Kafka and Grafana Integration
Powerful performance with an easy integration, powered by Telegraf, the open source data connector built by InfluxData.
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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
This plugin allows you to gather metrics from Kafka topics in real-time, enhancing data monitoring and collection capabilities within your Telegraf setup.
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
Kafka
The Kafka Telegraf plugin is designed to read data from Kafka topics and create metrics using supported input data formats. As a service input plugin, it listens continuously for incoming metrics and events, differing from standard input plugins that operate at fixed intervals. This particular plugin can utilize features from various Kafka versions and is capable of consuming messages from specified topics, applying configurations such as security credentials using SASL, and managing message processing with options for message offsets and consumer groups. The flexibility of this plugin allows it to handle a wide array of message formats and use cases, making it a valuable asset for applications relying on Kafka for data ingestion.
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
Kafka
[[inputs.kafka_consumer]]
## Kafka brokers.
brokers = ["localhost:9092"]
## Set the minimal supported Kafka version. Should be a string contains
## 4 digits in case if it is 0 version and 3 digits for versions starting
## from 1.0.0 separated by dot. This setting enables the use of new
## Kafka features and APIs. Must be 0.10.2.0(used as default) or greater.
## Please, check the list of supported versions at
## https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/Shopify/sarama#SupportedVersions
## ex: kafka_version = "2.6.0"
## ex: kafka_version = "0.10.2.0"
# kafka_version = "0.10.2.0"
## Topics to consume.
topics = ["telegraf"]
