While learning how to setup and run InfluxDB 2 in a docker container, I learned some administrative tasks require dropping to the command line. I had to do this by launching bash in a running instance via docker exec -it influxdb /bin/bash. I looked this up because creating less-privileged user accounts for non-administrative access had to be done in the command line, but it turns out InfluxDB manages access levels using authorization tokens and not user accounts. Creating a key with restricted permissions can be done within the UI and does not need the command line.

I wanted restricted access permissions for two main scenarios. The first ability is to add data to a specific table (sorry... um... measurement in InfluxDB terms) but unable to do other things like delete data. This is for my data sources, as I don't want bugs in my data sources to corrupt or delete the database. The second ability is read-only access for analysis and displaying results. Again, I didn't want a bug in a data dashboard to damage data.

Once I learned how to create these authorization keys scoped correctly to the minimum access necessary to fulfill a role, the next step is to use them. Looking over InfluxDB's list of client libraries, I was fascinated to see Arduino listed among the expected list of programming languages. How does an ATMega328 talk to an InfluxDB instance? This got me really curious and clicked that link to a GitHub repository.

On the README.md I got my answer: this library is not for all Arduino boards, just the ESP8266 and ESP32 WiFi-enabled microcontrollers running their respective Arduino cores. Other Arduino platforms like Teensy or the original ATMega328 are excluded. I've played with the ESP32 for a bit and never had a real reason to look into its ESP8266 predecessor. This project will be the motivation to play with an ESP8266.