---
title: Home Assistant -> InfluxDB -> Grafana setup and debugging notes
created_date: 2026-03-17
updated_date: 2026-03-17
aliases:
tags:
---
# Home Assistant -> InfluxDB -> Grafana setup and debugging notes
## Architecture

This setup has **three layers**:

1. **Home Assistant** generates state changes and sensor values.
2. **InfluxDB 3 Core** stores that time-series data.
3. **Grafana** reads from InfluxDB and visualizes it.

### Network layout

- **Home Assistant** runs outside the Docker Compose network.
- **InfluxDB** and **Grafana** run together in the same Docker Compose stack.
- Therefore:
  - **Home Assistant -> InfluxDB** must use the **Proxmox container IP** and exposed port.
  - **Grafana -> InfluxDB** should use the **Docker service name**.

## Actual endpoints

### Home Assistant -> InfluxDB
Home Assistant should connect to InfluxDB using:

- Protocol: `http`
- Host / URL: `192.168.194.120`
- Port: `8181`
- SSL verification: off

Reason: Home Assistant is outside the Docker network, so it cannot resolve `influxdb3`.

### Grafana -> InfluxDB
Grafana should connect to InfluxDB using:

- URL: `http://influxdb3:8181`

Reason: Grafana and InfluxDB are on the same Docker Compose network, so Docker DNS resolves `influxdb3`.

## Docker Compose setup

The relevant Compose structure is:

```yaml
services:
  influxdb3:
    image: influxdb:3-core
    ports:
      - "8181:8181"

  grafana:
    image: grafana/grafana:latest
    depends_on:
      - influxdb3
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
```

This means:

- InfluxDB is reachable from outside Docker at `http://<proxmox-container-ip>:8181`
- InfluxDB is reachable from Grafana internally at `http://influxdb3:8181`

## Home Assistant InfluxDB configuration

### Important migration detail

Home Assistant is removing YAML-based InfluxDB **connection settings**.

So these connection keys should **not** stay in YAML:

- `api_version`
- `host`
- `port`
- `ssl`
- `verify_ssl`
- `ssl_ca_cert`
- `username`
- `password`
- `database`
- `token`
- `organization`
- `bucket`
- `path`

Those should be configured through **Devices & Services** in the Home Assistant UI.

### What can still stay in YAML

Behavior/settings like these can still stay in YAML:

- `measurement_attr`
- `default_measurement`
- `override_measurement`
- `include`
- `exclude`
- `tags`
- `tags_attributes`

## Final Home Assistant behavior setting

To get **one table per entity/sensor**, the key YAML setting is:

```yaml
influxdb:
  measurement_attr: entity_id
```

Reason:

- Default behavior grouped data into tables like `W`, `Wh`, `V`, `%`
- That made many sensors appear "missing", because they were grouped by unit
- `measurement_attr: entity_id` changes that back to one measurement/table per entity, which is easier to use in Grafana

## InfluxDB concepts in this setup

### Databases
We used databases such as:

- `home`
- `homeassistant`
- `ha_fresh`

These are databases, not tables.

### Tables / measurements
Inside a database, tables are created automatically when data is written.

Examples after using `measurement_attr: entity_id`:

- `sensor.solarnet_power_photovoltaics`
- `sensor.solarnet_power_grid_export`
- `sensor.solarnet_power_load_consumed`

Examples from the old grouped schema:

- `W`
- `Wh`
- `V`
- `A`

## Tokens and authentication

### What is used where

- **Home Assistant** uses an InfluxDB token to write data
- **Grafana** uses an InfluxDB token to query data
- **Admin token** is used for CLI/database management

### Important note
Tokens and secrets that were exposed should be rotated.

## How we debugged the setup

## 1. Verified InfluxDB is running

We checked Docker:

```bash
docker ps
docker logs --since 0.5m influxdb3
```

This confirmed:
- Grafana container is running
- InfluxDB container is running
- InfluxDB is actively flushing writes

## 2. Verified databases exist

```bash
docker exec -it influxdb3 influxdb3 show databases --token "$INFLUX_ADMIN_TOKEN"
```

This showed databases like:

- `_internal`
- `home`
- `homeassistant`
- later `ha_fresh`

## 3. Verified Home Assistant can reach InfluxDB over the network

From Home Assistant shell:

```bash
curl http://192.168.194.120:8181/health
```

Response:

```text
{"error": "the request was not authenticated"}
```

This was **good** because it proved:
- DNS/IP was correct
- network path worked
- InfluxDB was reachable
- only authentication remained

