:2003`.
Prefer authorizing all the incoming requests from untrusted networks with [vmauth](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmauth.html)
or similar auth proxy.
## Tuning
* There is no need for VictoriaMetrics tuning since it uses reasonable defaults for command-line flags,
which are automatically adjusted for the available CPU and RAM resources.
* There is no need for Operating System tuning since VictoriaMetrics is optimized for default OS settings.
The only option is increasing the limit on [the number of open files in the OS](https://medium.com/@muhammadtriwibowo/set-permanently-ulimit-n-open-files-in-ubuntu-4d61064429a).
The recommendation is not specific for VictoriaMetrics only but also for any service which handles many HTTP connections and stores data on disk.
* VictoriaMetrics is a write-heavy application and its performance depends on disk performance. So be careful with other
applications or utilities (like [fstrim](http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/bionic/man8/fstrim.8.html))
which could [exhaust disk resources](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/1521).
* The recommended filesystem is `ext4`, the recommended persistent storage is [persistent HDD-based disk on GCP](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/disks/#pdspecs),
since it is protected from hardware failures via internal replication and it can be [resized on the fly](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/disks/add-persistent-disk#resize_pd).
If you plan to store more than 1TB of data on `ext4` partition or plan extending it to more than 16TB,
then the following options are recommended to pass to `mkfs.ext4`:
```bash
mkfs.ext4 ... -O 64bit,huge_file,extent -T huge
```
## Monitoring
VictoriaMetrics exports internal metrics in Prometheus format at `/metrics` page.
These metrics may be collected by [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html)
or Prometheus by adding the corresponding scrape config to it.
Alternatively they can be self-scraped by setting `-selfScrapeInterval` command-line flag to duration greater than 0.
For example, `-selfScrapeInterval=10s` would enable self-scraping of `/metrics` page with 10 seconds interval.
There are officials Grafana dashboards for [single-node VictoriaMetrics](https://grafana.com/dashboards/10229) and [clustered VictoriaMetrics](https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards/11176). There is also an [alternative dashboard for clustered VictoriaMetrics](https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards/11831).
Graphs on these dashboard contain useful hints - hover the `i` icon at the top left corner of each graph in order to read it.
It is recommended setting up alerts in [vmalert](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmalert.html) or in Prometheus from [this config](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/blob/master/deployment/docker/alerts.yml).
The most interesting metrics are:
* `vm_cache_entries{type="storage/hour_metric_ids"}` - the number of time series with new data points during the last hour
aka [active time series](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-an-active-time-series).
* `increase(vm_new_timeseries_created_total[1h])` - time series [churn rate](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-high-churn-rate) during the previous hour.
* `sum(vm_rows{type=~"storage/.*"})` - total number of `(timestamp, value)` data points in the database.
* `sum(rate(vm_rows_inserted_total[5m]))` - ingestion rate, i.e. how many samples are inserted int the database per second.
* `vm_free_disk_space_bytes` - free space left at `-storageDataPath`.
* `sum(vm_data_size_bytes)` - the total size of data on disk.
* `increase(vm_slow_row_inserts_total[5m])` - the number of slow inserts during the last 5 minutes.
If this number remains high during extended periods of time, then it is likely more RAM is needed for optimal handling
of the current number of [active time series](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-an-active-time-series).
* `increase(vm_slow_metric_name_loads_total[5m])` - the number of slow loads of metric names during the last 5 minutes.
If this number remains high during extended periods of time, then it is likely more RAM is needed for optimal handling
of the current number of [active time series](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-an-active-time-series).
VictoriaMetrics also exposes currently running queries with their execution times at `/api/v1/status/active_queries` page.
See the example of alerting rules for VM components [here](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/blob/master/deployment/docker/alerts.yml).
## TSDB stats
VictoriaMetrics returns TSDB stats at `/api/v1/status/tsdb` page in the way similar to Prometheus - see [these Prometheus docs](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/querying/api/#tsdb-stats). VictoriaMetrics accepts the following optional query args at `/api/v1/status/tsdb` page:
* `topN=N` where `N` is the number of top entries to return in the response. By default top 10 entries are returned.
* `date=YYYY-MM-DD` where `YYYY-MM-DD` is the date for collecting the stats. By default the stats is collected for the current day.
* `match[]=SELECTOR` where `SELECTOR` is an arbitrary [time series selector](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/querying/basics/#time-series-selectors) for series to take into account during stats calculation. By default all the series are taken into account.
* `extra_label=LABEL=VALUE`. See [these docs](#prometheus-querying-api-enhancements) for more details.
## Cardinality limiter
By default VictoriaMetrics doesn't limit the number of stored time series. The limit can be enforced by setting the following command-line flags:
* `-storage.maxHourlySeries` - limits the number of time series that can be added during the last hour. Useful for limiting the number of [active time series](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-an-active-time-series).
* `-storage.maxDailySeries` - limits the number of time series that can be added during the last day. Useful for limiting daily [churn rate](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-high-churn-rate).
Both limits can be set simultaneously. If any of these limits is reached, then incoming samples for new time series are dropped. A sample of dropped series is put in the log with `WARNING` level.
The exceeded limits can be [monitored](#monitoring) with the following metrics:
* `vm_hourly_series_limit_rows_dropped_total` - the number of metrics dropped due to exceeded hourly limit on the number of unique time series.
* `vm_daily_series_limit_rows_dropped_total` - the number of metrics dropped due to exceeded daily limit on the number of unique time series.
These limits are approximate, so VictoriaMetrics can underflow/overflow the limit by a small percentage (usually less than 1%).
See also more advanced [cardinality limiter in vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html#cardinality-limiter).
## Troubleshooting
* It is recommended to use default command-line flag values (i.e. don't set them explicitly) until the need
of tweaking these flag values arises.
* It is recommended inspecting logs during troubleshooting, since they may contain useful information.
* It is recommended upgrading to the latest available release from [this page](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases),
since the encountered issue could be already fixed there.
* It is recommended to have at least 50% of spare resources for CPU, disk IO and RAM, so VictoriaMetrics could handle short spikes in the workload without performance issues.
* VictoriaMetrics requires free disk space for [merging data files to bigger ones](https://medium.com/@valyala/how-victoriametrics-makes-instant-snapshots-for-multi-terabyte-time-series-data-e1f3fb0e0282).
It may slow down when there is no enough free space left. So make sure `-storageDataPath` directory
has at least 20% of free space. The remaining amount of free space
can be [monitored](#monitoring) via `vm_free_disk_space_bytes` metric. The total size of data
stored on the disk can be monitored via sum of `vm_data_size_bytes` metrics.
See also `vm_merge_need_free_disk_space` metrics, which are set to values higher than 0
if background merge cannot be initiated due to free disk space shortage. The value shows the number of per-month partitions,
which would start background merge if they had more free disk space.
