gNMI and Grafana Integration

Powerful performance with an easy integration, powered by Telegraf, the open source data connector built by InfluxData.

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This is not the recommended configuration for real-time query at scale. For query and compression optimization, high-speed ingest, and high availability, you may want to consider gNMI and InfluxDB.

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Powerful Performance, Limitless Scale

Collect, organize, and act on massive volumes of high-velocity data. Any data is more valuable when you think of it as time series data. with InfluxDB, the #1 time series platform built to scale with Telegraf.

See Ways to Get Started

Input and output integration overview

The gNMI (gRPC Network Management Interface) Input Plugin collects telemetry data from network devices using the gNMI Subscribe method. It supports TLS for secure authentication and data transmission.

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

gNMI

This input plugin is vendor-agnostic and can be used with any platform that supports the gNMI specification. It consumes telemetry data based on the gNMI Subscribe method, allowing for real-time monitoring of network devices.

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

gNMI


[[inputs.gnmi]]
  ## Address and port of the gNMI GRPC server
  addresses = ["10.49.234.114:57777"]

  ## define credentials
  username = "cisco"
  password = "cisco"

  ## gNMI encoding requested (one of: "proto", "json", "json_ietf", "bytes")
  # encoding = "proto"

  ## redial in case of failures after
  # redial = "10s"

  ## gRPC Keepalive settings
  ## See https://pkg.go.dev/google.golang.org/grpc/keepalive
  ## The client will ping the server to see if the transport is still alive if it has
  ## not see any activity for the given time.
  ## If not set, none of the keep-alive setting (including those below) will be applied.
  ## If set and set below 10 seconds, the gRPC library will apply a minimum value of 10s will be used instead.
  # keepalive_time = ""

  ## Timeout for seeing any activity after the keep-alive probe was
  ## sent. If no activity is seen the connection is closed.
  # keepalive_timeout = ""

  ## gRPC Maximum Message Size
  # max_msg_size = "4MB"

  ## Enable to get the canonical path as field-name
  # canonical_field_names = false

  ## Remove leading slashes and dots in field-name
  # trim_field_names = false

  ## Guess the path-tag if an update does not contain a prefix-path
  ## Supported values are
  ##   none         -- do not add a 'path' tag
  ##   common path  -- use the common path elements of all fields in an update
  ##   subscription -- use the subscription path
  # path_guessing_strategy = "none"

  ## Prefix tags from path keys with the path element
  # prefix_tag_key_with_path = false

  ## Optional client-side TLS to authenticate the device
  ## Set to true/false to enforce TLS being enabled/disabled. If not set,
  ## enable TLS only if any of the other options are specified.
  # tls_enable =
  ## Trusted root certificates for server
  # tls_ca = "/path/to/cafile"
  ## Used for TLS client certificate authentication
  # tls_cert = "/path/to/certfile"
  ## Used for TLS client certificate authentication
  # tls_key = "/path/to/keyfile"
  ## Password for the key file if it is encrypted
  # tls_key_pwd = ""
  ## Send the specified TLS server name via SNI
  # tls_server_name = "kubernetes.example.com"
  ## Minimal TLS version to accept by the client
  # tls_min_version = "TLS12"
  ## List of ciphers to accept, by default all secure ciphers will be accepted
  ## See https://pkg.go.dev/crypto/tls#pkg-constants for supported values.
  ## Use "all", "secure" and "insecure" to add all support ciphers, secure
  ## suites or insecure suites respectively.
  # tls_cipher_suites = ["secure"]
  ## Renegotiation method, "never", "once" or "freely"
  # tls_renegotiation_method = "never"
  ## Use TLS but skip chain & host verification
  # insecure_skip_verify = false

  ## gNMI subscription prefix (optional, can usually be left empty)
  ## See: https://github.com/openconfig/reference/blob/master/rpc/gnmi/gnmi-specification.md#222-paths
  # origin = ""
  # prefix = ""
  # target = ""

  ## Vendor specific options
  ## This defines what vendor specific options to load.
  ## * Juniper Header Extension (juniper_header): some sensors are directly managed by
  ##   Linecard, which adds the Juniper GNMI Header Extension. Enabling this
  ##   allows the decoding of the Extension header if present. Currently this knob
  ##   adds component, component_id & sub_component_id as additional tags
  # vendor_specific = []

  ## YANG model paths for decoding IETF JSON payloads
  ## Model files are loaded recursively from the given directories. Disabled if
  ## no models are specified.
  # yang_model_paths = []

  ## Define additional aliases to map encoding paths to measurement names
  # [inputs.gnmi.aliases]
  #   ifcounters = "openconfig:/interfaces/interface/state/counters"

  [[inputs.gnmi.subscription]]
    ## Name of the measurement that will be emitted
    name = "ifcounters"

    ## Origin and path of the subscription
    ## See: https://github.com/openconfig/reference/blob/master/rpc/gnmi/gnmi-specification.md#222-paths
    ##
    ## origin usually refers to a (YANG) data model implemented by the device
    ## and path to a specific substructure inside it that should be subscribed
    ## to (similar to an XPath). YANG models can be found e.g. here:
    ## https://github.com/YangModels/yang/tree/master/vendor/cisco/xr
    origin = "openconfig-interfaces"
    path = "/interfaces/interface/state/counters"

    ## Subscription mode ("target_defined", "sample", "on_change") and interval
    subscription_mode = "sample"
    sample_interval = "10s"

    ## Suppress redundant transmissions when measured values are unchanged
    # suppress_redundant = false

    ## If suppression is enabled, send updates at least every X seconds anyway
    # heartbeat_interval = "60s"

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

gNMI

  1. Monitoring Cisco Devices: Use the gNMI plugin to collect telemetry data from Cisco IOS XR, NX-OS, or IOS XE devices for performance monitoring.

  2. Real-time Network Insights: With the gNMI plugin, network administrators can gain insights into real-time metrics such as interface statistics and CPU usage.

  3. Secure Data Collection: Configure the gNMI plugin with TLS settings to ensure secure communication while collecting sensitive telemetry data from devices.

  4. Flexible Data Handling: Use the subscription options to customize which telemetry data you want to collect based on specific needs or requirements.

  5. Error Handling: The plugin includes troubleshooting options to handle common issues like missing metric names or TLS handshake failures.

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.

Powerful Performance, Limitless Scale

Collect, organize, and act on massive volumes of high-velocity data. Any data is more valuable when you think of it as time series data. with InfluxDB, the #1 time series platform built to scale with Telegraf.

See Ways to Get Started

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