NATS and Dynatrace Integration

Input and output integration overview

The NATS Consumer Input Plugin enables real-time data consumption from NATS messaging subjects, integrating seamlessly into the Telegraf data pipeline for monitoring and metrics gathering.

The Dynatrace plugin allows users to send metrics collected by Telegraf directly to Dynatrace for monitoring and analysis. This integration enhances the observability of systems and applications, providing valuable insights into performance and operational health.

Integration details

NATS

The NATS Consumer Plugin allows Telegraf to read metrics from specified NATS subjects and create metrics based on supported input data formats. Utilizing a Queue Group allows multiple instances of Telegraf to read from a NATS cluster in parallel, enhancing throughput and reliability. This plugin also supports various authentication methods, including username/password, NATS credentials files, and nkey seed files, ensuring secure communication with the NATS servers. It is particularly useful in environments where data persistence and message reliability are critical, thanks to features such as JetStream that facilitate the consumption of historical messages. Additionally, the ability to configure various operational parameters makes this plugin suitable for high-throughput scenarios while maintaining performance integrity.

Dynatrace

The Dynatrace plugin for Telegraf facilitates the transmission of metrics to the Dynatrace platform via the Dynatrace Metrics API V2. This plugin can function in two modes: it can run alongside the Dynatrace OneAgent, which automates authentication, or it can operate in a standalone configuration that requires manual specification of the URL and API token for environments without a OneAgent. The plugin primarily reports metrics as gauges unless explicitly configured to treat certain metrics as delta counters using the available config options. This feature empowers users to customize the behavior of metrics sent to Dynatrace, harnessing the robust capabilities of the platform for comprehensive performance monitoring and observability. It’s crucial for users to ensure compliance with version requirements for both Dynatrace and Telegraf, thereby optimizing compatibility and performance when integrating with the Dynatrace ecosystem.

Configuration

NATS

[[inputs.nats_consumer]]
  ## urls of NATS servers
  servers = ["nats://localhost:4222"]

  ## subject(s) to consume
  ## If you use jetstream you need to set the subjects
  ## in jetstream_subjects
  subjects = ["telegraf"]

  ## jetstream subjects
  ## jetstream is a streaming technology inside of nats.
  ## With jetstream the nats-server persists messages and
  ## a consumer can consume historical messages. This is
  ## useful when telegraf needs to restart it don't miss a
  ## message. You need to configure the nats-server.
  ## https://docs.nats.io/nats-concepts/jetstream.
  jetstream_subjects = ["js_telegraf"]

  ## name a queue group
  queue_group = "telegraf_consumers"

  ## Optional authentication with username and password credentials
  # username = ""
  # password = ""

  ## Optional authentication with NATS credentials file (NATS 2.0)
  # credentials = "/etc/telegraf/nats.creds"

  ## Optional authentication with nkey seed file (NATS 2.0)
  # nkey_seed = "/etc/telegraf/seed.txt"

  ## Use Transport Layer Security
  # secure = false

  ## 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

  ## Sets the limits for pending msgs and bytes for each subscription
  ## These shouldn't need to be adjusted except in very high throughput scenarios
  # pending_message_limit = 65536
  # pending_bytes_limit = 67108864

  ## 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

  ## 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"

Dynatrace

[[outputs.dynatrace]]
  ## For usage with the Dynatrace OneAgent you can omit any configuration,
  ## the only requirement is that the OneAgent is running on the same host.
  ## Only setup environment url and token if you want to monitor a Host without the OneAgent present.
  ##
  ## Your Dynatrace environment URL.
  ## For Dynatrace OneAgent you can leave this empty or set it to "http://127.0.0.1:14499/metrics/ingest" (default)
  ## For Dynatrace SaaS environments the URL scheme is "https://{your-environment-id}.live.dynatrace.com/api/v2/metrics/ingest"
  ## For Dynatrace Managed environments the URL scheme is "https://{your-domain}/e/{your-environment-id}/api/v2/metrics/ingest"
  url = ""

  ## Your Dynatrace API token.
  ## Create an API token within your Dynatrace environment, by navigating to Settings > Integration > Dynatrace API
  ## The API token needs data ingest scope permission. When using OneAgent, no API token is required.
  api_token = ""

  ## Optional prefix for metric names (e.g.: "telegraf")
  prefix = "telegraf"

  ## Optional TLS Config
  # tls_ca = "/etc/telegraf/ca.pem"
  # tls_cert = "/etc/telegraf/cert.pem"
  # tls_key = "/etc/telegraf/key.pem"
  ## Optional flag for ignoring tls certificate check
  # insecure_skip_verify = false

  ## Connection timeout, defaults to "5s" if not set.
  timeout = "5s"

  ## If you want metrics to be treated and reported as delta counters, add the metric names here
  additional_counters = [ ]

  ## In addition or as an alternative to additional_counters, if you want metrics to be treated and
  ## reported as delta counters using regular expression pattern matching
  additional_counters_patterns = [ ]

  ## NOTE: Due to the way TOML is parsed, tables must be at the END of the
  ## plugin definition, otherwise additional config options are read as part of the
  ## table

  ## Optional dimensions to be added to every metric
  # [outputs.dynatrace.default_dimensions]
  # default_key = "default value"

Input and output integration examples

NATS

1. Real-Time Analytics Dashboard: Utilize the NATS plugin to gather metrics from various NATS subjects in real time and feed them into a centralized analytics dashboard. This setup allows for immediate visibility into live application performance, enabling teams to react swiftly to operational issues or performance degradation.

2. Distributed System Monitoring: Deploy multiple instances of Telegraf configured with the NATS plugin across a distributed architecture. This approach allows teams to aggregate metrics from various microservices efficiently, providing a holistic view of system health and performance while ensuring no messages are dropped during transmission.

3. Historical Message Recovery: Leverage the capabilities of NATS JetStream along with this plugin to recover and process historical messages after Telegraf has been restarted. This feature is particularly beneficial for applications that require high reliability, ensuring that no critical metrics are lost even in case of service disruptions.

4. Dynamic Load Balancing: Implement a dynamic load balancing scenario where Telegraf instances consume messages from a NATS cluster based on load. Adjust the queue group settings to control the number of active consumers, allowing for better resource utilization and performance scaling as demand fluctuations occur.

Dynatrace

1. Cloud Infrastructure Monitoring: Utilize the Dynatrace plugin to monitor a cloud infrastructure setup, feeding real-time metrics from Telegraf into Dynatrace. This integration provides a holistic view of resource utilization, application performance, and system health, enabling proactive responses to performance issues across various cloud environments.

2. Custom Application Performance Metrics: Implement custom application-specific metrics by configuring the Dynatrace output plugin to send tailored metrics from Telegraf. By leveraging additional counters and dimension options, development teams can gain insights that are precisely aligned with their application’s operational requirements, allowing for targeted optimization efforts.

3. Multi-Environment Metrics Management: For organizations running multiple Dynatrace environments (e.g., production, staging, and development), use this plugin to manage metrics for all environments from a single Telegraf instance. With proper configuration of endpoints and API tokens, teams can maintain consistent monitoring practices throughout the SDLC, ensuring that performance anomalies are detected early in the development process.

4. Automated Alerting Based on Metrics Changes: Integrate the Dynatrace output plugin with an alerting mechanism that triggers notifications when specific metrics exceed defined thresholds. This scenario involves configuring additional counters to monitor crucial application performance indicators, enabling swift remediation actions to maintain service availability and user satisfaction.

Feedback

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