* VictoriaMetrics buffers incoming data in memory for up to a few seconds before flushing it to persistent storage.
This may lead to the following "issues":
* Data becomes available for querying in a few seconds after inserting. It is possible to flush in-memory buffers to persistent storage
by requesting `/internal/force_flush` http handler. This handler is mostly needed for testing and debugging purposes.
* The last few seconds of inserted data may be lost on unclean shutdown (i.e. OOM, `kill -9` or hardware reset).
See [this article for technical details](https://valyala.medium.com/wal-usage-looks-broken-in-modern-time-series-databases-b62a627ab704).
* If VictoriaMetrics works slowly and eats more than a CPU core per 100K ingested data points per second,
then it is likely you have too many [active time series](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-an-active-time-series) for the current amount of RAM.
VictoriaMetrics [exposes](#monitoring) `vm_slow_*` metrics such as `vm_slow_row_inserts_total` and `vm_slow_metric_name_loads_total`, which could be used
as an indicator of low amounts of RAM. It is recommended increasing the amount of RAM on the node with VictoriaMetrics in order to improve
ingestion and query performance in this case.
* If the order of labels for the same metrics can change over time (e.g. if `metric{k1="v1",k2="v2"}` may become `metric{k2="v2",k1="v1"}`),
then it is recommended running VictoriaMetrics with `-sortLabels` command-line flag in order to reduce memory usage and CPU usage.
* VictoriaMetrics prioritizes data ingestion over data querying. So if it has no enough resources for data ingestion,
then data querying may slow down significantly.
* If VictoriaMetrics doesn't work because of certain parts are corrupted due to disk errors,
then just remove directories with broken parts. It is safe removing subdirectories under `<-storageDataPath>/data/{big,small}/YYYY_MM` directories
when VictoriaMetrics isn't running. This recovers VictoriaMetrics at the cost of data loss stored in the deleted broken parts.
In the future, `vmrecover` tool will be created for automatic recovering from such errors.
* If you see gaps on the graphs, try resetting the cache by sending request to `/internal/resetRollupResultCache`.
If this removes gaps on the graphs, then it is likely data with timestamps older than `-search.cacheTimestampOffset`
is ingested into VictoriaMetrics. Make sure that data sources have synchronized time with VictoriaMetrics.
If the gaps are related to irregular intervals between samples, then try adjusting `-search.minStalenessInterval` command-line flag
to value close to the maximum interval between samples.
* If you are switching from InfluxDB or TimescaleDB, then take a look at `-search.maxStalenessInterval` command-line flag.
It may be needed in order to suppress default gap filling algorithm used by VictoriaMetrics - by default it assumes
each time series is continuous instead of discrete, so it fills gaps between real samples with regular intervals.
* Metrics and labels leading to [high cardinality](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-high-cardinality) or [high churn rate](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-high-churn-rate) can be determined at `/api/v1/status/tsdb` page. See [these docs](#tsdb-stats) for details.
* New time series can be logged if `-logNewSeries` command-line flag is passed to VictoriaMetrics.
* VictoriaMetrics limits the number of labels per each metric with `-maxLabelsPerTimeseries` command-line flag.
This prevents from ingesting metrics with too many labels. It is recommended [monitoring](#monitoring) `vm_metrics_with_dropped_labels_total`
metric in order to determine whether `-maxLabelsPerTimeseries` must be adjusted for your workload.
* If you store Graphite metrics like `foo.bar.baz` in VictoriaMetrics, then `{__graphite__="foo.*.baz"}` filter can be used for selecting such metrics. See [these docs](#selecting-graphite-metrics) for details.
* VictoriaMetrics ignores `NaN` values during data ingestion.
## Cache removal
VictoriaMetrics uses various internal caches. These caches are stored to `<-storageDataPath>/cache` directory during graceful shutdown (e.g. when VictoriaMetrics is stopped by sending `SIGINT` signal). The caches are read on the next VictoriaMetrics startup. Sometimes it is needed to remove such caches on the next startup. This can be performed by placing `reset_cache_on_startup` file inside the `<-storageDataPath>/cache` directory before the restart of VictoriaMetrics. See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/1447) for details.
## Data migration
Use [vmctl](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmctl.html) for data migration. It supports the following data migration types:
* From Prometheus to VictoriaMetrics
* From InfluxDB to VictoriaMetrics
* From VictoriaMetrics to VictoriaMetrics
* From OpenTSDB to VictoriaMetrics
See [vmctl docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmctl.html) for more details.
## Backfilling
VictoriaMetrics accepts historical data in arbitrary order of time via [any supported ingestion method](#how-to-import-time-series-data).
See [how to backfill data with recording rules in vmalert](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmalert.html#rules-backfilling).
Make sure that configured `-retentionPeriod` covers timestamps for the backfilled data.
It is recommended disabling query cache with `-search.disableCache` command-line flag when writing
historical data with timestamps from the past, since the cache assumes that the data is written with
the current timestamps. Query cache can be enabled after the backfilling is complete.
An alternative solution is to query `/internal/resetRollupResultCache` url after backfilling is complete. This will reset
the query cache, which could contain incomplete data cached during the backfilling.
Yet another solution is to increase `-search.cacheTimestampOffset` flag value in order to disable caching
for data with timestamps close to the current time. Single-node VictoriaMetrics automatically resets response
cache when samples with timestamps older than `now - search.cacheTimestampOffset` are ingested to it.
## Data updates
VictoriaMetrics doesn't support updating already existing sample values to new ones. It stores all the ingested data points
for the same time series with identical timestamps. While it is possible substituting old time series with new time series via
[removal of old time series](#how-to-delete-time-series) and then [writing new time series](#backfilling), this approach
should be used only for one-off updates. It shouldn't be used for frequent updates because of non-zero overhead related to data removal.
## Replication
Single-node VictoriaMetrics doesn't support application-level replication. Use cluster version instead.
See [these docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html#replication-and-data-safety) for details.
Storage-level replication may be offloaded to durable persistent storage such as [Google Cloud disks](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/disks#pdspecs).
See also [high availability docs](#high-availability) and [backup docs](#backups).
## Backups
VictoriaMetrics supports backups via [vmbackup](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmbackup.html)
and [vmrestore](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmrestore.html) tools.
We also provide [vmbackupmanager](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmbackupmanager.html) tool for enterprise subscribers.
Enterprise binaries can be downloaded and evaluated for free from [the releases page](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases).
## Benchmarks
Note, that vendors (including VictoriaMetrics) are often biased when doing such tests. E.g. they try highlighting
the best parts of their product, while highlighting the worst parts of competing products.
