Project: VictoriaMetrics (Observability and Analysis / Observability)
File: vmctl.md

sort: 8 weight: 8 menu: docs: parent: 'victoriametrics' weight: 8 title: vmctl aliases: /vmctl.html VictoriaMetrics command-line tool (vmctl) provides the following list of actions: migrate data from to VictoriaMetrics using snapshot API migrate data from to VictoriaMetrics migrate data from to VictoriaMetrics migrate data from to VictoriaMetrics migrate data from to VictoriaMetrics migrate data from to VictoriaMetrics migrate data from migrate data between single or cluster version. migrate data by to VictoriaMetrics exported blocks from VictoriaMetrics single or cluster version. To see the full list of supported actions run the following command: ```sh $ ./vmctl --help NAME: vmctl - VictoriaMetrics command-line tool USAGE: vmctl [global options] command [command options] [arguments...] COMMANDS: opentsdb Migrate timeseries from OpenTSDB influx Migrate timeseries from InfluxDB prometheus Migrate timeseries from Prometheus vm-native Migrate time series between VictoriaMetrics installations via native binary format remote-read Migrate timeseries by Prometheus remote read protocol verify-block Verifies correctness of data blocks exported via VictoriaMetrics Native format. See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#how-to-export-data-in-native-format ``` Each command has its own unique set of flags specific (e.g. prefixed with `influx-` for ) to the data source and common list of flags for destination (prefixed with `vm-` for VictoriaMetrics): ```sh $ ./vmctl influx --help OPTIONS: --influx-addr value InfluxDB server addr (default: "http://localhost:8086") --influx-user value InfluxDB user [$INFLUX_USERNAME] ... --vm-addr vmctl VictoriaMetrics address to perform import requests. Should be the same as --httpListenAddr value for single-node version or vminsert component. When importing into the clustered version do not forget to set additionally --vm-account-id flag. Please note, that vmctl performs initial readiness check for the given address by checking `/health` endpoint. (default: "http://localhost:8428") --vm-user value VictoriaMetrics username for basic auth [$VM_USERNAME] --vm-password value VictoriaMetrics password for basic auth [$VM_PASSWORD] ``` When doing a migration user needs to specify flags for source (where and how to fetch data) and for destination (where to migrate data). Every command has additional details and nuances, please see them below in corresponding sections. For the destination flags see the full description by running the following command: ``` $ ./vmctl influx --help | grep vm- ``` Some flags like or has additional sections with description below. Details about tweaking and adjusting settings are explained in section. Please note, that if you're going to import data into VictoriaMetrics cluster do not forget to specify the `--vm-account-id` flag. See more details for cluster version . `vmctl` supports the `opentsdb` mode to migrate data from OpenTSDB to VictoriaMetrics time-series database. See `./vmctl opentsdb --help` for details and full list of flags. Important: OpenTSDB migration is not possible without a functioning table to search for metrics/series. Check in OpenTSDB config that appropriate options are and HBase meta tables are present. W/o them migration won't work. OpenTSDB migration works like so: Find metrics based on selected filters (or the default filter set `['a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j','k','l','m','n','o','p','q','r','s','t','u','v','w','x','y','z']`): `curl -Ss "http://opentsdb:4242/api/suggest?type=metrics&q=sys"` Find series associated with each returned metric: `curl -Ss "http://opentsdb:4242/api/search/lookup?m=system.load5&limit=1000000"` Here `results` return field should not be empty. Otherwise, it means that meta tables are absent and needs to be turned on previously. Download data for each series in chunks defined in the CLI switches: `-retention=sum-1m-avg:1h:90d` means: `curl -Ss "http://opentsdb:4242/api/query?start=1h-ago&end=now&m=sum:1m-avg-none:system.load5\{host=host1\}"` `curl -Ss "http://opentsdb:4242/api/query?start=2h-ago&end=1h-ago&m=sum:1m-avg-none:system.load5\{host=host1\}"` `curl -Ss "http://opentsdb:4242/api/query?start=3h-ago&end=2h-ago&m=sum:1m-avg-none:system.load5\{host=host1\}"` ... `curl -Ss "http://opentsdb:4242/api/query?start=2160h-ago&end=2159h-ago&m=sum:1m-avg-none:system.load5\{host=host1\}"` This means that we must stream data from OpenTSDB to VictoriaMetrics in chunks. This is where concurrency for OpenTSDB comes

We can query multiple chunks at once, but we shouldn't perform too many chunks at a time to avoid overloading the OpenTSDB cluster. ```sh $ ./vmctl opentsdb --otsdb-addr http://opentsdb:4242/ --otsdb-retentions sum-1m-avg:1h:1d --otsdb-filters system --otsdb-normalize --vm-addr http://victoria:8428/ OpenTSDB import mode 2021/04/09 11:52:50 Will collect data starting at TS 1617990770 2021/04/09 11:52:50 Loading all metrics from OpenTSDB for filters: [system] Found 9 metrics to import. Continue? [Y/n] 2021/04/09 11:52:51 Starting work on system.load1 23 / 402200 [>] 0.01% 2 p/s ``` Where `:8428` is Prometheus port of VictoriaMetrics. For clustered VictoriaMetrics setup `--vm-account-id` flag needs to be added, for example: ``` $ ./vmctl opentsdb --otsdb-addr http://opentsdb:4242/ --otsdb-retentions sum-1m-avg:1h:1d --otsdb-filters system --otsdb-normalize --vm-addr http://victoria:8480/ --vm-account-id 0 ``` This time `:8480` port is vminsert/Prometheus input port. Starting with a relatively simple retention string (`sum-1m-avg:1h:30d`), let's describe how this is converted into actual queries. There are two essential parts of a retention string: Retention strings essentially define the two levels of aggregation for our collected series. `sum-1m-avg` would become: First order: `sum` Second order: `1m-avg-none` First-order