Tail and SQLite Integration
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Powerful Performance, Limitless Scale
Collect, organize, and act on massive volumes of high-velocity data. Any data is more valuable when you think of it as time series data. with InfluxDB, the #1 time series platform built to scale with Telegraf.
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Input and output integration overview
The Tail Telegraf plugin collects metrics by tailing specified log files, capturing new log entries in real-time for further analysis.
Telegraf’s SQL output plugin stores metrics in an SQL database by creating tables dynamically for each metric type. When configured for SQLite, it utilizes a file-based DSN and a minimal SQL schema tailored for lightweight, embedded database usage.
Integration details
Tail
The tail plugin is designed to continuously monitor and parse log files, making it ideal for real-time log analysis and monitoring. It mimics the functionality of the Unix tail
command, allowing users to specify a file or pattern and begin reading new lines as they are added. Key features include the ability to follow log-rotated files, start reading from the end of a file, and support various parsing formats for the log messages. Users can customize the plugin through various configuration options, such as specifying file encoding, the method for watching file updates, and filter settings for processing log data. This plugin is particularly valuable in environments where log data is critical for monitoring application performance and diagnosing issues.
SQLite
The SQL output plugin writes Telegraf metrics to an SQL database using a dynamic schema where each metric type corresponds to a table. For SQLite, the plugin uses the modernc.org/sqlite driver and requires a DSN in the format of a file URI (e.g., ‘file:/path/to/telegraf.db?cache=shared’). This configuration leverages standard ANSI SQL for table creation and data insertion, ensuring compatibility with SQLite’s capabilities.
Configuration
Tail
[[inputs.tail]]
## File names or a pattern to tail.
## These accept standard unix glob matching rules, but with the addition of
## ** as a "super asterisk". ie:
## "/var/log/**.log" -> recursively find all .log files in /var/log
## "/var/log/*/*.log" -> find all .log files with a parent dir in /var/log
## "/var/log/apache.log" -> just tail the apache log file
## "/var/log/log[!1-2]* -> tail files without 1-2
## "/var/log/log[^1-2]* -> identical behavior as above
## See https://github.com/gobwas/glob for more examples
##
files = ["/var/mymetrics.out"]
## Read file from beginning.
# from_beginning = false
## Whether file is a named pipe
# pipe = false
## Method used to watch for file updates. Can be either "inotify" or "poll".
## inotify is supported on linux, *bsd, and macOS, while Windows requires
## using poll. Poll checks for changes every 250ms.
# watch_method = "inotify"
## Maximum lines of the file to process that have not yet be written by the
## output. For best throughput set based on the number of metrics on each
## line and the size of the output's metric_batch_size.
# max_undelivered_lines = 1000
## Character encoding to use when interpreting the file contents. Invalid
## characters are replaced using the unicode replacement character. When set
## to the empty string the data is not decoded to text.
## ex: character_encoding = "utf-8"
## character_encoding = "utf-16le"
## character_encoding = "utf-16be"
## character_encoding = ""
# character_encoding = ""
## 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"
## Set the tag that will contain the path of the tailed file. If you don't want this tag, set it to an empty string.
# path_tag = "path"
## Filters to apply to files before generating metrics
## "ansi_color" removes ANSI colors
# filters = []
## multiline parser/codec
## https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/2.4/plugins-filters-multiline.html
#[inputs.tail.multiline]
## The pattern should be a regexp which matches what you believe to be an indicator that the field is part of an event consisting of multiple lines of log data.
#pattern = "^\s"
## The field's value must be previous or next and indicates the relation to the
## multi-line event.
#match_which_line = "previous"
## The invert_match can be true or false (defaults to false).
## If true, a message not matching the pattern will constitute a match of the multiline filter and the what will be applied. (vice-versa is also true)
#invert_match = false
## The handling method for quoted text (defaults to 'ignore').
## The following methods are available:
## ignore -- do not consider quotation (default)
## single-quotes -- consider text quoted by single quotes (')
## double-quotes -- consider text quoted by double quotes (")
## backticks -- consider text quoted by backticks (`)
## When handling quotes, escaped quotes (e.g. \") are handled correctly.
#quotation = "ignore"
## The preserve_newline option can be true or false (defaults to false).
## If true, the newline character is preserved for multiline elements,
## this is useful to preserve message-structure e.g. for logging outputs.
#preserve_newline = false
#After the specified timeout, this plugin sends the multiline event even if no new pattern is found to start a new event. The default is 5s.