So we encourage users and all independent third parties to conduct their becnhmarks for various products
they are evaluating in production and publish the results.
As a reference, please see [benchmarks](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Articles.html#benchmarks) conducted by
VictoriaMetrics team. Please also see the [helm chart](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/benchmark)
for running ingestion benchmarks based on node_exporter metrics.
## Profiling
VictoriaMetrics provides handlers for collecting the following [Go profiles](https://blog.golang.org/profiling-go-programs):
* Memory profile. It can be collected with the following command (replace `0.0.0.0` with hostname if needed):
```bash
curl http://0.0.0.0:8428/debug/pprof/heap > mem.pprof
```
* CPU profile. It can be collected with the following command (replace `0.0.0.0` with hostname if needed):
```bash
curl -s http://0.0.0.0:8428/debug/pprof/profile > cpu.pprof
```
The command for collecting CPU profile waits for 30 seconds before returning.
The collected profiles may be analyzed with [go tool pprof](https://github.com/google/pprof).
## Integrations
* [Helm charts for single-node and cluster versions of VictoriaMetrics](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/helm-charts).
* [Kubernetes operator for VictoriaMetrics](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/operator).
* [netdata](https://github.com/netdata/netdata) can push data into VictoriaMetrics via `Prometheus remote_write API`.
See [these docs](https://github.com/netdata/netdata#integrations).
* [go-graphite/carbonapi](https://github.com/go-graphite/carbonapi) can use VictoriaMetrics as time series backend.
See [this example](https://github.com/go-graphite/carbonapi/blob/main/cmd/carbonapi/carbonapi.example.victoriametrics.yaml).
* [Ansible role for installing single-node VictoriaMetrics](https://github.com/dreamteam-gg/ansible-victoriametrics-role).
* [Ansible role for installing cluster VictoriaMetrics](https://github.com/Slapper/ansible-victoriametrics-cluster-role).
* [Snap package for VictoriaMetrics](https://snapcraft.io/victoriametrics).
* [vmalert-cli](https://github.com/aorfanos/vmalert-cli) - a CLI application for managing [vmalert](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmalert.html).
## Third-party contributions
* [Unofficial yum repository](https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/antonpatsev/VictoriaMetrics/) ([source code](https://github.com/patsevanton/victoriametrics-rpm))
* [Prometheus -> VictoriaMetrics exporter #1](https://github.com/ryotarai/prometheus-tsdb-dump)
* [Prometheus -> VictoriaMetrics exporter #2](https://github.com/AnchorFree/tsdb-remote-write)
* [Prometheus Oauth proxy](https://gitlab.com/optima_public/prometheus_oauth_proxy) - see [this article](https://medium.com/@richard.holly/powerful-saas-solution-for-detection-metrics-c67b9208d362) for details.
## Contacts
Contact us with any questions regarding VictoriaMetrics at [info@victoriametrics.com](mailto:info@victoriametrics.com).
## Community and contributions
Feel free asking any questions regarding VictoriaMetrics:
* [slack](https://slack.victoriametrics.com/)
* [linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/company/victoriametrics/)
* [reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/VictoriaMetrics/)
* [telegram-en](https://t.me/VictoriaMetrics_en)
* [telegram-ru](https://t.me/VictoriaMetrics_ru1)
* [articles and talks about VictoriaMetrics in Russian](https://github.com/denisgolius/victoriametrics-ru-links)
* [google groups](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/victorametrics-users)
If you like VictoriaMetrics and want to contribute, then we need the following:
* Filing issues and feature requests [here](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues).
* Spreading a word about VictoriaMetrics: conference talks, articles, comments, experience sharing with colleagues.
* Updating documentation.
We are open to third-party pull requests provided they follow [KISS design principle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle):
* Prefer simple code and architecture.
* Avoid complex abstractions.
* Avoid magic code and fancy algorithms.
* Avoid [big external dependencies](https://medium.com/@valyala/stripping-dependency-bloat-in-victoriametrics-docker-image-983fb5912b0d).
* Minimize the number of moving parts in the distributed system.
* Avoid automated decisions, which may hurt cluster availability, consistency or performance.
Adhering `KISS` principle simplifies the resulting code and architecture, so it can be reviewed, understood and verified by many people.
## Reporting bugs
Report bugs and propose new features [here](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues).
## VictoriaMetrics Logo
[Zip](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/blob/master/VM_logo.zip) contains three folders with different image orientations (main color and inverted version).
Files included in each folder:
* 2 JPEG Preview files
* 2 PNG Preview files with transparent background
* 2 EPS Adobe Illustrator EPS10 files
### Logo Usage Guidelines
#### Font used
* Lato Black
* Lato Regular
#### Color Palette
* HEX [#110f0f](https://www.color-hex.com/color/110f0f)
* HEX [#ffffff](https://www.color-hex.com/color/ffffff)
### We kindly ask
* Please don't use any other font instead of suggested.
* There should be sufficient clear space around the logo.
* Do not change spacing, alignment, or relative locations of the design elements.
* Do not change the proportions of any of the design elements or the design itself. You may resize as needed but must retain all proportions.
## List of command-line flags
Pass `-help` to VictoriaMetrics in order to see the list of supported command-line flags with their description:
```
-bigMergeConcurrency int
The maximum number of CPU cores to use for big merges. Default value is used if set to 0
-configAuthKey string
Authorization key for accessing /config page. It must be passed via authKey query arg
-csvTrimTimestamp duration
Trim timestamps when importing csv data to this duration. Minimum practical duration is 1ms. Higher duration (i.e. 1s) may be used for reducing disk space usage for timestamp data (default 1ms)
-datadog.maxInsertRequestSize size
The maximum size in bytes of a single DataDog POST request to /api/v1/series
Supports the following optional suffixes for size values: KB, MB, GB, KiB, MiB, GiB (default 67108864)
-dedup.minScrapeInterval duration
Leave only the first sample in every time series per each discrete interval equal to -dedup.minScrapeInterval > 0. See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#deduplication and https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#downsampling
-deleteAuthKey string
authKey for metrics' deletion via /api/v1/admin/tsdb/delete_series and /tags/delSeries
-denyQueriesOutsideRetention
Whether to deny queries outside of the configured -retentionPeriod. When set, then /api/v1/query_range would return '503 Service Unavailable' error for queries with 'from' value outside -retentionPeriod. This may be useful when multiple data sources with distinct retentions are hidden behind query-tee
-downsampling.period array
Comma-separated downsampling periods in the format 'offset:period'. For example, '30d:10m' instructs to leave a single sample per 10 minutes for samples older than 30 days. See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#downsampling for details
Supports an array of values separated by comma or specified via multiple flags.
