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Monitoring Agent Plugin

The monitoring agent plugin builds upon the monitoring agent application included as part of the SSR software. The monitoring application can be managed via various config files on disk which can be cumbersome and error prone. The plugin provides a better config management experience while providing a more user friendly way to configure the built-in application.

Installation

Plugin

For deployments running SSR version 5.1.0 or greater on the conductor, install the monitoring agent plugin for configuration management.

note

The instructions for installing and managing the plugin can be found here.

Configuration

With the plugin installed, the configuration for the monitoring agent application can be managed via the conductor. The general workflow for creating the configuration is as follows:

  • Configure the inputs
  • Configure the outputs
  • Create an agent config profile
  • Reference the profile on the router

Input Configuration

The monitoring agent plugin allows the user to configure a set of inputs to be captured to monitor the routers. The configuration can be found under config > authority > monitoring > input. The configuration will depend on the type of input selected and here are the common fields that apply to all the inputs

ElementTypeDescription
namestringThe name of the input
typeenumerationThe type of the input such as device-state, metrics etc
additional-configmultiline-toml-stringAdditional telegraf configuration for the input not captured by the data model
tagslistList of tags to be included for this particular input
tags > tagstringThe name of the tag
tags > node-Use the node name of the router as tag value
tags > router-Use the router name of the router as tag value
tags > valuestringUser specified value for the tag

Based on the selected type, additional type specific configuration will be configurable. Here's an example of a custom-input which allows the user to create a TOML telegraf configuration.

admin@node1.conductor1#
admin@node1.conductor1# configure authority monitoring input cpu
admin@node1.conductor1 (input[name=cpu])# type custom-input
*admin@node1.conductor1 (input[name=cpu])# config
Enter toml for config (Press CTRL-D to finish):
[[inputs.cpu]]
## Whether to report per-cpu stats or not
percpu = true
## Whether to report total system cpu stats or not
totalcpu = true
## If true, collect raw CPU time metrics.
collect_cpu_time = false
## If true, compute and report the sum of all non-idle CPU states.
report_active = false


*admin@node1.conductor1 (input[name=cpu])#

Output configuration

The output configuration provides information about the various data sink for the inputs. The monitoring configuration provides specific output types for convenience as well as a custom-output type for specifying any telegraf supported output definition. The common fields are as follows:

ElementTypeDescription
namestringThe name of the output
typeenumerationThe type of the output such as Kafka, syslog etc
push-jitteruint32The amount of time to jitter sending of the data to the output
batch-sizeuint32The maximum number of rows of data to send at once
buffer-limituint32The maximum number of unsent metrics in the buffer
data-formatenumerationThe output data format for telegraf such as influx, json
formatstringWhen the data-format is other, the name of the output format supported by telegraf
additional-configmultiline-toml-stringAdditional telegraf configuration for the output not captured by the data model

Based on the selected type, additional type specific configuration will be configurable. Here's an example of a custom-output which allows the user to create a TOML telegraf configuration

*admin@node1.conductor1# configure authority monitoring output http
*admin@node1.conductor1 (output[name=http])# type custom-output
*admin@node1.conductor1 (output[name=http])#
*admin@node1.conductor1 (output[name=http])# config
Enter toml for config (Press CTRL-D to finish):
# A plugin that can transmit metrics over HTTP
[[outputs.http]]
## URL is the address to send metrics to
url = "http://127.0.0.1:8080/telegraf"


*admin@node1.conductor1 (output[name=http])#

Agent Configuration

The agent-config can be leveraged to create a monitoring profile by referencing the various inputs and outputs configured in the previous steps. This allows multiple profiles to be created and applies to different routers. The various configuration options for the agent-config as follows:

ElementTypeDescription
namestringThe name of the agent configuration profile
push-intervalintervalThe frequency with which to send data to the output(s)
sample-intervalintervalThe frequency with which to collect data from the input(s)
tagslistList of tags to be included for this particular input
tags > tagstringThe name of the tag
tags > node-Use the node name of the router as tag value
tags > router-Use the router name of the router as tag value
tags > valuestringUser specified value for the tag
variableslistList of config variables which allows for customization on the running system
variables > namestringThe name of the variable
variables > querystringThe GraphQL query to be executed to determine the value of the variable
inputlistList of inputs to be included in the profile
input > namereferenceReference to the input configured above
input > push-intervaluint32Override the push-interval for the specific input
input > sample-intervaluint32Override the sample-interval for the specific input
input > include-all-outputsbooleanDefault; true. When enabled, the input will be sent to all configured outputs
input > outputreferenceWhen include-all-outputs is false, configure a set of outputs to be used as data sink
input > additional-configmultiline-toml-stringAdditional Telegraf configuration not present in the datamodel such as preprocessors, aggregators etc