## Topic regular expressions to consume. Matches will be added to topics.
## Example: topic_regexps = [ "*test", "metric[0-9A-z]*" ]
# topic_regexps = [ ]
## When set this tag will be added to all metrics with the topic as the value.
# topic_tag = ""
## The list of Kafka message headers that should be pass as metric tags
## works only for Kafka version 0.11+, on lower versions the message headers
## are not available
# msg_headers_as_tags = []
## The name of kafka message header which value should override the metric name.
## In case when the same header specified in current option and in msg_headers_as_tags
## option, it will be excluded from the msg_headers_as_tags list.
# msg_header_as_metric_name = ""
## Set metric(s) timestamp using the given source.
## Available options are:
## metric -- do not modify the metric timestamp
## inner -- use the inner message timestamp (Kafka v0.10+)
## outer -- use the outer (compressed) block timestamp (Kafka v0.10+)
# timestamp_source = "metric"
## Optional Client id
# client_id = "Telegraf"
## Optional TLS Config
# enable_tls = false
# tls_ca = "/etc/telegraf/ca.pem"
# tls_cert = "/etc/telegraf/cert.pem"
# tls_key = "/etc/telegraf/key.pem"
## Use TLS but skip chain & host verification
# insecure_skip_verify = false
## Period between keep alive probes.
## Defaults to the OS configuration if not specified or zero.
# keep_alive_period = "15s"
## SASL authentication credentials. These settings should typically be used
## with TLS encryption enabled
# sasl_username = "kafka"
# sasl_password = "secret"
## Optional SASL:
## one of: OAUTHBEARER, PLAIN, SCRAM-SHA-256, SCRAM-SHA-512, GSSAPI
## (defaults to PLAIN)
# sasl_mechanism = ""
## used if sasl_mechanism is GSSAPI
# sasl_gssapi_service_name = ""
# ## One of: KRB5_USER_AUTH and KRB5_KEYTAB_AUTH
# sasl_gssapi_auth_type = "KRB5_USER_AUTH"
# sasl_gssapi_kerberos_config_path = "/"
# sasl_gssapi_realm = "realm"
# sasl_gssapi_key_tab_path = ""
# sasl_gssapi_disable_pafxfast = false
## used if sasl_mechanism is OAUTHBEARER
# sasl_access_token = ""
## SASL protocol version. When connecting to Azure EventHub set to 0.
# sasl_version = 1
# Disable Kafka metadata full fetch
# metadata_full = false
## Name of the consumer group.
# consumer_group = "telegraf_metrics_consumers"
## Compression codec represents the various compression codecs recognized by
## Kafka in messages.
## 0 : None
## 1 : Gzip
## 2 : Snappy
## 3 : LZ4
## 4 : ZSTD
# compression_codec = 0
## Initial offset position; one of "oldest" or "newest".
# offset = "oldest"
## Consumer group partition assignment strategy; one of "range", "roundrobin" or "sticky".
# balance_strategy = "range"
## Maximum number of retries for metadata operations including
## connecting. Sets Sarama library's Metadata.Retry.Max config value. If 0 or
## unset, use the Sarama default of 3,
# metadata_retry_max = 0
## Type of retry backoff. Valid options: "constant", "exponential"
# metadata_retry_type = "constant"
## Amount of time to wait before retrying. When metadata_retry_type is
## "constant", each retry is delayed this amount. When "exponential", the
## first retry is delayed this amount, and subsequent delays are doubled. If 0
## or unset, use the Sarama default of 250 ms
# metadata_retry_backoff = 0
## Maximum amount of time to wait before retrying when metadata_retry_type is
## "exponential". Ignored for other retry types. If 0, there is no backoff
## limit.
# metadata_retry_max_duration = 0
## When set to true, this turns each bootstrap broker address into a set of
## IPs, then does a reverse lookup on each one to get its canonical hostname.
## This list of hostnames then replaces the original address list.
## resolve_canonical_bootstrap_servers_only = false
## Strategy for making connection to kafka brokers. Valid options: "startup",
## "defer". If set to "defer" the plugin is allowed to start before making a
## connection. This is useful if the broker may be down when telegraf is
## started, but if there are any typos in the broker setting, they will cause
## connection failures without warning at startup
# connection_strategy = "startup"
## Maximum length of a message to consume, in bytes (default 0/unlimited);
## larger messages are dropped
max_message_len = 1000000
## Max undelivered messages
## This plugin uses tracking metrics, which ensure messages are read to
## outputs before acknowledging them to the original broker to ensure data
## is not lost. This option sets the maximum messages to read from the
## broker that have not been written by an output.
##
## This value needs to be picked with awareness of the agent's
## metric_batch_size value as well. Setting max undelivered messages too high
## can result in a constant stream of data batches to the output. While
## setting it too low may never flush the broker's messages.
# max_undelivered_messages = 1000
## Maximum amount of time the consumer should take to process messages. If
## the debug log prints messages from sarama about 'abandoning subscription
## to [topic] because consuming was taking too long', increase this value to
## longer than the time taken by the output plugin(s).
##
## Note that the effective timeout could be between 'max_processing_time' and
## '2 * max_processing_time'.
# max_processing_time = "100ms"
## The default number of message bytes to fetch from the broker in each
## request (default 1MB). This should be larger than the majority of
## your messages, or else the consumer will spend a lot of time
## negotiating sizes and not actually consuming. Similar to the JVM's
## `fetch.message.max.bytes`.
# consumer_fetch_default = "1MB"
## Data format to consume.
## Each data format has its own unique set of configuration options, read
## more about them here:
## https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/docs/DATA_FORMATS_INPUT.md
data_format = "influx"
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
Kafka
-
Real-Time Data Processing: Use the Kafka plugin to feed live data from a Kafka topic into a monitoring system. This can be particularly useful for applications that require instant feedback on performance metrics or user activity, allowing businesses to react more swiftly to changing conditions in their environments.
-
Dynamic Metrics Collection: Leverage this plugin to dynamically adjust the metrics being captured based on events occurring within Kafka. For instance, by integrating with other services, users can have the plugin reconfigure itself on-the-fly, ensuring relevant metrics are always collected according to the needs of the business or application.
-
Centralized Logging and Monitoring: Implement a centralized logging system using the Kafka Consumer Plugin to aggregate logs from multiple services into a unified monitoring dashboard. This setup can help identify issues across different services and improve overall system observability and troubleshooting capabilities.
-
Anomaly Detection System: Combine Kafka with machine learning algorithms for real-time anomaly detection. By constantly analyzing streaming data, this setup can automatically identify unusual patterns, triggering alerts and mitigating potential issues more effectively.
Grafana
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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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