-dryRun
Whether to check only -promscrape.config and then exit. Unknown config entries aren't allowed in -promscrape.config by default. This can be changed with -promscrape.config.strictParse=false command-line flag
-enableTCP6
Whether to enable IPv6 for listening and dialing. By default only IPv4 TCP and UDP is used
-envflag.enable
Whether to enable reading flags from environment variables additionally to command line. Command line flag values have priority over values from environment vars. Flags are read only from command line if this flag isn't set. See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#environment-variables for more details
-envflag.prefix string
Prefix for environment variables if -envflag.enable is set
-eula
By specifying this flag, you confirm that you have an enterprise license and accept the EULA https://victoriametrics.com/assets/VM_EULA.pdf
-finalMergeDelay duration
The delay before starting final merge for per-month partition after no new data is ingested into it. Final merge may require additional disk IO and CPU resources. Final merge may increase query speed and reduce disk space usage in some cases. Zero value disables final merge
-forceFlushAuthKey string
authKey, which must be passed in query string to /internal/force_flush pages
-forceMergeAuthKey string
authKey, which must be passed in query string to /internal/force_merge pages
-fs.disableMmap
Whether to use pread() instead of mmap() for reading data files. By default mmap() is used for 64-bit arches and pread() is used for 32-bit arches, since they cannot read data files bigger than 2^32 bytes in memory. mmap() is usually faster for reading small data chunks than pread()
-graphiteListenAddr string
TCP and UDP address to listen for Graphite plaintext data. Usually :2003 must be set. Doesn't work if empty
-graphiteTrimTimestamp duration
Trim timestamps for Graphite data to this duration. Minimum practical duration is 1s. Higher duration (i.e. 1m) may be used for reducing disk space usage for timestamp data (default 1s)
-http.connTimeout duration
Incoming http connections are closed after the configured timeout. This may help to spread the incoming load among a cluster of services behind a load balancer. Please note that the real timeout may be bigger by up to 10% as a protection against the thundering herd problem (default 2m0s)
-http.disableResponseCompression
Disable compression of HTTP responses to save CPU resources. By default compression is enabled to save network bandwidth
-http.idleConnTimeout duration
Timeout for incoming idle http connections (default 1m0s)
-http.maxGracefulShutdownDuration duration
The maximum duration for a graceful shutdown of the HTTP server. A highly loaded server may require increased value for a graceful shutdown (default 7s)
-http.pathPrefix string
An optional prefix to add to all the paths handled by http server. For example, if '-http.pathPrefix=/foo/bar' is set, then all the http requests will be handled on '/foo/bar/*' paths. This may be useful for proxied requests. See https://www.robustperception.io/using-external-urls-and-proxies-with-prometheus
-http.shutdownDelay duration
Optional delay before http server shutdown. During this delay, the server returns non-OK responses from /health page, so load balancers can route new requests to other servers
-httpAuth.password string
Password for HTTP Basic Auth. The authentication is disabled if -httpAuth.username is empty
-httpAuth.username string
Username for HTTP Basic Auth. The authentication is disabled if empty. See also -httpAuth.password
-httpListenAddr string
TCP address to listen for http connections (default ":8428")
-import.maxLineLen size
The maximum length in bytes of a single line accepted by /api/v1/import; the line length can be limited with 'max_rows_per_line' query arg passed to /api/v1/export
Supports the following optional suffixes for size values: KB, MB, GB, KiB, MiB, GiB (default 104857600)
-influx.databaseNames array
Comma-separated list of database names to return from /query and /influx/query API. This can be needed for accepting data from Telegraf plugins such as https://github.com/fangli/fluent-plugin-influxdb
Supports an array of values separated by comma or specified via multiple flags.
-influx.maxLineSize size
The maximum size in bytes for a single InfluxDB line during parsing
Supports the following optional suffixes for size values: KB, MB, GB, KiB, MiB, GiB (default 262144)
-influxListenAddr string
TCP and UDP address to listen for InfluxDB line protocol data. Usually :8189 must be set. Doesn't work if empty. This flag isn't needed when ingesting data over HTTP - just send it to http://:8428/write
-influxMeasurementFieldSeparator string
Separator for '{measurement}{separator}{field_name}' metric name when inserted via InfluxDB line protocol (default "_")
-influxSkipMeasurement
Uses '{field_name}' as a metric name while ignoring '{measurement}' and '-influxMeasurementFieldSeparator'
-influxSkipSingleField
Uses '{measurement}' instead of '{measurement}{separator}{field_name}' for metic name if InfluxDB line contains only a single field
-influxTrimTimestamp duration
Trim timestamps for InfluxDB line protocol data to this duration. Minimum practical duration is 1ms. Higher duration (i.e. 1s) may be used for reducing disk space usage for timestamp data (default 1ms)
-insert.maxQueueDuration duration
The maximum duration for waiting in the queue for insert requests due to -maxConcurrentInserts (default 1m0s)
-logNewSeries
Whether to log new series. This option is for debug purposes only. It can lead to performance issues when big number of new series are ingested into VictoriaMetrics
-loggerDisableTimestamps
Whether to disable writing timestamps in logs
-loggerErrorsPerSecondLimit int
Per-second limit on the number of ERROR messages. If more than the given number of errors are emitted per second, the remaining errors are suppressed. Zero values disable the rate limit
-loggerFormat string
Format for logs. Possible values: default, json (default "default")
-loggerLevel string
Minimum level of errors to log. Possible values: INFO, WARN, ERROR, FATAL, PANIC (default "INFO")
-loggerOutput string
Output for the logs. Supported values: stderr, stdout (default "stderr")
-loggerTimezone string
Timezone to use for timestamps in logs. Timezone must be a valid IANA Time Zone. For example: America/New_York, Europe/Berlin, Etc/GMT+3 or Local (default "UTC")
-loggerWarnsPerSecondLimit int
Per-second limit on the number of WARN messages. If more than the given number of warns are emitted per second, then the remaining warns are suppressed. Zero values disable the rate limit
-maxConcurrentInserts int
The maximum number of concurrent inserts. Default value should work for most cases, since it minimizes the overhead for concurrent inserts. This option is tigthly coupled with -insert.maxQueueDuration (default 16)
-maxInsertRequestSize size
The maximum size in bytes of a single Prometheus remote_write API request
Supports the following optional suffixes for size values: KB, MB, GB, KiB, MiB, GiB (default 33554432)
-maxLabelValueLen int
The maximum length of label values in the accepted time series. Longer label values are truncated. In this case the vm_too_long_label_values_total metric at /metrics page is incremented (default 16384)
-maxLabelsPerTimeseries int
The maximum number of labels accepted per time series. Superfluous labels are dropped. In this case the vm_metrics_with_dropped_labels_total metric at /metrics page is incremented (default 30)
-memory.allowedBytes size
Allowed size of system memory VictoriaMetrics caches may occupy. This option overrides -memory.allowedPercent if set to a non-zero value. Too low a value may increase the cache miss rate usually resulting in higher CPU and disk IO usage. Too high a value may evict too much data from OS page cache resulting in higher disk IO usage
