Kubernetes and AWS Timestream Integration

Input and output integration overview

This plugin captures metrics for Kubernetes pods and containers by communicating with the Kubelet API.

The AWS Timestream Telegraf plugin enables users to send metrics directly to Amazon’s Timestream service, which is designed for time series data management. This plugin offers a variety of configuration options for authentication, data organization, and retention settings.

Integration details

Kubernetes

The Kubernetes input plugin interfaces with the Kubelet API to gather metrics for running pods and containers on a single host, ideally as part of a daemonset in a Kubernetes installation. By operating on each node within the cluster, it collects metrics from the locally running kubelet, ensuring that the data reflects the real-time state of the environment. Being a rapidly evolving project, Kubernetes sees frequent updates, and this plugin adheres to the major cloud providers’ supported versions, maintaining compatibility across multiple releases within a limited time span. Significant consideration is given to the potential high series cardinality, which can burden the database; thus, users are advised to implement filtering techniques and retention policies to manage this load effectively. Configuration options provide flexible customization of the plugin’s behavior to integrate seamlessly into different setups, enhancing its utility in monitoring Kubernetes environments.

AWS Timestream

This plugin is designed to efficiently write metrics to Amazon’s Timestream service, a time series database optimized for IoT and operational applications. With this plugin Telegraf can send data collected from various sources and supports a flexible configuration for authentication, data organization, and retention management. It utilizes a credential chain for authentication, allowing various methods such as web identity, assumed roles, and shared profiles. Users can define how metrics are organized in Timestream—whether to use a single table or multiple tables, alongside control over aspect such as retention periods for both magnetic and memory stores. A key feature is its ability to handle multi-measure records, enabling efficient data ingestion and helping to reduce the overhead of multiple writes. In terms of error handling, the plugin includes mechanisms for addressing common issues related to AWS errors during data writes, such as retry logic for throttling and the ability to create tables as needed.

Configuration

Kubernetes

[[inputs.kubernetes]]
  ## URL for the kubelet, if empty read metrics from all nodes in the cluster
  url = "http://127.0.0.1:10255"

  ## Use bearer token for authorization. ('bearer_token' takes priority)
  ## If both of these are empty, we'll use the default serviceaccount:
  ## at: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token
  ##
  ## To re-read the token at each interval, please use a file with the
  ## bearer_token option. If given a string, Telegraf will always use that
  ## token.
  # bearer_token = "/var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token"
  ## OR
  # bearer_token_string = "abc_123"

  ## Kubernetes Node Metric Name
  ## The default Kubernetes node metric name (i.e. kubernetes_node) is the same
  ## for the kubernetes and kube_inventory plugins. To avoid conflicts, set this
  ## option to a different value.
  # node_metric_name = "kubernetes_node"

  ## Pod labels to be added as tags.  An empty array for both include and
  ## exclude will include all labels.
  # label_include = []
  # label_exclude = ["*"]

  ## Set response_timeout (default 5 seconds)
  # response_timeout = "5s"

  ## Optional TLS Config
  # tls_ca = /path/to/cafile
  # tls_cert = /path/to/certfile
  # tls_key = /path/to/keyfile
  ## Use TLS but skip chain & host verification
  # insecure_skip_verify = false

AWS Timestream

[[outputs.timestream]]
  ## Amazon Region
  region = "us-east-1"

  ## Amazon Credentials
  ## Credentials are loaded in the following order:
  ## 1) Web identity provider credentials via STS if role_arn and web_identity_token_file are specified
  ## 2) Assumed credentials via STS if role_arn is specified
  ## 3) explicit credentials from 'access_key' and 'secret_key'
  ## 4) shared profile from 'profile'
  ## 5) environment variables
  ## 6) shared credentials file
  ## 7) EC2 Instance Profile
  #access_key = ""
  #secret_key = ""
  #token = ""
  #role_arn = ""
  #web_identity_token_file = ""
  #role_session_name = ""
  #profile = ""
  #shared_credential_file = ""

  ## Endpoint to make request against, the correct endpoint is automatically
  ## determined and this option should only be set if you wish to override the
  ## default.
  ##   ex: endpoint_url = "http://localhost:8000"
  # endpoint_url = ""

  ## Timestream database where the metrics will be inserted.
  ## The database must exist prior to starting Telegraf.
  database_name = "yourDatabaseNameHere"

  ## Specifies if the plugin should describe the Timestream database upon starting
  ## to validate if it has access necessary permissions, connection, etc., as a safety check.
  ## If the describe operation fails, the plugin will not start
  ## and therefore the Telegraf agent will not start.
  describe_database_on_start = false