An example of the agent configuration looks as follows:

config

authority

monitoring

agent-config my-agent
name my-agent

tags custom
tag custom
value custom1
exit

tags router
tag router
router
exit
sample-interval 10s
push-interval 30s

input device-state
name device-state
include-all-outputs false
output syslog
exit

input events
name events
push-interval 1s
include-all-outputs true
exit

input graph
name graph
exit

input metrics
name metrics
sample-interval 100s
include-all-outputs false
output kafka
exit
exit
exit
exit
exit

Router configuration

Once all the inputs, outputs and agent-config are provisioned, the profile can be referenced on the individual routers. The monitoring config elements can be found under authority > router > system > monitoring

ElementTypeDescription
enabledbooleanEnable or disable the Monitoring Agent
agent-configreferenceThe agent-config that should apply to this router

Here's an example of the router configuration

config

authority

router router1
name router1

system

monitoring
enabled true
agent-config my-agent
exit
exit
exit
exit
exit

Supported Inputs

The monitoring-agent comes pre-packaged with a set of collectors to assist in the monitoring of the SSR platform. Here are the various collectors and how to use them:

Metric

The metrics input is responsible for collecting the configured metrics from a running system. The various configuration options available under authority > monitoring > input > metrics are as follows:

ElementTypeDescription
use-default-configbooleanWhether to use the set of builtin metrics as recommended by the SSR for monitoring
metriclistList of metrics
metric > namestringThe desired name of the metric to include in the telegraf
metric > idmetric-idThe ID of the metric as it exists in the REST API
filterlistList of parameter values that should be included in the output
filter > parameterstringThe name of the parameter being referenced
filter > valueleaf-listThe list of values to be included in the match

An example configuration of the metrics input looks as follows:

config

authority

monitoring

input bandwidth-metrics
name bandwidth-metrics
type metrics

metrics
use-default-config false

metric internet-rx-bandwidth stats/aggregate-session/service/bandwidth-received
name internet-rx-bandwidth
id stats/aggregate-session/service/bandwidth-received
exit

metric internet-tx-bandwidth stats/aggregate-session/service/bandwidth-received
name internet-tx-bandwidth
id stats/aggregate-session/service/bandwidth-received
exit

filter service
parameter service
value internet
exit
exit
exit
exit
exit
exit
note

Please refer to metric collector for more details about the input.

Event

The event input can be used for collecting and pushing events for various categories such as admin, alarm, system, traffic and provisioning as they occur on the system. The various configuration options available under authority > monitoring > input > event are as follows:

ElementTypeDefaultDescription
adminbooleantrueInclude admin events generated by the system
auditbooleantrueInclude audit events generated by the system
alarmbooleantrueInclude alarm events generated by the system
trafficbooleantrueInclude traffic events generated by the system
provisioningbooleantrueInclude provisioning events generated by the system
systembooleantrueInclude system events generated by the system
track-indexbooleantrueEnable best effort tracking of events generated while the output cannot be reached
note

The events described above need to be enabled for the router under authority > router > system > audit for the event input to be able to collect and push those events.

An example configuration for events inputs is as below

config

authority

monitoring

input events
name events
type events

event
admin true
audit false
alarm true
traffic false
provisioning false
system false
exit
exit
exit
exit
exit
note

Please refer to event collector for more details about the input.

Device Interface State

The device-state input can be used for monitoring the admin, oper, provisional, and redundancy status of various device-interfaces configured on the node. The various configuration options available under authority > monitoring > input > device-interface are as follows:

ElementTypeDescription
interfaceleaf-listDevice interface names to be included in the collection. Empty list implies all configured interfaces are collected

The example configuration for device-state input is as shown below

config

authority

monitoring

input device-state
name device-state

tags my-tag
tag my-tag
value my-value
exit

type device-interface

device-interface
interface wan1
exit
exit
exit
exit
exit
note

Please refer to device interface state collector for more details about the input.

Peer Path State

The peer-path input can be used for monitoring the up/down status of all the peer paths on the node. The various configuration options available under authority > monitoring > input > peer-path are as follows:

ElementTypeDescription
network-interfaceleaf-listNetwork interface names to be included in the collection. Empty list implies all configured interfaces are collected
peer-routerleaf-listPeer routers to be included in the collection. Empty list implies all configured peer routers are collected

The example configuration for peer-path input is as shown below

config

authority

monitoring

input peer-paths
name peer-paths
type peer-path

peer-path
network-interface dpdk3
exit
exit
exit
exit
exit
note

Please refer to peer path state collector for more details about the input.