aggregation addresses how to aggregate any un-mentioned tags. This is, conceptually, directly opposite to how PromQL deals with tags. In OpenTSDB, if a tag isn't explicitly mentioned, all values associated with that tag will be aggregated. It is recommended to use `sum` for the first aggregation because it is relatively quick and should not cause any changes to the incoming data (because we collect each individual series). Second-order aggregation (`1m-avg` in our example) defines any windowing that should occur before returning the data It is recommended to match the stat collection interval, so we again avoid transforming incoming data. We do not allow for defining the "null value" portion of the rollup window (e.g. in the aggregation, `1m-avg-none`, the user cannot change `none`), as the goal of this tool is to avoid modifying incoming data. There are two important windows we define in a retention string: the "chunk" range of each query The time range we will be querying on with that "chunk" From our example, our windows are `1h:30d`. The window `1h` means that each individual query to OpenTSDB should only span 1 hour of time (e.g. `start=2h-ago&end=1h-ago`). It is important to ensure this window somewhat matches the row size in HBase to help improve query times. For example, if the query is hitting a rollup table with a 4-hour row size, we should set a chunk size of a multiple of 4 hours (e.g. `4h`, `8h`, etc.) to avoid requesting data across row boundaries. Landing on row boundaries allows for more consistent request times to HBase. The default table created in HBase for OpenTSDB has a 1-hour row size, so if you aren't sure on a correct row size to use, `1h` is a reasonable choice. The time range `30d` simply means we are asking for the last 30 days of data. This time range can be written using `h`, `d`, `w`, or `y`. (We can't use `m` for month because it already means `minute` in time parsing). The resultant queries that will be created, based on our example retention string of `sum-1m-avg:1h:30d` look like this: ```sh http://opentsdb:4242/api/query?start=1h-ago&end=now&m=sum:1m-avg-none:<series> http://opentsdb:4242/api/query?start=2h-ago&end=1h-ago&m=sum:1m-avg-none:<series> http://opentsdb:4242/api/query?start=3h-ago&end=2h-ago&m=sum:1m-avg-none:<series> ... http://opentsdb:4242/api/query?start=721h-ago&end=720h-ago&m=sum:1m-avg-none:<series> ``` Chunking the data like this means each individual query returns faster, so we can start populating data into VictoriaMetrics quicker. Run the following command to get all configuration options: ```sh ./vmctl opentsdb --help ``` One important note for OpenTSDB migration: Queries/HBase scans can "get stuck" within OpenTSDB

This can cause instability and performance issues within an OpenTSDB cluster, so stopping the migrator to deal with it may be necessary. Because of this, we provide the timestamp we started collecting data from at the beginning of the run. You can stop and restart the importer using this "hard timestamp" to ensure you collect data from the same time range over multiple runs. `vmctl` supports the `influx` mode for time-series database. See `./vmctl influx --help` for details and full list of flags. To use migration tool please specify the InfluxDB address `--influx-addr`, the database `--influx-database` and VictoriaMetrics address `--vm-addr`. Flag `--vm-addr` for single-node VM is usually equal to `--httpListenAddr`, and for cluster version is equal to `--httpListenAddr` flag of vminsert component. Please note, that vmctl performs initial readiness check for the given address by checking `/health` endpoint. For cluster version it is additionally required to specify the `--vm-account-id` flag. See more details for cluster version . As soon as required flags are provided and all endpoints are accessible, `vmctl` will start the InfluxDB scheme exploration. Basically, it just fetches all fields and timeseries from the provided database and builds up registry of all available timeseries. Then `vmctl` sends fetch requests for each timeseries to InfluxDB one by one and pass results to VM importer. VM importer then accumulates received samples in batches and sends import requests to VM. The importing process example for local installation of InfluxDB(`http://localhost:8086`) and single-node VictoriaMetrics(`http://localhost:8428`): ```sh ./vmctl influx --influx-database benchmark InfluxDB import mode 2020/01/18 20:47:11 Exploring scheme for database "benchmark" 2020/01/18 20:47:11 fetching fields: command: "show field keys"; database: "benchmark"; retention: "autogen" 2020/01/18 20:47:11 found 10 fields 2020/01/18 20:47:11 fetching series: command: "show series "; database: "benchmark"; retention: "autogen" Found 40000 timeseries to import. Continue? [Y/n] y 40000 / 40000 [-] 100.00% 21 p/s 2020/01/18 21:19:00 Import finished! 2020/01/18 21:19:00 VictoriaMetrics importer stats: idle duration: 13m51.461434876s; time spent while importing: 17m56.923899847s; total samples: 345600000; samples/s: 320914.04; total bytes: 5.9 GB; bytes/s: 5.4 MB; import requests: 40001; 2020/01/18 21:19:00 Total time: 31m48.467044016s ``` Vmctl maps InfluxDB data the same way as VictoriaMetrics does by using the following rules: `influx-database` arg is mapped into `db` label value unless `db` tag exists in the InfluxDB line. If you want to skip this mapping just enable flag `influx-skip-database-label`. Field names are mapped to time series names prefixed with {measurement}{separator} value, where {separator} equals to _ by default. It can be changed with `--influx-measurement-field-separator` command-line flag. Field values are mapped to time series values. Tags are mapped to Prometheus labels format as-is. For example, the following InfluxDB line: ``` foo,tag1=value1,tag2=value2 field1=12,field2=40 ``` is converted into the following Prometheus format data points: ``` foo_field1{tag1="value1", tag2="value2"} 12 foo_field2{tag1="value1", tag2="value2"} 40 ``` Run the following command to get all configuration options: ```sh ./vmctl influx --help ``` The filtering consists of two parts: timeseries and time. The first step of application is to select all available timeseries for given database and retention. User may specify additional filtering condition via `--influx-filter-series` flag. For example: ```sh ./vmctl influx --influx-database benchmark \ --influx-filter-series "on benchmark from cpu where hostname='host_1703'" InfluxDB import mode 2020/01/26 14:23:29 Exploring scheme for database "benchmark" 2020/01/26 14:23:29 fetching fields: command: "show field keys"; database: "benchmark"; retention: "autogen" 2020/01/26 14:23:29 found 12 fields 2020/01/26 14:23:29 fetching series: command: "show series on benchmark from cpu where hostname='host_1703'"; database: "benchmark"; retention: "autogen" Found 10 timeseries to

Continue? [Y/n] ``` The timeseries select query would be following: `fetching series: command: "show series on benchmark from cpu where hostname='host_1703'"; database: "benchmark"; retention: "autogen"` The second step of filtering is a time filter and it applies when fetching the datapoints from Influx. Time filtering may be configured with two flags: --influx-filter-time-start --influx-filter-time-end Here's an example of importing timeseries for one day only: `./vmctl influx --influx-database benchmark --influx-filter-series "where hostname='host_1703'" --influx-filter-time-start "2020-01-01T10:07:00Z" --influx-filter-time-end "2020-01-01T15:07:00Z"` Please see more about time filtering . Migrating data from InfluxDB v2.x is not supported yet (). You may find useful a 3rd party solution for this - <https://github.com/jonppe/influxtovictoriametrics>. supports . To migrate historical data from Promscale to VictoriaMetrics we recommend using `vmctl` in mode. See the example of migration command below: ```sh ./vmctl remote-read --remote-read-src-addr=http://<promscale>:9201/read \ --remote-read-step-interval=day \ --remote-read-use-stream=false \ # promscale doesn't support streaming --vm-addr=http://<victoriametrics>:8428 \ --remote-read-filter-time-start=2023-08-21T00:00:00Z \ --remote-read-disable-path-append=true # promscale has custom remote read API HTTP path Selected time range "2023-08-21 00:00:00 +0000 UTC" - "2023-08-21 14:11:41.561979 +0000 UTC" will be split into 1 ranges according to "day" step. Continue? [Y/n] y VM worker 0: 82831 samples/s VM worker 1: 54378 samples/s VM worker 2: 121616 samples/s VM worker 3: 59164 samples/s VM worker 4: 59220 samples/s VM worker 5: 102072 samples/s Processing ranges: 1 / 1 [] 100.00% 2023/08/21 16:11:55 Import finished! 2023/08/21 16:11:55 VictoriaMetrics importer stats: idle duration: 0s; time spent while importing: 14.047045459s; total samples: 262111; samples/s: 18659.51; total bytes: 5.3 MB; bytes/s: 376.4 kB; import requests: 6; import requests retries: 0; 2023/08/21 16:11:55 Total time: 14.063458792s ``` Here we specify the full path to Promscale's Remote Read API via `--remote-read-src-addr`, and disable auto-path appending via `--remote-read-disable-path-append` cmd-line flags. This is necessary, as Promscale has a different to Prometheus API path. Promscale doesn't support stream mode for Remote Read API, so we disable it via `--remote-read-use-stream=false`. `vmctl` supports the `prometheus` mode for migrating data from Prometheus to VictoriaMetrics time-series database. Migration is based on reading Prometheus snapshot, which is basically a hard-link to Prometheus data files. See `./vmctl prometheus --help` for details and full list of flags. Also see Prometheus related articles . To use migration tool please specify the file path to Prometheus snapshot `--prom-snapshot` (see how to make a snapshot ) and VictoriaMetrics address `--vm-addr`. Please note, that `vmctl` do not make a snapshot from Prometheus, it uses an already prepared snapshot. More about Prometheus snapshots may be found and . Flag `--vm-addr` for single-node VM is usually equal to `--httpListenAddr`, and for cluster version is equal to `--httpListenAddr` flag of vminsert component. Please note, that vmctl performs initial readiness check for the given address by checking `/health` endpoint. For cluster version it is additionally required to specify the `--vm-account-id` flag. See more details for cluster version . As soon as required flags are provided and all endpoints are accessible, `vmctl` will start the Prometheus snapshot exploration. Basically, it just fetches all available blocks in provided snapshot and read the metadata. It also does initial filtering by time if flags `--prom-filter-time-start` or `--prom-filter-time-end` were set. The exploration procedure prints some stats from read blocks. Please note that stats are not taking into account timeseries or samples filtering. This will be done during importing process. The importing process takes the snapshot blocks revealed from Explore procedure and processes them one by one accumulating timeseries and

