Nginx and OpenSearch Integration

Input and output integration overview

The Nginx plugin for Telegraf is designed to collect status metrics from Nginx web servers, providing real-time insights into server operation metrics.

The OpenSearch Output Plugin allows users to send metrics directly to an OpenSearch instance using HTTP, thus facilitating effective data management and analytics within the OpenSearch ecosystem.

Integration details

Nginx

This plugin gathers status metrics from Nginx. It utilizes the ngx_http_stub_status_module to collect basic metrics related to the server’s performance. The plugin provides valuable insights into active connections, requests handled, and the current state of various metrics. This real-time data is essential for monitoring web server performance and ensuring optimal operations. The configuration allows users to specify the URL for the Nginx status endpoint, set timeouts, and configure TLS settings if necessary.

OpenSearch

The OpenSearch Telegraf Plugin integrates with the OpenSearch database via HTTP, allowing for the streamlined collection and storage of metrics. As a powerful tool designed specifically for OpenSearch releases from 2.x, the plugin provides robust features while offering compatibility with 1.x through the original Elasticsearch plugin. This plugin facilitates the creation and management of indexes in OpenSearch, automatically managing templates and ensuring that data is structured efficiently for analysis. The plugin supports various configuration options such as index names, authentication, health checks, and value handling, allowing it to be tailored to diverse operational requirements. Its capabilities make it essential for organizations looking to harness the power of OpenSearch for metrics storage and querying.

Configuration

Nginx

[[inputs.nginx]]
  ## An array of Nginx stub_status URI to gather stats.
  urls = ["http://localhost/server_status"]

  ## 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

  ## HTTP response timeout (default: 5s)
  response_timeout = "5s"

OpenSearch

[[outputs.opensearch]]
  ## URLs
  ## The full HTTP endpoint URL for your OpenSearch instance. Multiple URLs can
  ## be specified as part of the same cluster, but only one URLs is used to
  ## write during each interval.
  urls = ["http://node1.os.example.com:9200"]

  ## Index Name
  ## Target index name for metrics (OpenSearch will create if it not exists).
  ## This is a Golang template (see https://pkg.go.dev/text/template)
  ## You can also specify
  ## metric name (`{{.Name}}`), tag value (`{{.Tag "tag_name"}}`), field value (`{{.Field "field_name"}}`)
  ## If the tag does not exist, the default tag value will be empty string "".
  ## the timestamp (`{{.Time.Format "xxxxxxxxx"}}`).
  ## For example: "telegraf-{{.Time.Format \"2006-01-02\"}}-{{.Tag \"host\"}}" would set it to telegraf-2023-07-27-HostName
  index_name = ""

  ## Timeout
  ## OpenSearch client timeout
  # timeout = "5s"

  ## Sniffer
  ## Set to true to ask OpenSearch a list of all cluster nodes,
  ## thus it is not necessary to list all nodes in the urls config option
  # enable_sniffer = false

  ## GZIP Compression
  ## Set to true to enable gzip compression
  # enable_gzip = false

  ## Health Check Interval
  ## Set the interval to check if the OpenSearch nodes are available
  ## Setting to "0s" will disable the health check (not recommended in production)
  # health_check_interval = "10s"

  ## Set the timeout for periodic health checks.
  # health_check_timeout = "1s"
  ## HTTP basic authentication details.
  # username = ""
  # password = ""
  ## HTTP bearer token authentication details
  # auth_bearer_token = ""

  ## Optional TLS Config
  ## Set to true/false to enforce TLS being enabled/disabled. If not set,
  ## enable TLS only if any of the other options are specified.
  # tls_enable =
  ## Trusted root certificates for server
  # tls_ca = "/path/to/cafile"
  ## Used for TLS client certificate authentication
  # tls_cert = "/path/to/certfile"
  ## Used for TLS client certificate authentication
  # tls_key = "/path/to/keyfile"
  ## Send the specified TLS server name via SNI
  # tls_server_name = "kubernetes.example.com"
  ## Use TLS but skip chain & host verification
  # insecure_skip_verify = false

  ## Template Config
  ## Manage templates
  ## Set to true if you want telegraf to manage its index template.
  ## If enabled it will create a recommended index template for telegraf indexes
  # manage_template = true

