InfluxDB

Time series DB (TSDB)

A Time Series Database (TSDB) is specialized for handling time series data, which are data points indexed in time order. This type of database is optimized for measuring change over time, tracking trends, and managing time-stamped data, often at a high volume and velocity.

Why not RDBMS

• Transaction Logs & ACID properties.

• Predefined Schema

• Time-based queries

• Vertical Scaling

• Storage & Retention

1. Efficiency in Time-based Queries:

   • TSDBs are explicitly built to handle queries that retrieve and aggregate data over time, making these operations much faster and more efficient than in RDBMSs.

2. Data Retention Policies:

   • TSDBs often include built-in mechanisms to handle data retention, enabling automatic downsampling or deleting old data to manage storage efficiently.

3. High Write Throughput:

   • They are optimized for high throughput and low-latency writes, which are essential for real-time data collection scenarios like monitoring and IoT.

4. Scalability:

   • TSDBs are typically designed to scale horizontally, which is crucial for handling large volumes of time-stamped data.

5. Built-in Time Series Functions:

   • Functions for typical time series operations like rolling averages, exponential smoothing, and time windows are often built directly into the database.

Changes to data are Inserts, not Updates.