Arp State

The arp-state input can be used for monitoring the arp table status of a network interface configured on the node. The various configuration options available under authority > monitoring > input > arp are as follows:

ElementTypeDescription
device-interfaceleaf-listDevice interface names to be included in the collection. Empty list implies all configured interfaces are collected
network-interfaceleaf-listNetwork interface names to be included in the collection. Empty list implies all configured interfaces are collected

The example configuration for arp input is as shown below

config

authority

monitoring

input arp-state
name arp-state
type arp

arp
device-interface dpdk3
exit
exit
exit
exit
exit
note

Please refer to arp state collector for more details about the input.

LTE

The lte input can be used for pushing the signal-strength and carrier information to the monitoring stack. It can be enabled by setting authority > monitoring > input > type as lte

config

authority

monitoring

input lte-test
name lte-collector
type lte
exit
exit
exit
exit
note

Please refer to LTE collector for more details about the input.

Top Analytics

The top analytics input can be used for monitoring the top sources, top sessions and top applications on the router.

Top Sessions

The input type of top-sessions can be used to enable the top-sessions configuration. An example of such configuration is as follows:

config

authority

monitoring

input top-sessions
name top-sessions
type top-sessions
exit
exit
exit
exit

Top Sources

The top-sources input can be used to configure the various aspects of the top sources API on the system. The various configuration options available under authority > monitoring > input > top-sources are as follows:

ElementTypeDefaultDescription
max-rowsuint3210The maximum number of rows to be collected per sample
categoryenumerationtotal-dataControls how the top sources are determined. Options are session-count and total-data

An example configuration is as follows:

config

authority

monitoring

input top-sources
name top-sources
type top-sources

top-sources
max-rows 10
category session-count
exit
exit
exit
exit
exit

Top Applications

The monitoring agent top-applications input can be used to configure various aspects of the API on the system. The various configuration options available under authority > monitoring > input > top-applications are as follows:

ElementTypeDefaultDescription
max-rowsuint3210The maximum number of rows to be collected per sample
min-session-countuint321The minimum number of sessions for an application to be collected
application-filterstring-Restrict the applications to be included in the collection

An example of the top applications configuration is as follows:

config

authority

monitoring

input top-apps
name top-apps
type top-applications

top-applications
max-rows 10
min-session-count 5
exit
exit
exit
exit
exit
note

Please refer to top analytics collector for more details about the input.

GraphQL

The graphql input can be used to retrieve data from a GraphQL API. The various configuration options available under authority > monitoring > input > graphql are as follows:

ElementTypeDescription
query-entry-pointstringThe path to a point in the graphQL tree from which fields and tags will be extracted. This path may contain (<key>:<value>) graphQL arguments such as (name:'${ROUTER}').
extract-fieldlistList of leaf nodes to be collected from query response as fields
extract-field > namestringThe name of the field
extract-field > valuestringThe graphQL query path from which to extract the value. The path can be relative to the entry-point or absolute. If the path is absolute, it cannot diverge from the entry point path and must exclude graphQL arguments
extract-taglistList of leaf nodes to be collected from query response as tags
extract-tag > namestringThe name of the tag
extract-tag > valuestringThe graphQL query path from which to extract the value. The path can be relative to the entry-point or absolute. If the path is absolute, it cannot diverge from the entry point path and must exclude graphQL arguments

An example configuration using can be seen as below

config

authority

monitoring

input graph
name graph
type graphql

graphql
query-entry-point allRouters(name:'${ROUTER}')/nodes/nodes(name:'${NODE}')/nodes/deviceInterfaces/nodes

extract-field enabled
name enabled
value enabled
exit

extract-field interface-count
name interface-count
value allRouters/nodes/nodes/nodes/deviceInterfaces/totalCount
exit

extract-tag router-name
name router-name
value allRouters/nodes/name
exit

extract-tag name
name name
value name
exit

extract-tag type
name type
value type
exit

extract-tag admin-status
name admin-status
value state/adminStatus
exit
exit
exit
exit
exit
exit
note

Please refer to GraphQL collector for more details about the input.