Please note, that `vmctl` relies on responses from InfluxDB on this stage, so ensure that Explore queries are executed without errors or limits. Please see this for details. The data processed in chunks and then sent to VM. The importing process example for local installation of Prometheus and single-node VictoriaMetrics(`http://localhost:8428`): ```sh ./vmctl prometheus --prom-snapshot=/path/to/snapshot \ --vm-concurrency=1 \ --vm-batch-size=200000 \ --prom-concurrency=3 Prometheus import mode Prometheus snapshot stats: blocks found: 14; blocks skipped: 0; min time: 1581288163058 (2020-02-09T22:42:43Z); max time: 1582409128139 (2020-02-22T22:05:28Z); samples: 32549106; series: 27289. Found 14 blocks to import. Continue? [Y/n] y 14 / 14 [-] 100.00% 0 p/s 2020/02/23 15:50:03 Import finished! 2020/02/23 15:50:03 VictoriaMetrics importer stats: idle duration: 6.152953029s; time spent while importing: 44.908522491s; total samples: 32549106; samples/s: 724786.84; total bytes: 669.1 MB; bytes/s: 14.9 MB; import requests: 323; import requests retries: 0; 2020/02/23 15:50:03 Total time: 51.077451066s ``` VictoriaMetrics has very similar data model to Prometheus and supports . So no data changes will be applied. Run the following command to get all configuration options: ```sh ./vmctl prometheus --help ``` The filtering consists of three parts: by timeseries and time. Filtering by time may be configured via flags `--prom-filter-time-start` and `--prom-filter-time-end` in RFC3339 format. This filter applied twice: to drop blocks out of range and to filter timeseries in blocks with overlapping time range. Example of applying time filter: ```sh ./vmctl prometheus --prom-snapshot=/path/to/snapshot \ --prom-filter-time-start=2020-02-07T00:07:01Z \ --prom-filter-time-end=2020-02-11T00:07:01Z Prometheus import mode Prometheus snapshot stats: blocks found: 2; blocks skipped: 12; min time: 1581288163058 (2020-02-09T22:42:43Z); max time: 1581328800000 (2020-02-10T10:00:00Z); samples: 1657698; series: 3930. Found 2 blocks to import. Continue? [Y/n] y ``` Please notice, that total amount of blocks in provided snapshot is 14, but only 2 of them were in provided time range. So other 12 blocks were marked as `skipped`. The amount of samples and series is not taken into account, since this is heavy operation and will be done during import process. Filtering by timeseries is configured with following flags: `--prom-filter-label` - the label name, e.g. `name` or `instance`; `--prom-filter-label-value` - the regular expression to filter the label value. By default, matches all `.*` For example: ```sh ./vmctl prometheus --prom-snapshot=/path/to/snapshot \ --prom-filter-label="name" \ --prom-filter-label-value="promhttp.*" \ --prom-filter-time-start=2020-02-07T00:07:01Z \ --prom-filter-time-end=2020-02-11T00:07:01Z Prometheus import mode Prometheus snapshot stats: blocks found: 2; blocks skipped: 12; min time: 1581288163058 (2020-02-09T22:42:43Z); max time: 1581328800000 (2020-02-10T10:00:00Z); samples: 1657698; series: 3930. Found 2 blocks to import. Continue? [Y/n] y 14 / 14 [--] 100.00% ? p/s 2020/02/23 15:51:07 Import finished! 2020/02/23 15:51:07 VictoriaMetrics importer stats: idle duration: 0s; time spent while importing: 37.415461ms; total samples: 10128; samples/s: 270690.24; total bytes: 195.2 kB; bytes/s: 5.2 MB; import requests: 2; import requests retries: 0; 2020/02/23 15:51:07 Total time: 7.153158218s ``` `vmctl` provides the `remote-read` mode for migrating data from remote databases supporting . Remote read API has two implementations of remote read API: default (`SAMPLES`) and (`STREAMEDXORCHUNKS`). Streamed version is more efficient but has lower adoption (e.g. doesn't support it). See `./vmctl remote-read --help` for details and the full list of flags. To start the migration process configure the following flags: `--remote-read-src-addr` - data source address to read from; `--vm-addr` - VictoriaMetrics address to write to. For single-node VM is usually equal to `--httpListenAddr`, and for cluster version is equal to `--httpListenAddr` flag of vminsert component (for example `http://<vminsert>:8480/insert/<accountID>/prometheus`); `--remote-read-filter-time-start` - the time filter in RFC3339 format to select time series with timestamp equal or higher than provided value.

'2020-01-01T20:07:00Z'; `--remote-read-filter-time-end` - the time filter in RFC3339 format to select time series with timestamp equal or smaller than provided value. E.g. '2020-01-01T20:07:00Z'. Current time is used when omitted.; `--remote-read-step-interval` - split export data into chunks. Valid values are `month, day, hour, minute`; `--remote-read-use-stream` - defines whether to use `SAMPLES` or `STREAMEDXORCHUNKS` mode. By default, is uses `SAMPLES` mode. The importing process example for local installation of Prometheus and single-node VictoriaMetrics(`http://localhost:8428`): ```sh ./vmctl remote-read \ --remote-read-src-addr=http://<prometheus>:9091 \ --remote-read-filter-time-start=2021-10-18T00:00:00Z \ --remote-read-step-interval=hour \ --vm-addr=http://<victoria-metrics>:8428 \ --vm-concurrency=6 Split defined times into 8798 ranges to import. Continue? [Y/n] VM worker 0: 127177 samples/s VM worker 1: 140137 samples/s VM worker 2: 151606 samples/s VM worker 3: 130765 samples/s VM worker 4: 131904 samples/s VM worker 5: 132693 samples/s Processing ranges: 8798 / 8798 [] 100.00% 2022/10/19 16:45:37 Import finished! 2022/10/19 16:45:37 VictoriaMetrics importer stats: idle duration: 6m57.793987511s; time spent while importing: 1m18.463744801s; total samples: 25348208; samples/s: 323056.31; total bytes: 669.7 MB; bytes/s: 8.5 MB; import requests: 127; import requests retries: 0; 2022/10/19 16:45:37 Total time: 1m19.406283424s ``` Migrating big volumes of data may result in remote read client reaching the timeout. Consider increasing the value of `--remote-read-http-timeout` (default `5m`) command-line flag when seeing timeouts or `context canceled` errors. The filtering consists of two parts: by labels and time. Filtering by time can be configured via flags `--remote-read-filter-time-start` and `--remote-read-filter-time-end` in RFC3339 format. Filtering by labels can be configured via flags `--remote-read-filter-label` and `--remote-read-filter-label-value`. For example, `--remote-read-filter-label=tenant` and `--remote-read-filter-label-value="team-eu"` will select only series with `tenant="team-eu"` label-value pair. Thanos uses the same storage engine as Prometheus and the data layout on-disk should be the same. That means `vmctl` in mode `prometheus` may be used for Thanos historical data migration as well. These instructions may vary based on the details of