MQTT and AWS Timestream 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 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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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