Fluentd and Grafana Integration

Input and output integration overview

The Fluentd Input Plugin gathers metrics from Fluentd’s in_monitor plugin endpoint. It provides insights into various plugin metrics while allowing for custom configurations to reduce series cardinality.

This plugin enables Telegraf to stream metrics directly to Grafana dashboards in real-time, leveraging Grafana Live for instantaneous data visualization and operational insights.

Integration details

Fluentd

This plugin gathers metrics from the Fluentd plugin endpoint provided by the in_monitor plugin. It reads data from the /api/plugin.json resource and allows exclusion of specific plugins based on their type.

Grafana

Telegraf can be used to send real-time data to Grafana using the Websocket output plugin. Metrics collected by Telegraf are instantly pushed to Grafana dashboards, enabling real-time visualization and analysis. This plugin is ideal for use cases where low latency, live data visualization is essential, such as operational monitoring, real-time analytics, and immediate incident response scenarios. It supports authentication headers, customizable data serialization formats (like JSON), and secure communication via TLS, offering flexibility and ease of integration in dynamic, interactive dashboard environments.

Configuration

Fluentd

[[inputs.fluentd]]
  ## This plugin reads information exposed by fluentd (using /api/plugins.json endpoint).
  ##
  ## Endpoint:
  ## - only one URI is allowed
  ## - https is not supported
  endpoint = "http://localhost:24220/api/plugins.json"

  ## Define which plugins have to be excluded (based on "type" field - e.g. monitor_agent)
  exclude = [
    "monitor_agent",
    "dummy",
  ]

Grafana

[[outputs.websocket]]
  ## Grafana Live WebSocket endpoint
  url = "ws://localhost:3000/api/live/push/custom_id"

  ## Optional headers for authentication
  # [outputs.websocket.headers]
  #   Authorization = "Bearer YOUR_GRAFANA_API_TOKEN"

  ## Data format to send metrics
  data_format = "influx"

  ## Timeouts (make sure read_timeout is larger than server ping interval or set to zero).
  # connect_timeout = "30s"
  # write_timeout = "30s"
  # read_timeout = "30s"

  ## Optionally turn on using text data frames (binary by default).
  # use_text_frames = false

  ## TLS configuration
  # tls_ca = "/path/to/ca.pem"
  # tls_cert = "/path/to/cert.pem"
  # tls_key = "/path/to/key.pem"
  # insecure_skip_verify = false

Input and output integration examples

Fluentd

1. Basic Configuration: Set up the Fluentd Input Plugin to gather metrics from your Fluentd instance’s monitoring endpoint, ensuring you are able to track performance and usage statistics.
2. Excluding Plugins: Use the exclude option to ignore specific plugins’ metrics that are not necessary for your monitoring needs, streamlining data collection and focusing on what matters.
3. Custom Plugin ID: Implement the @id parameter in your Fluentd configuration to maintain a consistent plugin_id, which helps avoid issues with high series cardinality during frequent restarts.

Grafana

1. Real-Time Infrastructure Dashboards: Deploy Telegraf to stream server health metrics directly to Grafana dashboards, enabling IT teams to visualize infrastructure performance in real-time. This setup allows immediate detection and response to critical system events.

2. Interactive IoT Monitoring: Integrate IoT device metrics collected by Telegraf and push live data into Grafana, creating dynamic and interactive dashboards for monitoring smart city projects or manufacturing processes. This real-time visibility significantly enhances responsiveness and operational efficiency.

3. Instantaneous Application Performance Analysis: Stream application metrics in real-time from production environments into Grafana dashboards, enabling development teams to rapidly detect and diagnose performance bottlenecks or anomalies during deployments, minimizing downtime and improving reliability.

4. Live Event Analytics: Utilize Telegraf to capture and stream real-time audience or system metrics during major live events directly into Grafana dashboards. Event organizers can dynamically monitor and react to changing conditions or trends, significantly enhancing audience engagement and operational decision-making.

Feedback

Thank you for being part of our community! If you have any general feedback or found any bugs on these pages, we welcome and encourage your input. Please submit your feedback in the InfluxDB community Slack.