GraphQL variables

The new variable substitution scheme allows for GraphQL based queries to be executed on the router to obtain useful information to be included as tags. For example, the scheme can be used to periodically send the entitlements information or use a config description field as a tag for some inputs. The monitoring agent plugin provides a mechanism to configure such variables as shown in in the example below

config

authority

monitoring

agent-config my-agent
name my-agent

variables entitlement
variable entitlement
query allRouters(name:${ROUTER})/nodes/entitlement/id
exit
exit
exit
exit
exit

When configuring the variables on the file system, the agent configuration can include the variables as follows:

Path: /etc/128t-monitoring/config.yaml

enabled: true
variables:
- name: ENTITLEMENT
query: allRouters(name:"${ROUTER}")/nodes/entitlement/id
- name: DESCRIPTION
query: allRouters(name:"${ROUTER}")/nodes/nodes(name:"${NODE}")/nodes/deviceInterfaces(name:"10")/nodes/description

Session Records

The monitoring agent session-records input can be used to generate session records on the system.

note

The session record input is only compatible with SSR >= 5.4.0.

The various configuration options available under authority > monitoring > input > session-records are as follows:

ElementTypeDefaultDescription
include-all-recordsstringtrueWhether to include all the session records generated by the system.
record-typelistemptyList of valid session record type such as create, intermediate, modify, close, error
note

Please refer to session-record collector for more details about the input.

SSR Processors

Processors are not currently exposed explicitly in the plugin config, but they can be achieved through an input's additional config.

note

Please refer to the ssr processors documentation for examples and sample config.

Outputs

Local Filesystem

Configuring the file output will write metrics to the local filesystem. This can be useful for testing or as a backup data source in case network connectivity issues prevent data from reaching the intended collection endpoint.

The file output is one of the built in available types for the monitoring agent plugin. The various configuration options available under authority > monitoring > output > file are as follows:

ElementTypeDescription
filelistEither stdout or absolute path to file on disk
rotation-intervaldurationThe file(s) will be rotated at the specified interval
rotation-max-sizeuint32The file(s) will be rotated when it becomes larger than the configured size.
rotation-max-archivesunit32The maximum number of archives to keep when the file(s) is rotated.

An example configuration for file output looks as follows:

config

authority

monitoring

output file
name file
type file

file
file stdout
file /tmp/foobar
rotation-interval 12h
rotation-max-size 100
rotation-max-archives 5
exit
exit
exit
exit
exit

The monitoring configuration corresponds to the following telegraf configuration.

Path: /var/lib/128t-monitoring/outputs/file.conf

[[outputs.file]]
## Files to write to, "stdout" is a specially handled file.
files = ["stdout", "/tmp/metrics.out"]

## Use batch serialization format instead of line based delimiting. The
## batch format allows for the production of non line based output formats and
## may more efficiently encode metric groups.
# use_batch_format = false

## The file will be rotated after the time interval specified. When set
## to 0 no time based rotation is performed.
# rotation_interval = "0d"

## The logfile will be rotated when it becomes larger than the specified
## size. When set to 0 no size based rotation is performed.
# rotation_max_size = "0MB"

## Maximum number of rotated archives to keep, any older logs are deleted.
## If set to -1, no archives are removed.
# rotation_max_archives = 5

## Data format to output.
## 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_OUTPUT.md
data_format = "influx"

Kafka

The kafka output is one of the built in available types for the monitoring agent plugin. The various configuration options available under authority > monitoring > output > kafka are as follows:

ElementTypeDescription
brokerlistList of Kafka broker(s) to communicate with
broker > hostip-address or domain nameThe address or domain name for the Kafka broker
broker > portl4-portThe port number for the Kafka broker
compression-codecenumerationThe compression codec to be used for communicating with Kafka
max-retryunit32The maximum number of times to retry before failing until the next push interval
topicstringThe Kafka topic to produce messages for

Here's an example monitoring config for kafka output

config

authority

monitoring

output kafka
name kafka
type kafka
data-format json

kafka

broker 192.168.1.7 9092
host 192.168.1.7
port 9092
exit
topic test
exit
additional-config (text/toml)
exit
exit
exit
exit

This example sends data to a Kafka broker:

Path: /var/lib/128t-monitoring/outputs/kafka.conf

[[outputs.kafka]]
## URLs of kafka brokers
brokers = ["<ip>:9092"]
## Kafka topic for producer messages
topic = "telegraf"
max_retry = 3
data_format = "json"

Syslog

The syslog output is one of the built in available types for the monitoring agent plugin. The various configuration options available under authority > monitoring > output > syslog are as follows:

