Backfilling does not copy tags properly.

[sikadiamond]

Bug report

I wanted to use backfilling to extract a slice of info from one database into another.
The backfill method does not seem to copy all tags properly into the target.
I expanded the scope for full tables (instead of a time slice), and see the same issue.

System info: Linux 3.19.0-58-generic #64~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Fri Mar 18 19:05:43 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

InfluxDB info: InfluxDB shell version: 0.13.0

Steps to reproduce:

Original Database:

$ curl https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/noaa.water.database.0.9/NOAA_data.txt > NOAA_data.txt
$ influx -import -path=NOAA_data.txt -precision=s
2016/07/04 11:25:15 Processed 1 commands
2016/07/04 11:25:15 Processed 76290 inserts
2016/07/04 11:25:15 Failed 0 inserts
$ influx
Visit https://enterprise.influxdata.com to register for updates, InfluxDB server management, and monitoring.
Connected to http://localhost:8086 version 0.13.0
InfluxDB shell version: 0.13.0

> use NOAA_water_database
Using database NOAA_water_database
> show series
key
average_temperature,location=coyote_creek
average_temperature,location=santa_monica
h2o_feet,location=coyote_creek
h2o_feet,location=santa_monica
h2o_pH,location=coyote_creek
h2o_pH,location=santa_monica
h2o_quality,location=coyote_creek,randtag=1
h2o_quality,location=coyote_creek,randtag=2
h2o_quality,location=coyote_creek,randtag=3
h2o_quality,location=santa_monica,randtag=1
h2o_quality,location=santa_monica,randtag=2
h2o_quality,location=santa_monica,randtag=3
h2o_temperature,location=coyote_creek
h2o_temperature,location=santa_monica

Ok so far, start backfilling:

> create database test
> use test
Using database test
> select * INTO "test"."default"."h2o_quality" FROM "NOAA_water_database"."default"."h2o_quality"
name: result
time    written
0   17854

All done, show series from table on the original database:

> show series from h2o_quality
key
h2o_quality,location=coyote_creek,randtag=1
h2o_quality,location=coyote_creek,randtag=2
h2o_quality,location=coyote_creek,randtag=3
h2o_quality,location=santa_monica,randtag=1
h2o_quality,location=santa_monica,randtag=2
h2o_quality,location=santa_monica,randtag=3

Show series from table on the target database:

> show series from h2o_quality
key
h2o_quality

This does not look like a desired outcome.

[jsternberg]

You have to add GROUP BY * to your SELECT * INTO query so that it treats the tags as tags instead of as string values. From here.

Note: If you use SELECT * with INTO, the query converts tags in the current measurement to fields in the new measurement. This can cause InfluxDB to overwrite points that were previously differentiated by a tag value. Use GROUP BY <tag_key> to preserve tags as tags.

[jsternberg]

I'm going to close this for now as I think the question has been answered. If there is something wrong and I haven't resolved your issue appropriately, please respond with more information and I will reopen the issue.