## 4. Reconfigured Home Assistant in the UI

Home Assistant InfluxDB integration was configured in **Devices & Services** using:

- HTTP
- host/IP of Proxmox container
- port `8181`
- no SSL verification
- organization `dummy`
- bucket/database `ha_fresh` or similar
- token

## 5. Enabled debug logs in Home Assistant

We confirmed HA was writing by seeing log lines like:

```text
Wrote 8 events.
Wrote 10 events.
```

That proved:

- Home Assistant -> InfluxDB write path works

## 6. Verified writes actually landed in InfluxDB

We queried InfluxDB directly:

```bash
docker exec -it influxdb3 influxdb3 query   --database ha_fresh   --token "$INFLUX_ADMIN_TOKEN"   'SELECT * FROM "W" ORDER BY time DESC LIMIT 20'
```

This showed fresh rows from Home Assistant sensors, including:

- `pv_power`
- `solarnet_power_photovoltaics`
- `solarnet_power_load_consumed`
- `solarnet_power_grid_export`

That proved:

- Home Assistant -> InfluxDB works fully
- the issue was not ingestion
- the issue was schema / Grafana config

## 7. Verified Grafana container can reach InfluxDB

From inside the Grafana container, we tested:

```bash
curl -i http://influxdb3:8181/api/v3/query_sql   -H "Authorization: Token YOUR_GRAFANA_TOKEN"   -H "Content-Type: application/json"   --data '{"db":"home","q":"SHOW TABLES"}'
```

This working proved:

- Docker networking is fine
- `influxdb3` resolves correctly
- Grafana-side token auth works
- the remaining problem was purely Grafana datasource configuration

## 8. Fixed Grafana datasource setup

### Correct Grafana datasource basics

- Query language: **SQL** or the desired mode
- URL: `http://influxdb3:8181`
- Database: the actual InfluxDB database in use
- Token: Grafana token

### Important TLS issue

Grafana originally failed with an error like:

```text
tls: first record does not look like a TLS handshake
```

That happened because Grafana tried TLS/FlightSQL behavior against a plain HTTP endpoint.

Fix:
- use the correct datasource mode
- use the right endpoint
- keep the connection consistent with the actual InfluxDB setup

## 9. Realized the schema had changed

Old schema assumption:
- one table per sensor

New schema that appeared initially:
- one table per **unit**, like `W`, `Wh`, `V`

That is why old queries stopped working.

Example old query:

```sql
SELECT mean("value")
FROM "sensor.solarnet_power_photovoltaics"
WHERE $timeFilter
GROUP BY time(5m) fill(none)
```

Equivalent query in the grouped-by-unit schema:

```sql
SELECT mean("value")
FROM "W"
WHERE
  "entity_id" = 'solarnet_power_photovoltaics'
  AND $timeFilter
GROUP BY time(5m) fill(none)
```

Then we changed HA back to per-entity measurements using:

```yaml
influxdb:
  measurement_attr: entity_id
```

## 10. Reset the fresh database to keep it clean

After confirming the new schema worked, the goal was to keep only actually-used tables in the fresh DB.

General approach:
- delete or recreate `ha_fresh`
- reconnect HA to it
- let HA repopulate it with only actively written entities

That leaves a clean database without old junk.

## Final recommended setup

## Home Assistant
- Configure InfluxDB connection in the UI
- Keep only behavior options in YAML
- Use:

```yaml
influxdb:
  measurement_attr: entity_id
```

if per-entity tables are desired

## InfluxDB
- Keep one clean database for HA data
- Use separate tokens for:
  - admin
  - Home Assistant
  - Grafana

## Grafana
- Use datasource URL:

```text
http://influxdb3:8181
```

- Point it to the correct InfluxDB database
- Use the Grafana token
- Rebuild old queries if schema changed

## Quick troubleshooting checklist for the future

### If HA is not writing
1. Check HA logs for InfluxDB errors
2. Test connectivity from HA:
   ```bash
   curl http://<influx-ip>:8181/health
   ```
3. Verify token / database / organization / bucket in HA UI
4. Query InfluxDB directly to see whether data is arriving

### If Grafana shows nothing
1. Verify datasource URL is `http://influxdb3:8181`
2. Test token from inside Grafana container
3. Confirm the right database is selected
4. Check whether schema is per-entity or grouped-by-unit
5. Rewrite queries accordingly

### If sensors seem missing
1. Check `SHOW TABLES`
2. Query likely shared tables like `W`, `Wh`, `V`
3. Check whether HA is grouping by unit instead of entity
4. Set:

```yaml
influxdb:
  measurement_attr: entity_id
```

if one table per sensor is preferred