Telegraf is a metric collection agent that collects data from systems and services for monitoring.

What is Telegraf?

Telegraf is a metric collection agent that collects data from systems, services and applications for monitoring and analysis.

Features

Collection

  • Multiple sources: Collects from multiple sources
  • Plugins: Plugins for different systems
  • Real-time: Real-time collection
  • Efficient: Efficient collection

Processing

  • Filtering: Data filtering
  • Aggregation: Data aggregation
  • Transformation: Data transformation
  • Enrichment: Data enrichment

Output

  • Multiple destinations: Multiple output destinations
  • Formats: Different output formats
  • Buffering: Data buffering
  • Retry: Automatic retries

Configuration

Basic

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# telegraf.conf
[agent]
  interval = "10s"
  round_interval = true
  metric_batch_size = 1000
  metric_buffer_limit = 10000
  collection_jitter = "0s"
  flush_interval = "10s"
  flush_jitter = "0s"
  precision = ""
  debug = false
  quiet = false
  logtarget = "file"
  logfile = ""
  logfile_rotation_interval = "0d"
  logfile_rotation_max_size = "0MB"
  logfile_rotation_max_archives = 5
  hostname = ""
  omit_hostname = false

Plugins

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# CPU plugin
[[inputs.cpu]]
  percpu = true
  totalcpu = true
  collect_cpu_time = false
  report_active = false

# Memory plugin
[[inputs.mem]]

# Disk plugin
[[inputs.disk]]
  ignore_fs = ["tmpfs", "devtmpfs", "devfs", "iso9660", "overlay", "aufs", "squashfs"]

# Network plugin
[[inputs.net]]

Output

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# Output to InfluxDB
[[outputs.influxdb]]
  urls = ["http://localhost:8086"]
  database = "telegraf"
  retention_policy = ""
  write_consistency = "any"
  timeout = "5s"
  username = "telegraf"
  password = "password"

# Output to Prometheus
[[outputs.prometheus_client]]
  listen = ":9273"
  metric_version = 2

Plugins

System

  • CPU: CPU metrics
  • Memory: Memory metrics
  • Disk: Disk metrics
  • Network: Network metrics

Applications

  • MySQL: MySQL metrics
  • PostgreSQL: PostgreSQL metrics
  • Redis: Redis metrics
  • MongoDB: MongoDB metrics

Services

  • Apache: Apache metrics
  • Nginx: Nginx metrics
  • Docker: Docker metrics
  • Kubernetes: Kubernetes metrics

Use Cases

System Monitoring

  • Servers: Server monitoring
  • Applications: Application monitoring
  • Services: Service monitoring
  • Infrastructure: Infrastructure monitoring

Analysis

  • Performance: Performance analysis
  • Capacity: Capacity analysis
  • Trends: Trend analysis
  • Alerting: Metric-based alerts

Integration

  • InfluxDB: Integration with InfluxDB
  • Prometheus: Integration with Prometheus
  • Grafana: Integration with Grafana
  • Elasticsearch: Integration with Elasticsearch

Best Practices

Configuration

  • Intervals: Configure appropriate intervals
  • Filters: Use filters to reduce data
  • Buffering: Configure appropriate buffering
  • Retry: Configure retries

Monitoring

  • Performance: Monitor performance
  • Errors: Monitor errors
  • Logs: Monitor logs
  • Alerts: Configure alerts

Maintenance

  • Updates: Keep updated
  • Configuration: Review configuration
  • Logs: Review logs
  • Documentation: Maintain documentation
  • InfluxDB - Database that Telegraf feeds
  • Dashboards - Telegraf data visualization
  • Metrics - Measurement that Telegraf collects
  • Logs - Logs that Telegraf collects
  • NPM - Network monitoring that Telegraf performs
  • Traffic Captures - Data that Telegraf collects
  • SIEM - System that can integrate Telegraf
  • SOAR - Automation that can use Telegraf
  • Firewall - Device that Telegraf monitors
  • VPN - Connection that Telegraf monitors
  • VLAN - Segment that Telegraf monitors
  • Routers - Devices that Telegraf monitors
  • Switches - Devices that Telegraf monitors
  • CISO - Role that oversees Telegraf

References