your Thanos configuration. Please read carefully and verify as you go. We assume you're using Thanos Sidecar on your Prometheus pods, and that you have a separate Thanos Store installation. For now, keep your Thanos Sidecar and Thanos-related Prometheus configuration, but add this to also stream metrics to VictoriaMetrics: ```yaml remote_write: url: http://victoria-metrics:8428/api/v1/write ``` Make sure VM is running, of course. Now check the logs to make sure that Prometheus is sending and VM is receiving. In Prometheus, make sure there are no errors. On the VM side, you should see messages like this: ```sh 2020-04-27T18:38:46.474Z info VictoriaMetrics/lib/storage/partition.go:207 creating a partition "202004" with smallPartsPath="/victoria-metrics-data/data/small/202004", bigPartsPath="/victoria-metrics-data/data/big/2020_04" 2020-04-27T18:38:46.506Z info VictoriaMetrics/lib/storage/partition.go:222 partition "2020_04" has been created ``` Now just wait. Within two hours, Prometheus should finish its current data file and hand it off to Thanos Store for long term storage. Let's assume your data is stored on S3 served by minio. You first need to copy that out to a local filesystem, then import it into VM using `vmctl` in `prometheus` mode. Copy data from minio. Run the `minio/mc` Docker container. `mc config host add minio http://minio:9000 accessKey secretKey`, substituting appropriate values for the last 3 items. `mc cp -r minio/prometheus thanos-data` Import using `vmctl`. Follow the to compile `vmctl` on your machine. Use mode to import data: ``` vmctl prometheus --prom-snapshot thanos-data --vm-addr http://victoria-metrics:8428 ``` Currently, Thanos doesn't support streaming remote read protocol. It is to use a proxy, that allows exposing any Thanos service (or anything that exposes gRPC StoreAPI e.g. Querier) via Prometheus remote read protocol. If you want to migrate data, you should run proxy and define the Thanos store address `./thanos-remote-read -store

It is important to know that `store` flag is Thanos Store API gRPC endpoint. Also, it is important to know that thanos-remote-read proxy doesn't support stream mode. When you run thanos-remote-read proxy, it exposes port to serve HTTP on `10080 by default`. The importing process example for local installation of Thanos and single-node VictoriaMetrics(`http://localhost:8428`): ```sh ./vmctl remote-read \ --remote-read-src-addr=http://127.0.0.1:10080 \ --remote-read-filter-time-start=2021-10-18T00:00:00Z \ --remote-read-step-interval=hour \ --vm-addr=http://127.0.0.1:8428 \ --vm-concurrency=6 ``` On the proxy side you will see logs like: ```sh ts=2022-10-19T15:05:04.193916Z caller=main.go:278 level=info traceID=00000000000000000000000000000000 msg="thanos request" request="mintime:1666180800000 maxtime:1666184399999 matchers:<type:RE value:\".*\" > aggregates:RAW " ts=2022-10-19T15:05:04.468852Z caller=main.go:278 level=info traceID=00000000000000000000000000000000 msg="thanos request" request="mintime:1666184400000 maxtime:1666187999999 matchers:<type:RE value:\".*\" > aggregates:RAW " ts=2022-10-19T15:05:04.553914Z caller=main.go:278 level=info traceID=00000000000000000000000000000000 msg="thanos request" request="mintime:1666188000000 maxtime:1666191364863 matchers:<type:RE value:\".*\" > aggregates:RAW " ``` And when process will finish you will see: ```sh Split defined times into 8799 ranges to import. Continue? [Y/n] VM worker 0: 98183 samples/s VM worker 1: 114640 samples/s VM worker 2: 131710 samples/s VM worker 3: 114256 samples/s VM worker 4: 105671 samples/s VM worker 5: 124000 samples/s Processing ranges: 8799 / 8799 [] 100.00% 2022/10/19 18:05:07 Import finished! 2022/10/19 18:05:07 VictoriaMetrics importer stats: idle duration: 52m13.987637229s; time spent while importing: 9m1.728983776s; total samples: 70836111; samples/s: 130759.32; total bytes: 2.2 GB; bytes/s: 4.0 MB; import requests: 356; import requests retries: 0; 2022/10/19 18:05:07 Total time: 9m2.607521618s ``` Cortex has an implementation of the Prometheus remote read protocol. That means `vmctl` in mode `remote-read` may also be used for Cortex historical data migration. These instructions may vary based on the details of your Cortex configuration. Please read carefully and verify as you go. If you want to migrate data, you should check your cortex configuration in the section ```yaml api: prometheushttpprefix: ``` If you defined some prometheus prefix, you should use it when you define flag `--remote-read-src-addr=http://127.0.0.1:9009/{prometheushttpprefix}`. By default, Cortex uses the `prometheus` path prefix, so you should define the flag `--remote-read-src-addr=http://127.0.0.1:9009/prometheus`. It is important to know that Cortex doesn't support the stream mode. When you run Cortex, it exposes a port to serve HTTP on `9009 by default`. The importing process example for the local installation of Cortex and single-node VictoriaMetrics(`http://localhost:8428`): ```sh ./vmctl remote-read \ --remote-read-src-addr=http://127.0.0.1:9009/prometheus \ --remote-read-filter-time-start=2021-10-18T00:00:00Z \ --remote-read-step-interval=hour \ --vm-addr=http://127.0.0.1:8428 \ --vm-concurrency=6 ``` And when the process finishes, you will see the following: ```sh Split defined times into 8842 ranges to import. Continue? [Y/n] VM worker 0: 3863 samples/s VM worker 1: 2686 samples/s VM worker 2: 2620 samples/s VM worker 3: 2705 samples/s VM worker 4: 2643 samples/s VM worker 5: 2593 samples/s Processing ranges: 8842 / 8842 [] 100.00% 2022/10/21 12:09:49 Import finished! 2022/10/21 12:09:49 VictoriaMetrics importer stats: idle duration: 0s; time spent while importing: 3.82640757s; total samples: 160232; samples/s: 41875.31; total bytes: 11.3 MB; bytes/s: 3.0 MB; import requests: 6; import requests retries: 0; 2022/10/21 12:09:49 Total time: 4.71824253s ``` It is important to know that if you run your Cortex installation in multi-tenant mode, remote read protocol requires an Authentication header like `X-Scope-OrgID`. You can define it via the flag `--remote-read-headers=X-Scope-OrgID:demo` Mimir has similar implementation as Cortex and supports Prometheus remote read API. That means historical data from Mimir can be migrated via `vmctl` in mode `remote-read` mode. The instructions for data migration via vmctl vary based on the details of your Mimir configuration. Please read carefully and verify as you

