:
    # Disable the default JPA
    jpa:
      enabled: false
    # Enable QuestDB
    questdb:
      enabled: true
      url: localhost:9000
      username: admin
      password: quest

Parameter Description:

Parameter Name	Description
enabled	Whether to enable QuestDB
url	QuestDB server URL (host:port)
username	QuestDB database account
password	QuestDB database password

Note: Due to QuestDB's architectural design, if you need to set an expiration time for data, you can configure it in QuestDB's configuration file server.conf:

cairo.default.ttl=30d

5. Restart HertzBeat