Hello! I’m new here.
I’m interested in trying out the TimescaleDB application, but I’m not sure what would be best for data analysis and tracking dynamics. I also need the ability to visualize data. All the data is currently in an Excel document. Would Timescale Cloud be suitable for these purposes?
I would really appreciate your help!
Hello Martine! and welcome to the Timescale forum!
I’m glad to hear you’re interested in trying out TimescaleDB for your data analysis and tracking needs. Timescale Cloud would be a great choice, as it provides a managed, hosted version of TimescaleDB, which allows you to focus on your data and analysis rather than managing the underlying infrastructure.
For tracking dynamics, you might find TimescaleDB’s continuous aggregates feature extremely helpful. Continuous aggregates allow you to automatically compute time-weighted averages, cumulative sums, and other common time-series aggregates at predefined time intervals. This can significantly speed up your queries and help you better understand the dynamics of your data.
Regarding visualization, I highly recommend using Grafana, a popular open-source dashboard and visualization platform that can be easily integrated with TimescaleDB. Grafana offers a wide range of visualization options and supports multiple data sources, making it an excellent choice for users with a visual background like yourself.
To get started with Timescale Cloud, you can follow the steps outlined in the Timescale Cloud documentation: Timescale Cloud Getting Started
For more information on continuous aggregates, you can refer to the TimescaleDB documentation here: Using Continuous Aggregates
And to set up Grafana with TimescaleDB, check out this guide: Visualizing Data with Grafana
I hope you find this information helpful and that you enjoy exploring the capabilities of TimescaleDB, continuous aggregates, and Grafana for your data analysis and visualization needs. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to ask. We’re always here to help!
Thank you very much for your help!
Hi, thank you again for your reply!
And I have one more question. How long does Timescale store data and for what period? And can these settings be changed?
It will retain the data forever unless you set a retention policy. By default there’s no retention policy to automatically delete any data.
You can configure using add_retention_policy.
Thank you for your help!