Supports the following optional suffixes for size values: KB, MB, GB, KiB, MiB, GiB (default 0)
-memory.allowedPercent float
Allowed percent of system memory VictoriaMetrics caches may occupy. See also -memory.allowedBytes. Too low a value may increase cache miss rate usually resulting in higher CPU and disk IO usage. Too high a value may evict too much data from OS page cache which will result in higher disk IO usage (default 60)
-metricsAuthKey string
Auth key for /metrics. It must be passed via authKey query arg. It overrides httpAuth.* settings
-opentsdbHTTPListenAddr string
TCP address to listen for OpentTSDB HTTP put requests. Usually :4242 must be set. Doesn't work if empty
-opentsdbListenAddr string
TCP and UDP address to listen for OpentTSDB metrics. Telnet put messages and HTTP /api/put messages are simultaneously served on TCP port. Usually :4242 must be set. Doesn't work if empty
-opentsdbTrimTimestamp duration
Trim timestamps for OpenTSDB 'telnet put' data to this duration. Minimum practical duration is 1s. Higher duration (i.e. 1m) may be used for reducing disk space usage for timestamp data (default 1s)
-opentsdbhttp.maxInsertRequestSize size
The maximum size of OpenTSDB HTTP put request
Supports the following optional suffixes for size values: KB, MB, GB, KiB, MiB, GiB (default 33554432)
-opentsdbhttpTrimTimestamp duration
Trim timestamps for OpenTSDB HTTP data to this duration. Minimum practical duration is 1ms. Higher duration (i.e. 1s) may be used for reducing disk space usage for timestamp data (default 1ms)
-pprofAuthKey string
Auth key for /debug/pprof. It must be passed via authKey query arg. It overrides httpAuth.* settings
-precisionBits int
The number of precision bits to store per each value. Lower precision bits improves data compression at the cost of precision loss (default 64)
-promscrape.cluster.memberNum int
The number of number in the cluster of scrapers. It must be an unique value in the range 0 ... promscrape.cluster.membersCount-1 across scrapers in the cluster
-promscrape.cluster.membersCount int
The number of members in a cluster of scrapers. Each member must have an unique -promscrape.cluster.memberNum in the range 0 ... promscrape.cluster.membersCount-1 . Each member then scrapes roughly 1/N of all the targets. By default cluster scraping is disabled, i.e. a single scraper scrapes all the targets
-promscrape.cluster.replicationFactor int
The number of members in the cluster, which scrape the same targets. If the replication factor is greater than 2, then the deduplication must be enabled at remote storage side. See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#deduplication (default 1)
-promscrape.config string
Optional path to Prometheus config file with 'scrape_configs' section containing targets to scrape. The path can point to local file and to http url. See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#how-to-scrape-prometheus-exporters-such-as-node-exporter for details
-promscrape.config.dryRun
Checks -promscrape.config file for errors and unsupported fields and then exits. Returns non-zero exit code on parsing errors and emits these errors to stderr. See also -promscrape.config.strictParse command-line flag. Pass -loggerLevel=ERROR if you don't need to see info messages in the output.
-promscrape.config.strictParse
Whether to deny unsupported fields in -promscrape.config . Set to false in order to silently skip unsupported fields (default true)
-promscrape.configCheckInterval duration
Interval for checking for changes in '-promscrape.config' file. By default the checking is disabled. Send SIGHUP signal in order to force config check for changes
-promscrape.consul.waitTime duration
Wait time used by Consul service discovery. Default value is used if not set
-promscrape.consulSDCheckInterval duration
Interval for checking for changes in Consul. This works only if consul_sd_configs is configured in '-promscrape.config' file. See https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#consul_sd_config for details (default 30s)
-promscrape.digitaloceanSDCheckInterval duration
Interval for checking for changes in digital ocean. This works only if digitalocean_sd_configs is configured in '-promscrape.config' file. See https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#digitalocean_sd_config for details (default 1m0s)
-promscrape.disableCompression
Whether to disable sending 'Accept-Encoding: gzip' request headers to all the scrape targets. This may reduce CPU usage on scrape targets at the cost of higher network bandwidth utilization. It is possible to set 'disable_compression: true' individually per each 'scrape_config' section in '-promscrape.config' for fine grained control
-promscrape.disableKeepAlive
Whether to disable HTTP keep-alive connections when scraping all the targets. This may be useful when targets has no support for HTTP keep-alive connection. It is possible to set 'disable_keepalive: true' individually per each 'scrape_config' section in '-promscrape.config' for fine grained control. Note that disabling HTTP keep-alive may increase load on both vmagent and scrape targets
-promscrape.discovery.concurrency int
The maximum number of concurrent requests to Prometheus autodiscovery API (Consul, Kubernetes, etc.) (default 100)
-promscrape.discovery.concurrentWaitTime duration
The maximum duration for waiting to perform API requests if more than -promscrape.discovery.concurrency requests are simultaneously performed (default 1m0s)
-promscrape.dnsSDCheckInterval duration
Interval for checking for changes in dns. This works only if dns_sd_configs is configured in '-promscrape.config' file. See https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#dns_sd_config for details (default 30s)
-promscrape.dockerSDCheckInterval duration
Interval for checking for changes in docker. This works only if docker_sd_configs is configured in '-promscrape.config' file. See https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#docker_sd_config for details (default 30s)
-promscrape.dockerswarmSDCheckInterval duration
Interval for checking for changes in dockerswarm. This works only if dockerswarm_sd_configs is configured in '-promscrape.config' file. See https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#dockerswarm_sd_config for details (default 30s)
-promscrape.dropOriginalLabels
Whether to drop original labels for scrape targets at /targets and /api/v1/targets pages. This may be needed for reducing memory usage when original labels for big number of scrape targets occupy big amounts of memory. Note that this reduces debuggability for improper per-target relabeling configs
-promscrape.ec2SDCheckInterval duration
Interval for checking for changes in ec2. This works only if ec2_sd_configs is configured in '-promscrape.config' file. See https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#ec2_sd_config for details (default 1m0s)
-promscrape.eurekaSDCheckInterval duration
Interval for checking for changes in eureka. This works only if eureka_sd_configs is configured in '-promscrape.config' file. See https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#eureka_sd_config for details (default 30s)
-promscrape.fileSDCheckInterval duration
Interval for checking for changes in 'file_sd_config'. See https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#file_sd_config for details (default 5m0s)
-promscrape.gceSDCheckInterval duration
Interval for checking for changes in gce. This works only if gce_sd_configs is configured in '-promscrape.config' file. See https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#gce_sd_config for details (default 1m0s)