By default, Mimir uses the `prometheus` path prefix so specifying the source should be as simple as `--remote-read-src-addr=http://<mimir>:9009/prometheus`. But if prefix was overriden via `prometheushttpprefix`, then source address should be updated to `--remote-read-src-addr=http://<mimir>:9009/{prometheushttpprefix}`. Mimir supports , so it is recommended setting `--remote-read-use-stream=true` flag for better performance and resource usage. When you run Mimir, it exposes a port to serve HTTP on `8080 by default`. Next example of the local installation was in multi-tenant mode (3 instances of Mimir) with nginx as load balancer. Load balancer expose single port `:9090`. As you can see in the example we call `:9009` instead of `:8080` because of proxy. The importing process example for the local installation of Mimir and single-node VictoriaMetrics(`http://localhost:8428`): ``` ./vmctl remote-read --remote-read-src-addr=http://<mimir>:9009/prometheus \ --remote-read-filter-time-start=2021-10-18T00:00:00Z \ --remote-read-step-interval=hour \ --remote-read-headers=X-Scope-OrgID:demo \ --remote-read-use-stream=true \ --vm-addr=http://<victoria-metrics>:8428 \ ``` And when the process finishes, you will see the following: ```sh Split defined times into 8847 ranges to import. Continue? [Y/n] VM worker 0: 12176 samples/s VM worker 1: 11918 samples/s VM worker 2: 11261 samples/s VM worker 3: 12861 samples/s VM worker 4: 11096 samples/s VM worker 5: 11575 samples/s Processing ranges: 8847 / 8847 [] 100.00% 2022/10/21 17:22:23 Import finished! 2022/10/21 17:22:23 VictoriaMetrics importer stats: idle duration: 0s; time spent while importing: 15.379614356s; total samples: 81243; samples/s: 5282.51; total bytes: 6.1 MB; bytes/s: 397.8 kB; import requests: 6; import requests retries: 0; 2022/10/21 17:22:23 Total time: 16.287405248s ``` It is important to know that if you run your Mimir installation in multi-tenant mode, remote read protocol requires an Authentication header like `X-Scope-OrgID`. You can define it via the flag `--remote-read-headers=X-Scope-OrgID:demo` The simplest way to migrate data between VM instances is . vmctl uses (available since ) to migrate data between VM instances: single to single, cluster to cluster, single to cluster and vice versa. See `./vmctl vm-native --help` for details and full list of flags. Migration in `vm-native` mode takes two steps: Explore the list of the metrics to migrate via `api/v1/label/name/values` API; Migrate explored metrics one-by-one with specified `--vm-concurrency`. ```sh ./vmctl vm-native \ --vm-native-src-addr=http://127.0.0.1:8481/select/0/prometheus \ # migrate from --vm-native-dst-addr=http://localhost:8428 \ # migrate to --vm-native-filter-time-start='2022-11-20T00:00:00Z' \ # starting from --vm-native-filter-match='{name!~"vm_.*"}' # filter out metrics matching the selector VictoriaMetrics Native import mode 2023/03/02 09:22:02 Initing import process from "http://127.0.0.1:8481/select/0/prometheus/api/v1/export/native" to "http://localhost:8428/api/v1/import/native" with filter filter: match[]={name!~"vm_.*"} start: 2022-11-20T00:00:00Z 2023/03/02 09:22:02 Exploring metrics... Found 9 metrics to import. Continue? [Y/n] 2023/03/02 09:22:04 Requests to make: 9 Requests to make: 9 / 9 [] 100.00% 2023/03/02 09:22:06 Import finished! 2023/03/02 09:22:06 VictoriaMetrics importer stats: time spent while importing: 3.632638875s; total bytes: 7.8 MB; bytes/s: 2.1 MB; requests: 9; requests retries: 0; 2023/03/02 09:22:06 Total time: 3.633127625s ``` _To disable explore phase and switch to the old way of data migration via single connection use `--vm-native-disable-per-metric-migration` cmd-line flag. Please note, in this mode vmctl won't be able to retry failed requests._ Importing tips: vmctl acts as a proxy between `src` and `dst`. It doesn't use much of CPU or RAM, but network connection between `src`=>vmctl=>`dst` should be as fast as possible for improving the migration speed. Migrating big volumes of data may result in reaching the safety limits on `src` side. Please verify that `-search.maxExportDuration` and `-search.maxExportSeries` were set with proper values for `src`. If hitting the limits, follow the recommendations . If hitting `the number of matching timeseries exceeds...` error, adjust filters to match less time series or update

command-line flag on vmselect/vmsingle; Using smaller intervals via `--vm-native-step-interval` cmd-line flag can reduce the number of matched series per-request for sources with . See more about . Migrating all the metrics from one VM to another may collide with existing application metrics (prefixed with `vm_`) at destination and lead to confusion when using . To avoid such situation try to filter out VM process metrics via `--vm-native-filter-match='{name!~"vm_.