  ## Specifies how the data is organized in Timestream.
  ## Valid values are: single-table, multi-table.
  ## When mapping_mode is set to single-table, all of the data is stored in a single table.
  ## When mapping_mode is set to multi-table, the data is organized and stored in multiple tables.
  ## The default is multi-table.
  mapping_mode = "multi-table"

  ## Specifies if the plugin should create the table, if the table does not exist.
  create_table_if_not_exists = true

  ## Specifies the Timestream table magnetic store retention period in days.
  ## Check Timestream documentation for more details.
  ## NOTE: This property is valid when create_table_if_not_exists = true.
  create_table_magnetic_store_retention_period_in_days = 365

  ## Specifies the Timestream table memory store retention period in hours.
  ## Check Timestream documentation for more details.
  ## NOTE: This property is valid when create_table_if_not_exists = true.
  create_table_memory_store_retention_period_in_hours = 24

  ## Specifies how the data is written into Timestream.
  ## Valid values are: true, false
  ## When use_multi_measure_records is set to true, all of the tags and fields are stored
  ## as a single row in a Timestream table.
  ## When use_multi_measure_record is set to false, Timestream stores each field in a
  ## separate table row, thereby storing the tags multiple times (once for each field).
  ## The recommended setting is true.
  ## The default is false.
  use_multi_measure_records = "false"

  ## Specifies the measure_name to use when sending multi-measure records.
  ## NOTE: This property is valid when use_multi_measure_records=true and mapping_mode=multi-table
  measure_name_for_multi_measure_records = "telegraf_measure"

  ## Specifies the name of the table to write data into
  ## NOTE: This property is valid when mapping_mode=single-table.
  # single_table_name = ""

  ## Specifies the name of dimension when all of the data is being stored in a single table
  ## and the measurement name is transformed into the dimension value
  ## (see Mapping data from Influx to Timestream for details)
  ## NOTE: This property is valid when mapping_mode=single-table.
  # single_table_dimension_name_for_telegraf_measurement_name = "namespace"

  ## Only valid and optional if create_table_if_not_exists = true
  ## Specifies the Timestream table tags.
  ## Check Timestream documentation for more details
  # create_table_tags = { "foo" = "bar", "environment" = "dev"}

  ## Specify the maximum number of parallel go routines to ingest/write data
  ## If not specified, defaulted to 1 go routines
  max_write_go_routines = 25

  ## Please see README.md to know how line protocol data is mapped to Timestream
  ##

Input and output integration examples

Kubernetes

1. Dynamic Resource Allocation Monitoring: By utilizing the Kubernetes plugin, teams can set up alerts for resource usage patterns across various pods and containers. This proactive monitoring approach enables automatic scaling of resources in response to specific thresholds—helping to optimize performance while minimizing costs during peak usage.

2. Multi-tenancy Resource Isolation Analysis: Organizations using Kubernetes can leverage this plugin to track resource consumption per namespace. In a multi-tenant scenario, understanding the resource allocations and usages across different teams becomes critical for ensuring fair access and performance guarantees, leading to better resource management strategies.

3. Real-time Health Dashboards: Integrate the data captured by the Kubernetes plugin into visualization tools like Grafana to create real-time dashboards. These dashboards provide insights into the overall health and performance of the Kubernetes environment, allowing teams to quickly identify and rectify issues across clusters, pods, and containers.

4. Automated Incident Response Workflows: By combining the Kubernetes plugin with alert management systems, teams can automate incident response procedures based on real-time metrics. If a pod’s resource usage exceeds predefined limits, an automated workflow can trigger remediation actions, such as restarting the pod or reallocating resources—all of which can help improve system resilience.

AWS Timestream

1. IoT Data Metrics: Use the Timestream plugin to send real-time metrics from IoT devices to Timestream, allowing for quick analysis and visualization of sensor data. By organizing device readings into a time series format, users can track trends, identify anomalies, and streamline operational decisions based on device performance.

2. Application Performance Monitoring: Leverage Timestream alongside application monitoring tools to send metrics about service performance over time. This integration enables engineers to perform historical analysis of application performance, correlate it with business metrics, and optimize resource allocation based on usage patterns viewed over time.

3. Automated Data Archiving: Configure the Timestream plugin to write data to Timestream while simultaneously managing retention periods. This setup can automate archiving strategies, ensuring that older data is preserved according to predefined criteria. This is especially useful for compliance and historical analysis, allowing businesses to maintain their data lifecycle with minimal manual intervention.

4. Multi-Application Metrics Aggregation: Utilize the Timestream plugin to aggregate metrics from multiple applications into Timestream. By creating a unified database of performance metrics, organizations can gain holistic insights across various services, improving visibility into system-wide performance and facilitating cross-application troubleshooting.

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.