-promscrape.httpSDCheckInterval duration
Interval for checking for changes in http endpoint service discovery. This works only if http_sd_configs is configured in '-promscrape.config' file. See https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#http_sd_config for details (default 1m0s)
-promscrape.kubernetes.apiServerTimeout duration
How frequently to reload the full state from Kuberntes API server (default 30m0s)
-promscrape.kubernetesSDCheckInterval duration
Interval for checking for changes in Kubernetes API server. This works only if kubernetes_sd_configs is configured in '-promscrape.config' file. See https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#kubernetes_sd_config for details (default 30s)
-promscrape.maxDroppedTargets int
The maximum number of droppedTargets to show at /api/v1/targets page. Increase this value if your setup drops more scrape targets during relabeling and you need investigating labels for all the dropped targets. Note that the increased number of tracked dropped targets may result in increased memory usage (default 1000)
-promscrape.maxResponseHeadersSize size
The maximum size of http response headers from Prometheus scrape targets
Supports the following optional suffixes for size values: KB, MB, GB, KiB, MiB, GiB (default 4096)
-promscrape.maxScrapeSize size
The maximum size of scrape response in bytes to process from Prometheus targets. Bigger responses are rejected
Supports the following optional suffixes for size values: KB, MB, GB, KiB, MiB, GiB (default 16777216)
-promscrape.minResponseSizeForStreamParse size
The minimum target response size for automatic switching to stream parsing mode, which can reduce memory usage. See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html#stream-parsing-mode
Supports the following optional suffixes for size values: KB, MB, GB, KiB, MiB, GiB (default 1000000)
-promscrape.noStaleMarkers
Whether to disable sending Prometheus stale markers for metrics when scrape target disappears. This option may reduce memory usage if stale markers aren't needed for your setup. This option also disables populating the scrape_series_added metric. See https://prometheus.io/docs/concepts/jobs_instances/#automatically-generated-labels-and-time-series
-promscrape.openstackSDCheckInterval duration
Interval for checking for changes in openstack API server. This works only if openstack_sd_configs is configured in '-promscrape.config' file. See https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#openstack_sd_config for details (default 30s)
-promscrape.seriesLimitPerTarget int
Optional limit on the number of unique time series a single scrape target can expose. See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html#cardinality-limiter for more info
-promscrape.streamParse
Whether to enable stream parsing for metrics obtained from scrape targets. This may be useful for reducing memory usage when millions of metrics are exposed per each scrape target. It is posible to set 'stream_parse: true' individually per each 'scrape_config' section in '-promscrape.config' for fine grained control
-promscrape.suppressDuplicateScrapeTargetErrors
Whether to suppress 'duplicate scrape target' errors; see https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html#troubleshooting for details
-promscrape.suppressScrapeErrors
Whether to suppress scrape errors logging. The last error for each target is always available at '/targets' page even if scrape errors logging is suppressed
-relabelConfig string
Optional path to a file with relabeling rules, which are applied to all the ingested metrics. The path can point either to local file or to http url. See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#relabeling for details. The config is reloaded on SIGHUP signal
-relabelDebug
Whether to log metrics before and after relabeling with -relabelConfig. If the -relabelDebug is enabled, then the metrics aren't sent to storage. This is useful for debugging the relabeling configs
-retentionPeriod value
Data with timestamps outside the retentionPeriod is automatically deleted
The following optional suffixes are supported: h (hour), d (day), w (week), y (year). If suffix isn't set, then the duration is counted in months (default 1)
-search.cacheTimestampOffset duration
The maximum duration since the current time for response data, which is always queried from the original raw data, without using the response cache. Increase this value if you see gaps in responses due to time synchronization issues between VictoriaMetrics and data sources. See also -search.disableAutoCacheReset (default 5m0s)
-search.disableAutoCacheReset
Whether to disable automatic response cache reset if a sample with timestamp outside -search.cacheTimestampOffset is inserted into VictoriaMetrics
-search.disableCache
Whether to disable response caching. This may be useful during data backfilling
-search.graphiteMaxPointsPerSeries int
The maximum number of points per series Graphite render API can return (default 1000000)
-search.graphiteStorageStep duration
The interval between datapoints stored in the database. It is used at Graphite Render API handler for normalizing the interval between datapoints in case it isn't normalized. It can be overriden by sending 'storage_step' query arg to /render API or by sending the desired interval via 'Storage-Step' http header during querying /render API (default 10s)
-search.latencyOffset duration
The time when data points become visible in query results after the collection. Too small value can result in incomplete last points for query results (default 30s)
-search.logSlowQueryDuration duration
Log queries with execution time exceeding this value. Zero disables slow query logging (default 5s)
-search.maxConcurrentRequests int
The maximum number of concurrent search requests. It shouldn't be high, since a single request can saturate all the CPU cores. See also -search.maxQueueDuration (default 8)
-search.maxExportDuration duration
The maximum duration for /api/v1/export call (default 720h0m0s)
-search.maxLookback duration
Synonym to -search.lookback-delta from Prometheus. The value is dynamically detected from interval between time series datapoints if not set. It can be overridden on per-query basis via max_lookback arg. See also '-search.maxStalenessInterval' flag, which has the same meaining due to historical reasons
-search.maxPointsPerTimeseries int
The maximum points per a single timeseries returned from /api/v1/query_range. This option doesn't limit the number of scanned raw samples in the database. The main purpose of this option is to limit the number of per-series points returned to graphing UI such as Grafana. There is no sense in setting this limit to values bigger than the horizontal resolution of the graph (default 30000)
-search.maxQueryDuration duration
The maximum duration for query execution (default 30s)
-search.maxQueryLen size
The maximum search query length in bytes
Supports the following optional suffixes for size values: KB, MB, GB, KiB, MiB, GiB (default 16384)
-search.maxQueueDuration duration
The maximum time the request waits for execution when -search.maxConcurrentRequests limit is reached; see also -search.maxQueryDuration (default 10s)
-search.maxSamplesPerQuery int
The maximum number of raw samples a single query can process across all time series. This protects from heavy queries, which select unexpectedly high number of raw samples. See also -search.maxSamplesPerSeries (default 1000000000)
-search.maxSamplesPerSeries int
The maximum number of raw samples a single query can scan per each time series. This option allows limiting memory usage (default 30000000)
-search.maxStalenessInterval duration