ElementTypeDescription
addressuriThe URL to the syslog server. For example tcp://127.0.0.1:8094
default-severity-codeuint8Default severity code to be used when severity_code metric field is not present
default-facility-codeuint8Default severity code to be used when severity_code metric field is not present
sdidstringThe default Syslog SDID to be used for fields and tags
tcp-keep-alive-perioddurationPeriod between TCP keep alive probes

Here's an example monitoring plugin config for syslog output

config

authority

monitoring

output syslog
name syslog
type syslog

syslog
address tcp://localhost:514
default-severity-code 3
default-facility-code 20
exit
exit
exit
exit
exit

In this example data is sent via syslog:

Path: /var/lib/128t-monitoring/outputs/syslog.conf

[[outputs.syslog]]
address = "udp://<ip>:514"
default_sdid = "128T"
important

For syslog output, not specifying the default_sdid parameter can result in empty or truncated messages

Monitoring Agent Plugin Release Notes

Release 3.0.5

Release Date: Dec 14, 2023

Router Version

  • 128T-monitoring-agent-plugin-router-1.1.10-2
  • 128T-monitoring-agent-3.8.9-1

New Features and Improvements:

  • PLUGIN-630 Report additional LTE metrics

The LTE collector now includes additional information such as carrier, connection-status, active-band-class, apn, service-mode and service-status.

  • PLUGIN-2275 Introduced timeout argument for run-once command

A new timeout argument is added for the run-once testing tool provided by monitoring-agent-cli to control how long the input waits to complete its data completion.

Issues Fixed

  • PLUGIN-2069 Disabling monitoring agent does not stop the collection services

    Resolution The various monitoring agent services are now correctly stopped when the plugin is disabled or uninstalled.

  • PLUGIN-2274 Monitoring Agent Plugin incorrectly allows the data-format option on some outputs.

    Resolution For syslog output, the data-format option will no longer be allowed to avoid user confusion.

  • I95-52139 High memory reported when using the cpu collector

    Resolution The underlying memory leak for the CPU collector has been fixed to resolve the high memory condition.

  • PLUGIN-2272 The include-output configuration causes duplicated config to be added to the generated config

    Resolution The code generation logic handles multiple include-output requests correctly and resolves the duplication in the generated config.

  • I95-53604 Router syslog output is sometimes malformed

    Resolution When an input uses multiple syslog outputs, the data corruption caused by message serialization code has been addressed.

  • WAN-1714 Dataplane CPU shows incorrect data for core utilization on node0

    Resolution The cpu collector handles various edge cases with missing data, IDP enabled, etc., when reporting the core utilization statistics.

  • I95-43137 Session Records not sent correctly in syslog output

    Resolution The syslog message parsing was improved to correctly handle the JSON output format produced by session records input.

Release 2.2.0

Release Date: Oct 25, 2022

Router Version

  • 128T-monitoring-agent-plugin-router-1.1.0-4
  • 128T-monitoring-agent-3.7.3-3

Issues Fixed

  • PLUGIN-1902 Monitoring agent plugin fails to generate the metric input

    Resolution Improved the handling of default values when processing the monitoring agent metrics input configuration

  • PLUGIN-1903 Monitoring configuration does not work for milliseconds sampling and push interval

    Resolution The validation for the sampling and push interval no longer allows the invalid interval values in milliseconds, microseconds and nanoseconds

  • WAN-1449 The cpu state collector does not report correct values for IDP data core

    Resolution The query for retrieving the IDP data core usage is corrected to handle some errors more gracefully

Release 2.1.0

Release Date: Jun 24, 2022

New Features and Improvements:

  • MON-391 Add support for tech support info collection for all monitoring agent components
  • MON-389 Add support for adjacent hostname in the peer-path collector

Issues Fixed

  • PLUGIN-1729 Monitoring agent service stopped sending metrics

    Resolution The monitoring agent service will now be stopped gracefully before upgrades and will automatically restart after upgrade

Release 2.0.3

New Features and Improvements:

  • PLUGIN-1163 Updated the plugin to use the latest monitoring agent version.

Release 2.0.1

New Features and Improvements:

  • MON-352 Updated the plugin to use the latest monitoring agent version.

Release 2.0.0

New Features and Improvements:

  • PLUGIN-667 Introduce a new monitoring agent plugin to better manage the monitoring agent through the GUI and PCLI. Some key highlights are:
  • Support all the SSR developed collectors such as metrics, events, top-sessions, etc.
  • Support the most commonly used outputs such as file, syslog, Kafka, etc.
  • Support multi-line input fields for generic telegraf configuration with TOML syntax validation.