*"}'` flag. Migrating data with overlapping time range or via unstable network can produce duplicates series at destination. To avoid duplicates set `-dedup.minScrapeInterval=1ms` for `vmselect`/`vmstorage` at the destination. This will instruct `vmselect`/`vmstorage` to ignore duplicates with identical timestamps. Ignore this recommendation if you already have `-dedup.minScrapeInterval` set to 1ms or higher values at destination. When migrating data from one VM cluster to another, consider using . Or manually specify addresses according to : ```sh --vm-native-src-addr=http://<src-vmselect>:8481/select/0/prometheus --vm-native-dst-addr=http://<dst-vmsingle>:8428 --vm-native-src-addr=http://<src-vmsingle>:8428 --vm-native-dst-addr=http://<dst-vminsert>:8480/insert/0/prometheus --vm-native-src-addr=http://<src-vmsingle>:8428 --vm-native-dst-addr=http://<dst-vmsingle>:8428 --vm-native-src-addr=http://<src-vmselect>:8481/select/0/prometheus --vm-native-dst-addr=http://<dst-vminsert>:8480/insert/0/prometheus ``` Migrating data from VM cluster which had replication (`-replicationFactor` > 1) enabled won't produce the same amount of data copies for the destination database, and will result only in creating duplicates. To remove duplicates, destination database need to be configured with `-dedup.minScrapeInterval=1ms`. To restore the replication factor the destination `vminsert` component need to be configured with the according `-replicationFactor` value. See more about replication . Migration speed can be adjusted via `--vm-concurrency` cmd-line flag, which controls the number of concurrent workers busy with processing. Please note, that each worker can load up to a single vCPU core on VictoriaMetrics. So try to set it according to allocated CPU resources of your VictoriaMetrics destination installation. Migration is a backfilling process, so it is recommended to read section. `vmctl` doesn't provide relabeling or other types of labels management. Instead, use . `vmctl` supports `--vm-native-src-headers` and `--vm-native-dst-headers` to define headers sent with each request to the corresponding source address. `vmctl` supports `--vm-native-disable-http-keep-alive` to allow `vmctl` to use non-persistent HTTP connections to avoid error `use of closed network connection` when running a heavy export requests. It is possible to split the migration process into steps based on time via `--vm-native-step-interval` cmd-line flag. Supported values are: `month`, `week`, `day`, `hour`, `minute`. For example, when migrating 1 year of data with `--vm-native-step-interval=month` vmctl will execute it in 12 separate requests from the beginning of the interval to its end. To reverse the order set `--vm-native-filter-time-reverse` and migration will start from the newest to the oldest data. `--vm-native-filter-time-start` is required to be set when using `--vm-native-step-interval`. It is recommended using default `month` step when migrating the data over the long time intervals. If you hit complexity limits on `--vm-native-src-addr` and can't or don't want to change them, try lowering the step interval to `week`, `day` or `hour`. Usage example: ```sh ./vmctl vm-native \ --vm-native-src-addr=http://127.0.0.1:8481/select/0/prometheus \ --vm-native-dst-addr=http://localhost:8428 \ --vm-native-filter-time-start='2022-11-20T00:00:00Z' \ --vm-native-step-interval=month \ --vm-native-filter-match='{name!~"vm_.*"}' VictoriaMetrics Native import mode 2023/03/02 09:18:05 Initing import process from "http://127.0.0.1:8481/select/0/prometheus/api/v1/export/native" to "http://localhost:8428/api/v1/import/native" with filter filter: match[]={name!~"vm_.*"} start: 2022-11-20T00:00:00Z 2023/03/02 09:18:05 Exploring metrics... Found 9 metrics to import. Continue? [Y/n] 2023/03/02 09:18:07 Selected time range will be split into 5 ranges according to "month" step. Requests to make: 45. Requests to make: 45 / 45 [] 100.00% 2023/03/02 09:18:12 Import finished! 2023/03/02 09:18:12 VictoriaMetrics importer stats: time spent while importing: 7.111870667s; total bytes: 7.7 MB; bytes/s: 1.1 MB; requests: 45; requests retries: 0; 2023/03/02 09:18:12 Total time: 7.112405875s ``` Using cluster-to-cluster migration mode helps to migrate all tenants data in a single `vmctl`

Cluster-to-cluster uses `/admin/tenants` endpoint (available starting from ) to discover list of tenants from source cluster. To use this mode you need to set `--vm-intercluster` flag to `true`, `--vm-native-src-addr` flag to 'http://vmselect:8481/' and `--vm-native-dst-addr` value to http://vminsert:8480/: ```sh ./vmctl vm-native --vm-native-src-addr=http://127.0.0.1:8481/ \ --vm-native-dst-addr=http://127.0.0.1:8480/ \ --vm-native-filter-match='{name="vmappuptime_seconds"}' \ --vm-native-filter-time-start='2023-02-01T00:00:00Z' \ --vm-native-step-interval=day \ --vm-intercluster VictoriaMetrics Native import mode 2023/02/28 10:41:42 Discovering tenants... 2023/02/28 10:41:42 The following tenants were discovered: [0:0 1:0 2:0 3:0 4:0] 2023/02/28 10:41:42 Initing import process from "http://127.0.0.1:8481/select/0:0/prometheus/api/v1/export/native" to "http://127.0.0.1:8480/insert/0:0/prometheus/api/v1/import/native" with filter filter: match[]={name="vmappuptime_seconds"} start: 2023-02-01T00:00:00Z for tenant 0:0 2023/02/28 10:41:42 Exploring metrics... 2023/02/28 10:41:42 Found 1 metrics to import 2023/02/28 10:41:42 Selected time range will be split into 28 ranges according to "day" step. Requests to make for tenant 0:0: 28 / 28 [] 100.00% 2023/02/28 10:41:45 Initing import process from "http://127.0.0.1:8481/select/1:0/prometheus/api/v1/export/native" to "http://127.0.0.1:8480/insert/1:0/prometheus/api/v1/import/native" with filter filter: match[]={name="vmappuptime_seconds"} start: 2023-02-01T00:00:00Z for tenant 1:0 2023/02/28 10:41:45 Exploring metrics... 2023/02/28 10:41:45 Found 1 metrics to import 2023/02/28 10:41:45 Selected time range will be split into 28 ranges according to "day" step. Requests to make: 28 Requests to make for tenant 1:0: 28 / 28 [] 100.00% ... 2023/02/28 10:42:49 Import finished! 2023/02/28 10:42:49 VictoriaMetrics importer stats: time spent while importing: 1m6.714210417s; total bytes: 39.7 MB; bytes/s: 594.4 kB; requests: 140; requests retries: 0; 2023/02/28 10:42:49 Total time: 1m7.147971417s ``` Run the following command to get all configuration options: ```sh ./vmctl vm-native --help ``` In this mode, `vmctl` allows verifying correctness and integrity of data exported via from VictoriaMetrics. You can verify exported data at disk before uploading it by `vmctl verify-block` command: ```sh curl localhost:8428/api/v1/export/native -g -d 'match[]={name!