The maximum interval for staleness calculations. By default it is automatically calculated from the median interval between samples. This flag could be useful for tuning Prometheus data model closer to Influx-style data model. See https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/querying/basics/#staleness for details. See also '-search.maxLookback' flag, which has the same meaning due to historical reasons
-search.maxStatusRequestDuration duration
The maximum duration for /api/v1/status/* requests (default 5m0s)
-search.maxStepForPointsAdjustment duration
The maximum step when /api/v1/query_range handler adjusts points with timestamps closer than -search.latencyOffset to the current time. The adjustment is needed because such points may contain incomplete data (default 1m0s)
-search.maxTagKeys int
The maximum number of tag keys returned from /api/v1/labels (default 100000)
-search.maxTagValueSuffixesPerSearch int
The maximum number of tag value suffixes returned from /metrics/find (default 100000)
-search.maxTagValues int
The maximum number of tag values returned from /api/v1/label//values (default 100000)
-search.maxUniqueTimeseries int
The maximum number of unique time series each search can scan. This option allows limiting memory usage (default 300000)
-search.minStalenessInterval duration
The minimum interval for staleness calculations. This flag could be useful for removing gaps on graphs generated from time series with irregular intervals between samples. See also '-search.maxStalenessInterval'
-search.noStaleMarkers
Set this flag to true if the database doesn't contain Prometheus stale markers, so there is no need in spending additional CPU time on its handling. Staleness markers may exist only in data obtained from Prometheus scrape targets
-search.queryStats.lastQueriesCount int
Query stats for /api/v1/status/top_queries is tracked on this number of last queries. Zero value disables query stats tracking (default 20000)
-search.queryStats.minQueryDuration duration
The minimum duration for queries to track in query stats at /api/v1/status/top_queries. Queries with lower duration are ignored in query stats (default 1ms)
-search.resetCacheAuthKey string
Optional authKey for resetting rollup cache via /internal/resetRollupResultCache call
-search.treatDotsAsIsInRegexps
Whether to treat dots as is in regexp label filters used in queries. For example, foo{bar=~"a.b.c"} will be automatically converted to foo{bar=~"a\\.b\\.c"}, i.e. all the dots in regexp filters will be automatically escaped in order to match only dot char instead of matching any char. Dots in ".+", ".*" and ".{n}" regexps aren't escaped. This option is DEPRECATED in favor of {__graphite__="a.*.c"} syntax for selecting metrics matching the given Graphite metrics filter
-selfScrapeInstance string
Value for 'instance' label, which is added to self-scraped metrics (default "self")
-selfScrapeInterval duration
Interval for self-scraping own metrics at /metrics page
-selfScrapeJob string
Value for 'job' label, which is added to self-scraped metrics (default "victoria-metrics")
-smallMergeConcurrency int
The maximum number of CPU cores to use for small merges. Default value is used if set to 0
-snapshotAuthKey string
authKey, which must be passed in query string to /snapshot* pages
-sortLabels
Whether to sort labels for incoming samples before writing them to storage. This may be needed for reducing memory usage at storage when the order of labels in incoming samples is random. For example, if m{k1="v1",k2="v2"} may be sent as m{k2="v2",k1="v1"}. Enabled sorting for labels can slow down ingestion performance a bit
-storage.maxDailySeries int
The maximum number of unique series can be added to the storage during the last 24 hours. Excess series are logged and dropped. This can be useful for limiting series churn rate. See also -storage.maxHourlySeries
-storage.maxHourlySeries int
The maximum number of unique series can be added to the storage during the last hour. Excess series are logged and dropped. This can be useful for limiting series cardinality. See also -storage.maxDailySeries
-storage.minFreeDiskSpaceBytes size
The minimum free disk space at -storageDataPath after which the storage stops accepting new data
Supports the following optional suffixes for size values: KB, MB, GB, KiB, MiB, GiB (default 10000000)
-storageDataPath string
Path to storage data (default "victoria-metrics-data")
-tls
Whether to enable TLS (aka HTTPS) for incoming requests. -tlsCertFile and -tlsKeyFile must be set if -tls is set
-tlsCertFile string
Path to file with TLS certificate. Used only if -tls is set. Prefer ECDSA certs instead of RSA certs as RSA certs are slower. The provided certificate file is automatically re-read every second, so it can be dynamically updated
-tlsKeyFile string
Path to file with TLS key. Used only if -tls is set. The provided key file is automatically re-read every second, so it can be dynamically updated
-version
Show VictoriaMetrics version
```
VictoriaMetrics is a fast, cost-effective and scalable monitoring solution and time series database.
VictoriaMetrics is available in [binary releases](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases),
[Docker images](https://hub.docker.com/r/victoriametrics/victoria-metrics/), [Snap packages](https://snapcraft.io/victoriametrics)
and [source code](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics). Just download VictoriaMetrics and follow [these instructions](#how-to-start-victoriametrics).
Then read [Prometheus setup](#prometheus-setup) and [Grafana setup](#grafana-setup) docs.
Cluster version of VictoriaMetrics is available [here](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html).
[Contact us](mailto:info@victoriametrics.com) if you need enterprise support for VictoriaMetrics. See [features available in enterprise package](https://victoriametrics.com/products/enterprise/). Enterprise binaries can be downloaded and evaluated for free from [the releases page](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases).
## Prominent features
VictoriaMetrics has the following prominent features:
* It can be used as long-term storage for Prometheus. See [these docs](#prometheus-setup) for details.
* It can be used as drop-in replacement for Prometheus in Grafana, because it supports [Prometheus querying API](#prometheus-querying-api-usage).
* It can be used as drop-in replacement for Graphite in Grafana, because it supports [Graphite API](#graphite-api-usage).
* It features easy setup and operation:
* VictoriaMetrics consists of a single [small executable](https://medium.com/@valyala/stripping-dependency-bloat-in-victoriametrics-docker-image-983fb5912b0d) without external dependencies.
* All the configuration is done via explicit command-line flags with reasonable defaults.
* All the data is stored in a single directory pointed by `-storageDataPath` command-line flag.
* Easy and fast backups from [instant snapshots](https://medium.com/@valyala/how-victoriametrics-makes-instant-snapshots-for-multi-terabyte-time-series-data-e1f3fb0e0282) to S3 or GCS can be done with [vmbackup](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmbackup.html) / [vmrestore](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmrestore.html) tools. See [this article](https://medium.com/@valyala/speeding-up-backups-for-big-time-series-databases-533c1a927883) for more details.
* It implements PromQL-based query language - [MetricsQL](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/MetricsQL.html), which provides improved functionality on top of PromQL.
* It provides global query view. Multiple Prometheus instances or any other data sources may ingest data into VictoriaMetrics. Later this data may be queried via a single query.
