MQTT and Graphite Integration

Input and output integration overview

The MQTT Telegraf plugin is designed to read from specified MQTT topics and create metrics, enabling users to leverage MQTT for real-time data collection and monitoring.

The Graphite plugin enables users to send metrics collected by Telegraf into Graphite via TCP. This integration allows for efficient storage and visualization of time-series data using Graphite’s powerful capabilities.

Integration details

MQTT

The MQTT plugin allows for reading metrics from specified MQTT topics, creating metrics using supported input data formats. This plugin operates as a service input, which listens for incoming metrics or events rather than gathering them at set intervals like normal plugins. The flexibility of the plugin is enhanced with support for various broker URLs, topics, and connection features, including Quality of Service (QoS) levels and persistent sessions. Its configuration options incorporate global settings to modify metrics and handle startup errors effectively. It also supports secret-store configurations for securing username and password options, ensuring secure connections to MQTT servers.

Graphite

This plugin writes metrics to Graphite via raw TCP, allowing for seamless integration of Telegraf collected metrics into the Graphite ecosystem. With this plugin, users can configure multiple TCP endpoints for load balancing, ensuring high availability and reliability in metric transmission. The ability to customize metric naming with prefixes and utilize various templating options enhances flexibility in how data is represented within Graphite. Additionally, support for Graphite tags and options for strict sanitization of metric names allow for robust data management, catering to the varying needs of users. This capability is essential for organizations looking to leverage Graphite’s powerful metrics storage and visualization while maintaining control over data representation.

Configuration

MQTT

[[inputs.mqtt_consumer]]
  servers = ["tcp://127.0.0.1:1883"]
  topics = [
    "telegraf/host01/cpu",
    "telegraf/+/mem",
    "sensors/#",
  ]
  # topic_tag = "topic"
  # qos = 0
  # connection_timeout = "30s"
  # keepalive = "60s"
  # ping_timeout = "10s"
  # max_undelivered_messages = 1000
  # persistent_session = false
  # client_id = ""
  # username = "telegraf"
  # password = "metricsmetricsmetricsmetrics"
  # tls_ca = "/etc/telegraf/ca.pem"
  # tls_cert = "/etc/telegraf/cert.pem"
  # tls_key = "/etc/telegraf/key.pem"
  # insecure_skip_verify = false
  # client_trace = false
  data_format = "influx"
  # [[inputs.mqtt_consumer.topic_parsing]]
  #   topic = ""
  #   measurement = ""
  #   tags = ""
  #   fields = ""
  #   [inputs.mqtt_consumer.topic_parsing.types]
  #      key = type

Graphite

# Configuration for Graphite server to send metrics to
[[outputs.graphite]]
  ## TCP endpoint for your graphite instance.
  ## If multiple endpoints are configured, the output will be load balanced.
  ## Only one of the endpoints will be written to with each iteration.
  servers = ["localhost:2003"]

  ## Local address to bind when connecting to the server
  ## If empty or not set, the local address is automatically chosen.
  # local_address = ""

  ## Prefix metrics name
  prefix = ""

  ## Graphite output template
  ## see https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/docs/DATA_FORMATS_OUTPUT.md
  template = "host.tags.measurement.field"

  ## Strict sanitization regex
  ## This is the default sanitization regex that is used on data passed to the
  ## graphite serializer. Users can add additional characters here if required.
  ## Be aware that the characters, '/' '@' '*' are always replaced with '_',
  ## '..' is replaced with '.', and '\' is removed even if added to the
  ## following regex.
  # graphite_strict_sanitize_regex = '[^a-zA-Z0-9-:._=\p{L}]'

  ## Enable Graphite tags support
  # graphite_tag_support = false

  ## Applied sanitization mode when graphite tag support is enabled.
  ## * strict - uses the regex specified above
  ## * compatible - allows for greater number of characters
  # graphite_tag_sanitize_mode = "strict"

  ## Character for separating metric name and field for Graphite tags
  # graphite_separator = "."

  ## Graphite templates patterns
  ## 1. Template for cpu
  ## 2. Template for disk*
  ## 3. Default template
  # templates = [
  #  "cpu tags.measurement.host.field",
  #  "disk* measurement.field",
  #  "host.measurement.tags.field"
  #]

  ## timeout in seconds for the write connection to graphite
  # timeout = "2s"

  ## Optional TLS Config
  # 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

Input and output integration examples

MQTT

1. Smart Home Monitoring: Use the MQTT Consumer plugin to monitor various sensors in a smart home setup. In this scenario, the plugin can be configured to subscribe to topics for different devices, such as temperature, humidity, and energy consumption. By aggregating this data, homeowners can visualize trends and receive alerts for unusual patterns, enhancing the overall quality and efficiency of home automation systems.

2. IoT Environmental Sensing: Deploy the MQTT Consumer to gather environmental data from sensors distributed across different locations. For instance, this can include readings from air quality sensors, temperature sensors, and noise level meters. The plugin can be configured to extract relevant tags and fields from the MQTT topics which allows for detailed analyses and reporting on environmental conditions at scale, supporting better decision making for urban planning or environmental initiatives.

3. Real-Time Vehicle Tracking and Telemetry: Integrate the MQTT Consumer plugin within a vehicle telemetry system that collects data from various sensors in real-time. With the plugin, metrics related to vehicle performance, location, and fuel consumption can be sent to a centralized monitoring dashboard. This real-time telemetry data enables fleet managers to optimize routes, reduce fuel costs, and improve vehicle maintenance schedules through proactive data analysis.

4. Agricultural Monitoring System: Leverage this plugin to collect data from agricultural sensors that monitor soil moisture, crop health, and weather conditions. The MQTT Consumer can subscribe to multiple topics associated with farming equipment and environmental sensors, allowing farmers to make data-driven decisions to improve crop yields while also conserving resources, enhancing sustainability in agriculture.

Graphite

1. Dynamic Metric Visualization: The Graphite plugin can be utilized to feed real-time metrics from various sources, such as application performance data or server health metrics, into Graphite. This dynamic integration allows teams to create interactive dashboards that visualize key performance indicators, track trends over time, and make data-driven decisions to enhance system performance.

2. Load Balanced Metrics Collection: By configuring multiple TCP endpoints within the plugin, organizations can implement load balancing for metric transmission. This use case ensures that metric delivery is both resilient and efficient, reducing the risk of data loss during high-traffic periods and maintaining a reliable flow of information to Graphite.

3. Customized Metrics Tagging: With support for Graphite tags, users can employ the Graphite plugin to enhance the granularity of their metrics. Tagging metrics with relevant information, such as application environment or service type, allows for more refined queries and analytics, enabling teams to drill down into specific areas of interest for better operational insights.

4. Enhanced Data Sanitization: Leveraging the plugin’s strict sanitization options, users can ensure that their metric names comply with Graphite’s requirements. This proactive measure eliminates potential issues arising from invalid characters in metric names, allowing for cleaner data management and more accurate visualizations.

Feedback

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