Graphite
Graphite is a monitoring tool used to track the performance of websites, applications, business services, and networked servers.
Scope of support
Currently, Nobl9 integration with Graphite supports the agent connection method only.
Authentication
Graphite does not directly support authentication for connections to its HTTP API. Organizations can set it in their infrastructure. Nobl9 connects to Graphite through the Render URL API. To connect Nobl9 agent to Graphite, you must specify your Render URL API endpoint that allows you to generate graphs and retrieve raw data from Graphite. For more details, see The Render URL API | Graphite documentation.
Optional Bearer token
If GRAPHITE_AUTH_BEARER_TOKEN
variable is set during agent startup, its value will be added as an Authorization header to every HTTP request.
Optional HTTP basic authentication credentials
This plugin allows credentials passed as environment variables during agent startup.
The keys are GRAPHITE_BASIC_AUTH_USERNAME
and GRAPHITE_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD
.
Adding Graphite as a data source
You can add the Graphite data source using the agent connection method.
Nobl9 Web
Follow the instructions below to configure your Graphite agent:
- Navigate to Integrations > Sources.
- Click
.
- Click the required Source icon.
- Choose Agent.
-
Select one of the following Release Channels:
- The
stable
channel is fully tested by the Nobl9 team. It represents the final product; however, this channel does not contain all the new features of abeta
release. Use it to avoid crashes and other limitations. - The
beta
channel is under active development. Here, you can check out new features and improvements without the risk of affecting any viable SLOs. Remember that features in this channel can change.
- The
-
Enter the Render URL API to connect to your data source.
The URL must start withhttp://
orhttps://
.
- Select a Project.
Specifying a project is helpful when multiple users are spread across multiple teams or projects. When the Project field is left blank, Nobl9 uses thedefault
project. - Enter a Display Name.
You can enter a user-friendly name with spaces in this field. - Enter a Name.
The name is mandatory and can only contain lowercase, alphanumeric characters, and dashes (for example,my-project-1
). Nobl9 duplicates the display name here, transforming it into the supported format, but you can edit the result. - Enter a Description.
Here you can add details such as who is responsible for the integration (team/owner) and the purpose of creating it. - Specify the Query delay to set a customized delay for queries when pulling the data from the data source.
- The default value in Graphite integration for Query delay is
1 minute
.
infoChanging the Query delay may affect your SLI data. For more details, check the Query delay documentation. - The default value in Graphite integration for Query delay is
- Enter a Maximum Period for Historical Data Retrieval.
- This value defines how far back in the past your data will be retrieved when replaying your SLO based on this data source.
- The maximum period value depends on the data source.
Find the maximum value for your data source. - A greater period can extend the loading time when creating an SLO.
- The value must be a positive integer.
- Enter a Default Period for Historical Data Retrieval.
- It is used by SLOs connected to this data source.
- The value must be a positive integer or
0
. - By default, this value is set to 0. When you set it to
>0
, you will create SLOs with Replay.
- Click Add Data Source
Since Graphite is based on user settings, make sure Replay is aligned with the settings applied in the storage-schemas.conf
and storage-aggregation.conf
configuration files.