* It provides high performance and good vertical and horizontal scalability for both [data ingestion](https://medium.com/@valyala/high-cardinality-tsdb-benchmarks-victoriametrics-vs-timescaledb-vs-influxdb-13e6ee64dd6b) and [data querying](https://medium.com/@valyala/when-size-matters-benchmarking-victoriametrics-vs-timescale-and-influxdb-6035811952d4). It [outperforms InfluxDB and TimescaleDB by up to 20x](https://medium.com/@valyala/measuring-vertical-scalability-for-time-series-databases-in-google-cloud-92550d78d8ae).
* It [uses 10x less RAM than InfluxDB](https://medium.com/@valyala/insert-benchmarks-with-inch-influxdb-vs-victoriametrics-e31a41ae2893) and [up to 7x less RAM than Prometheus, Thanos or Cortex](https://valyala.medium.com/prometheus-vs-victoriametrics-benchmark-on-node-exporter-metrics-4ca29c75590f) when dealing with millions of unique time series (aka [high cardinality](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-high-cardinality)).
* It is optimized for time series with [high churn rate](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-high-churn-rate).
* It provides high data compression, so [up to 70x more data points](https://medium.com/@valyala/when-size-matters-benchmarking-victoriametrics-vs-timescale-and-influxdb-6035811952d4) may be crammed into limited storage comparing to TimescaleDB and [up to 7x less storage space is required compared to Prometheus, Thanos or Cortex](https://valyala.medium.com/prometheus-vs-victoriametrics-benchmark-on-node-exporter-metrics-4ca29c75590f).
* It is optimized for storage with high-latency IO and low IOPS (HDD and network storage in AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, etc). See [disk IO graphs from these benchmarks](https://medium.com/@valyala/high-cardinality-tsdb-benchmarks-victoriametrics-vs-timescaledb-vs-influxdb-13e6ee64dd6b).
* A single-node VictoriaMetrics may substitute moderately sized clusters built with competing solutions such as Thanos, M3DB, Cortex, InfluxDB or TimescaleDB. See [vertical scalability benchmarks](https://medium.com/@valyala/measuring-vertical-scalability-for-time-series-databases-in-google-cloud-92550d78d8ae), [comparing Thanos to VictoriaMetrics cluster](https://medium.com/@valyala/comparing-thanos-to-victoriametrics-cluster-b193bea1683) and [Remote Write Storage Wars](https://promcon.io/2019-munich/talks/remote-write-storage-wars/) talk from [PromCon 2019](https://promcon.io/2019-munich/talks/remote-write-storage-wars/).
* It protects the storage from data corruption on unclean shutdown (i.e. OOM, hardware reset or `kill -9`) thanks to [the storage architecture](https://medium.com/@valyala/how-victoriametrics-makes-instant-snapshots-for-multi-terabyte-time-series-data-e1f3fb0e0282).
* It supports metrics' scraping, ingestion and [backfilling](#backfilling) via the following protocols:
* [Metrics scraping from Prometheus exporters](#how-to-scrape-prometheus-exporters-such-as-node-exporter).
* [Prometheus remote write API](#prometheus-setup).
* [Prometheus exposition format](#how-to-import-data-in-prometheus-exposition-format).
* [InfluxDB line protocol](#how-to-send-data-from-influxdb-compatible-agents-such-as-telegraf) over HTTP, TCP and UDP.
* [Graphite plaintext protocol](#how-to-send-data-from-graphite-compatible-agents-such-as-statsd) with [tags](https://graphite.readthedocs.io/en/latest/tags.html#carbon).
* [OpenTSDB put message](#sending-data-via-telnet-put-protocol).
* [HTTP OpenTSDB /api/put requests](#sending-opentsdb-data-via-http-apiput-requests).
* [JSON line format](#how-to-import-data-in-json-line-format).
* [Arbitrary CSV data](#how-to-import-csv-data).
* [Native binary format](#how-to-import-data-in-native-format).
* It supports metrics' relabeling. See [these docs](#relabeling) for details.
* It can deal with [high cardinality issues](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-high-cardinality) and [high churn rate](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/FAQ.html#what-is-high-churn-rate) issues via [series limiter](#cardinality-limiter).
* It ideally works with big amounts of time series data from APM, Kubernetes, IoT sensors, connected cars, industrial telemetry, financial data and various [Enterprise workloads](https://victoriametrics.com/products/enterprise/).
* It has open source [cluster version](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/tree/cluster).
See also [various Articles about VictoriaMetrics](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Articles.html).
## Case studies and talks
Case studies:
* [AbiosGaming](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#abiosgaming)
* [adidas](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#adidas)
* [Adsterra](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#adsterra)
* [ARNES](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#arnes)
* [Brandwatch](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#brandwatch)
* [CERN](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#cern)
* [COLOPL](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#colopl)
* [Dreamteam](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#dreamteam)
* [Fly.io](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#flyio)
* [German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#german-research-center-for-artificial-intelligence)
* [Grammarly](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#grammarly)
* [Groove X](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#groove-x)
* [Idealo.de](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#idealode)
* [MHI Vestas Offshore Wind](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#mhi-vestas-offshore-wind)
* [Razorpay](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#razorpay)
* [Percona](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#percona)
* [Sensedia](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#sensedia)
* [Smarkets](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#smarkets)
* [Synthesio](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#synthesio)
* [Wedos.com](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#wedoscom)
* [Wix.com](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#wixcom)
* [Zerodha](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#zerodha)
* [zhihu](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CaseStudies.html#zhihu)
See also [articles and slides about VictoriaMetrics from our users](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Articles.html#third-party-articles-and-slides-about-victoriametrics)
## Operation
## How to start VictoriaMetrics
Just download [VictoriaMetrics executable](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases) or [Docker image](https://hub.docker.com/r/victoriametrics/victoria-metrics/) and start it with the desired command-line flags.
The following command-line flags are used the most:
* `-storageDataPath` - VictoriaMetrics stores all the data in this directory. Default path is `victoria-metrics-data` in the current working directory.
* `-retentionPeriod` - retention for stored data. Older data is automatically deleted. Default retention is 1 month. See [these docs](#retention) for more details.
Other flags have good enough default values, so set them only if you really need this. Pass `-help` to see [all the available flags with description and default values](#list-of-command-line-flags).
See how to [ingest data to VictoriaMetrics](#how-to-import-time-series-data), how to [query VictoriaMetrics via Grafana](#grafana-setup), how to [query VictoriaMetrics via Graphite API](#graphite-api-usage) and how to [handle alerts](#alerting).
VictoriaMetrics accepts [Prometheus querying API requests](#prometheus-querying-api-usage) on port `8428` by default.
It is recommended setting up [monitoring](#monitoring) for VictoriaMetrics.
### Environment variables
Each flag value can be set via environment variables according to these rules:
* The `-envflag.enable` flag must be set.
* Each `.` char in flag name must be substituted with `_` (for example `-insert.maxQueueDuration