=""}' -o exporteddatablock ./vmctl verify-block exporteddatablock 2022/03/30 18:04:50 verifying block at path="exporteddatablock" 2022/03/30 18:04:50 successfully verified block at path="exporteddatablock", blockCount=123786 2022/03/30 18:04:50 Total time: 100.108ms ``` The flag `--influx-concurrency` controls how many concurrent requests may be sent to InfluxDB while fetching timeseries. Please set it wisely to avoid InfluxDB overwhelming. The flag `--influx-chunk-size` controls the max amount of datapoints to return in single chunk from fetch requests. Please see more details . The chunk size is used to control InfluxDB memory usage, so it won't OOM on processing large timeseries with billions of datapoints. The flag `--prom-concurrency` controls how many concurrent readers will be reading the blocks in snapshot. Since snapshots are just files on disk it would be hard to overwhelm the system. Please go with value equal to number of free CPU cores. The flag `--vm-concurrency` controls the number of concurrent workers that process the import requests to destination. Please note that each import request can load up to a single vCPU core on VictoriaMetrics. So try to set it according to allocated CPU resources of your VictoriaMetrics installation. After successful import `vmctl` prints some statistics for details. The important numbers to watch are following: `idle duration` - shows time that importer spent while waiting for data from InfluxDB/Prometheus to fill up `--vm-batch-size` batch size. Value shows total duration across all workers configured via `--vm-concurrency`. High value may be a sign of too slow InfluxDB/Prometheus fetches or too high `--vm-concurrency` value. Try to improve it by increasing `--<mode>-concurrency` value or decreasing `--vm-concurrency` value. `import requests` - shows how many import requests were issued to VM server. The import request is issued once the batch size(`--vm-batch-size`) is full and ready to be sent. Please prefer big batch sizes (50k-500k) to improve performance. `import requests retries` - shows number of unsuccessful import

Non-zero value may be a sign of network issues or VM being overloaded. See the logs during import for error messages. By default `vmctl` waits confirmation from user before starting the import. If this is unwanted behavior and no user interaction required - pass `-s` flag to enable "silence" mode: See below the example of `vm-native` migration process: ``` -s Whether to run in silent mode. If set to true no confirmation prompts will appear. (default: false) ``` `vmctl` allows to limit the number of before importing. For example, the average value for response size is `102.342305` bytes and it has 9 significant figures. If you ask a human to pronounce this value then with high probability value will be rounded to first 4 or 5 figures because the rest aren't really that important to mention. In most cases, such a high precision is too much. Moreover, such values may be just a result of , create a and result into bad compression ratio according to . `vmctl` provides the following flags for improving data compression: `--vm-round-digits` flag for rounding processed values to the given number of decimal digits after the point. For example, `--vm-round-digits=2` would round `1.2345` to `1.23`. By default, the rounding is disabled. `--vm-significant-figures` flag for limiting the number of significant figures in processed values. It takes no effect if set to 0 (by default), but set `--vm-significant-figures=5` and `102.342305` will be rounded to `102.34`. The most common case for using these flags is to improve data compression for time series storing aggregation results such as `average`, `rate`, etc. `vmctl` allows to add extra labels to all imported series. It can be achieved with flag `--vm-extra-label label=value`. If multiple labels needs to be added, set flag for each label, for example, `--vm-extra-label label1=value1 --vm-extra-label label2=value2`. If timeseries already have label, that must be added with `--vm-extra-label` flag, flag has priority and will override label value from timeseries. Limiting the rate of data transfer could help to reduce pressure on disk or on destination database. The rate limit may be set in bytes-per-second via `--vm-rate-limit` flag. Please note, you can also use as a proxy between `vmctl` and destination with `-remoteWrite.rateLimit` flag enabled. It is recommended using - `vmctl` is located in `vmutils-*` archives there. . The minimum supported version is Go 1.22. Run `make vmctl` from the root folder of . It builds `vmctl` binary and puts it into the `bin` folder. . Run `make vmctl-prod` from the root folder of . It builds `vmctl-prod` binary and puts it into the `bin` folder. Run `make package-vmctl`. It builds `victoriametrics/vmctl:<PKG_TAG>` docker image locally. `<PKG_TAG>` is auto-generated image tag, which depends on source code in the repository. The `<PKGTAG>` may be manually set via `PKGTAG=foobar make package-vmctl`. The base docker image is but it is possible to use any other base image by setting it via `<ROOT_IMAGE>` environment variable. For example, the following command builds the image on top of image: ```sh ROOT_IMAGE=scratch make package-vmctl ``` ARM build may run on Raspberry Pi or on . . The minimum supported version is Go 1.22. Run `make vmctl-linux-arm` or `make vmctl-linux-arm64` from the root folder of . It builds `vmctl-linux-arm` or `vmctl-linux-arm64` binary respectively and puts it into the `bin` folder. . Run `make vmctl-linux-arm-prod` or `make vmctl-linux-arm64-prod` from the root folder of . It builds `vmctl-linux-arm-prod` or `vmctl-linux-arm64-prod` binary respectively and puts it into the `bin` folder.