#timeout = 5s
SQLite
[[outputs.sql]]
## Database driver
## Valid options: mssql (Microsoft SQL Server), mysql (MySQL), pgx (Postgres),
## sqlite (SQLite3), snowflake (snowflake.com), clickhouse (ClickHouse)
driver = "sqlite"
## Data source name
## For SQLite, the DSN is a filename or URL with the scheme "file:".
## Example: "file:/path/to/telegraf.db?cache=shared"
data_source_name = "file:/path/to/telegraf.db?cache=shared"
## Timestamp column name
timestamp_column = "timestamp"
## Table creation template
## Available template variables:
## {TABLE} - table name as a quoted identifier
## {TABLELITERAL} - table name as a quoted string literal
## {COLUMNS} - column definitions (list of quoted identifiers and types)
table_template = "CREATE TABLE {TABLE} ({COLUMNS})"
## Table existence check template
## Available template variables:
## {TABLE} - table name as a quoted identifier
table_exists_template = "SELECT 1 FROM {TABLE} LIMIT 1"
## Initialization SQL (optional)
init_sql = ""
## Maximum amount of time a connection may be idle. "0s" means connections are never closed due to idle time.
connection_max_idle_time = "0s"
## Maximum amount of time a connection may be reused. "0s" means connections are never closed due to age.
connection_max_lifetime = "0s"
## Maximum number of connections in the idle connection pool. 0 means unlimited.
connection_max_idle = 2
## Maximum number of open connections to the database. 0 means unlimited.
connection_max_open = 0
## Metric type to SQL type conversion
## The values on the left are the data types Telegraf has and the values on the right are the SQL types used when writing to SQLite.
#[outputs.sql.convert]
# integer = "INT"
# real = "DOUBLE"
# text = "TEXT"
# timestamp = "TIMESTAMP"
# defaultvalue = "TEXT"
# unsigned = "UNSIGNED"
# bool = "BOOL"
Input and output integration examples
Tail
-
Real-Time Server Health Monitoring: Implement the Tail plugin to parse web server access logs in real-time, providing immediate visibility into user activity, error rates, and performance metrics. By visualizing this log data, operations teams can quickly identify and respond to spikes in traffic or errors, enhancing system reliability and user experience.
-
Centralized Log Management: Utilize the Tail plugin to aggregate logs from multiple sources across a distributed system. By configuring each service to send its logs to a centralized location via the Tail plugin, teams can simplify log analysis and ensure that all relevant data is accessible from a single interface, streamlining troubleshooting processes.
-
Security Incident Detection: Use this plugin to monitor authentication logs for unauthorized access attempts or suspicious activity. By setting up alerts on certain log messages, teams can leverage this plugin to enhance security postures and respond promptly to potential security threats, reducing the risk of breaches and increasing overall system integrity.
-
Dynamic Application Performance Insights: Integrate with analytics tools to create real-time dashboards that display application performance metrics based on log data. This setup not only helps developers diagnose bottlenecks and inefficiencies but also allows for proactive performance tuning and resource allocation, optimizing application behavior under varying loads.
SQLite
- Local Monitoring Storage: Configure the plugin to write metrics to a local SQLite database file. This is ideal for lightweight deployments where setting up a full-scale database server is not required.
- Embedded Applications: Use SQLite as the backend for applications embedded in edge devices, benefiting from its file-based architecture and minimal resource requirements.
- Quick Setup for Testing: Leverage SQLite’s ease of use to quickly set up a testing environment for Telegraf metrics collection without the need for external database services.
- Custom Schema Management: Adjust the table creation templates to predefine your schema if you require specific column types or indexes, ensuring compatibility with your application’s needs.
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.
Powerful Performance, Limitless Scale
Collect, organize, and act on massive volumes of high-velocity data. Any data is more valuable when you think of it as time series data. with InfluxDB, the #1 time series platform built to scale with Telegraf.
See Ways to Get Started
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