  ## Template Name
  ## The template name used for telegraf indexes
  # template_name = "telegraf"

  ## Overwrite Templates
  ## Set to true if you want telegraf to overwrite an existing template
  # overwrite_template = false

  ## Document ID
  ## If set to true a unique ID hash will be sent as
  ## sha256(concat(timestamp,measurement,series-hash)) string. It will enable
  ## data resend and update metric points avoiding duplicated metrics with
  ## different id's
  # force_document_id = false

  ## Value Handling
  ## Specifies the handling of NaN and Inf values.
  ## This option can have the following values:
  ##    none    -- do not modify field-values (default); will produce an error
  ##               if NaNs or infs are encountered
  ##    drop    -- drop fields containing NaNs or infs
  ##    replace -- replace with the value in "float_replacement_value" (default: 0.0)
  ##               NaNs and inf will be replaced with the given number, -inf with the negative of that number
  # float_handling = "none"
  # float_replacement_value = 0.0

  ## Pipeline Config
  ## To use a ingest pipeline, set this to the name of the pipeline you want to use.
  # use_pipeline = "my_pipeline"

  ## Pipeline Name
  ## Additionally, you can specify a tag name using the notation (`{{.Tag "tag_name"}}`)
  ## which will be used as the pipeline name (e.g. "{{.Tag \"os_pipeline\"}}").
  ## If the tag does not exist, the default pipeline will be used as the pipeline.
  ## If no default pipeline is set, no pipeline is used for the metric.
  # default_pipeline = ""

Input and output integration examples

Nginx

1. Web Performance Monitoring: Use the Nginx plugin to gather performance metrics from various Nginx servers across your infrastructure. By visualizing these metrics in real-time dashboards, teams can track performance trends, identify bottlenecks, and enhance the user experience on their web applications. Implementing such monitoring allows businesses to proactively address performance issues before they impact end-users.

2. Load Balancer Monitoring: Integrate this plugin with your load balancers to track the performance of backend Nginx servers. By collecting statistics like ‘active connections’ and ‘requests handled’, your operations team can ensure that traffic is flowing optimally and that no single server is overwhelmed. This proactive approach to load balancing prevents service downtime and enhances user experience.

3. Automated Alerting Systems: Combine the Nginx plugin with alerting services to automatically notify your team when a server’s metrics exceed predefined thresholds. For instance, if the number of active connections is too high, the system can trigger alerts so that corrective actions can be taken immediately, thus maintaining service quality and reliability.

4. Historical Data Analysis: Store the metrics collected by the Nginx plugin in a time-series database to analyze historical performance trends. This analysis can uncover periods of high traffic or poor performance, allowing for data-driven decisions about infrastructure scaling and optimization. By understanding past trends, organizations can better prepare for future demands.

OpenSearch

1. Dynamic Indexing for Time-Series Data: Utilize the OpenSearch Telegraf plugin to dynamically create indexes for time-series metrics, ensuring that data is stored in an organized manner conducive to time-based queries. By defining index patterns using Go templates, users can leverage the plugin to create daily or monthly indexes, which can greatly simplify data management and retrieval over time, thus enhancing analytical performance.

2. Centralized Logging for Multi-Tenant Applications: Implement the OpenSearch plugin in a multi-tenant application where each tenant’s logs are sent to separate indexes. This enables targeted analysis and monitoring for each tenant while maintaining data isolation. By utilizing the index name templating feature, users can automatically create tenant-specific indexes, which not only streamlines the process but also enhances security and accessibility for tenant data.

3. Integration with Machine Learning for Anomaly Detection: Leverage the OpenSearch plugin alongside machine learning tools to automatically detect anomalies in metrics data. By configuring the plugin to send real-time metrics to OpenSearch, users can apply machine learning models on the incoming data streams to identify outliers or unusual patterns, facilitating proactive monitoring and swift remedial actions.

4. Enhanced Monitoring Dashboards with OpenSearch: Use the metrics collected from OpenSearch to create real-time dashboards that provide insights into system performance. By feeding metrics into OpenSearch, organizations can utilize OpenSearch Dashboards to visualize key performance indicators, allowing operations teams to quickly assess health and performance, and making data-driven decisions.

Feedback

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