sloctl
The YAML for setting up an agent connection to Graphite looks like this:
apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: Agent
metadata:
name: Graphite
displayName: Graphite # optional
project: Graphite Agent
spec:
description: Agent settings for Graphite # optional
sourceOf:
- Metrics
- Services
releaseChannel: beta # string, one of: beta || stable
queryDelay:
unit: Minute # string, one of: Second || Minute
value: 720 # numeric, must be a number less than 1440 minutes (24 hours)
graphite:
url: http://graphite.datasource-example/render
historicalDataRetrieval:
maxDuration:
value: 30 # integer greater than or equal to 0
unit: Day # accepted values: Minute, Hour, Day
defaultDuration: # value must be less than or equal to value of maxDuration
value: 0 # integer greater than or equal to 0
unit: Day # accepted values: Minute, Hour, Day
Field | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
queryDelay.unit mandatory | enum | Specifies the unit for the query delay. Possible values: Second | Minute . • Check query delay documentation for default unit of query delay for each source. |
queryDelay.value mandatory | numeric | Specifies the value for the query delay. • Must be a number less than 1440 minutes (24 hours). • Check query delay documentation for default unit of query delay for each source. |
releaseChannel mandatory | enum | Specifies the release channel. Accepted values: beta | stable . |
Source-specific fields | ||
graphiteURL mandatory | string | Render API URL endpoint of Graphite's instance. See authentication for more details. |
Replay-related fields | ||
historicalDataRetrieval optional | n/a | Optional structure related to configuration related to Replay. ❗ Use only with supported sources. • If omitted, Nobl9 uses the default values of value: 0 and unit: Day for maxDuration and defaultDuration . |
maxDuration.value optional | numeric | Specifies the maximum duration for historical data retrieval. Must be integer ≥ 0 . See Replay documentation for values of max duration per data source. |
maxDuration.unit optional | enum | Specifies the unit for the maximum duration of historical data retrieval. Accepted values: Minute | Hour | Day . |
defaultDuration.value optional | numeric | Specifies the default duration for historical data retrieval. Must be integer ≥ 0 and ≤ maxDuration . |
defaultDuration.unit optional | enum | Specifies the unit for the default duration of historical data retrieval. Accepted values: Minute | Hour | Day . |
You can deploy only one agent in one YAML file by using the sloctl apply
command.
Agent deployment
When you add the data source, Nobl9 automatically generates a Kubernetes configuration and a Docker command line for you to use to deploy the agent. Both of these are available in the web UI, under the Agent Configuration section. Be sure to swap in your credentials.
- Kubernetes
- Docker
If you use Kubernetes, you can apply the supplied YAML config file to a Kubernetes cluster to deploy the agent. It will look something like this:
# DISCLAIMER: This deployment description contains only the fields necessary for the purpose of this demo.
# It is not a ready-to-apply k8s deployment description, and the client_id and client_secret are only exemplary values.
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
name: nobl9-agent-graphite-secret
namespace: default
type: Opaque
stringData:
client_id: "unique_client_id"
client_secret: "unique_client_secret"
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: nobl9-agent-graphite-deployment
namespace: default
spec:
replicas: 1
selector:
matchLabels:
nobl9-agent-name: "graphite-name"
nobl9-agent-project: "graphite"
nobl9-agent-organization: "organization"
template:
metadata:
labels:
nobl9-agent-name: "graphite-name"
nobl9-agent-project: "graphite"
nobl9-agent-organization: "organization"
spec:
containers:
- name: agent-container
image: nobl9/agent:0.80.0
resources:
requests:
memory: "350Mi"
cpu: "0.1"
env:
- name: N9_CLIENT_ID
valueFrom:
secretKeyRef:
key: client_id
name: nobl9-agent-graphite-secret
- name: N9_CLIENT_SECRET
valueFrom:
secretKeyRef:
key: client_secret
name: nobl9-agent-graphite-secret
# The N9_METRICS_PORT is a variable specifying the port to which the /metrics and /health endpoints are exposed.
# The 9090 is the default value and can be changed.
# If you don’t want the metrics to be exposed, comment out or delete the N9_METRICS_PORT variable.
- name: N9_METRICS_PORT
value: "9090"
If you use Docker, you can run the Docker command to deploy the agent. It will look something like this:
# DISCLAIMER: This docker command description is containing only the necessary fields for the purpose of this demo.
# It is not a ready-to-apply docker command.
docker run -d --restart on-failure \
--name nobl9-agent-graphite-container \
-e N9_CLIENT_ID="unique_client_id" \
-e N9_CLIENT_SECRET="unique_client_secret" \
# The N9_METRICS_PORT is a variable specifying the port to which the /metrics and /health endpoints are exposed.
# The 9090 is the default value and can be changed.
# If you don’t want the metrics to be exposed, comment out or delete the N9_METRICS_PORT variable.
-e N9_METRICS_PORT=9090 \
nobl9/agent:0.80.0
Creating SLOs with Graphite
Nobl9 Web
Follow the instructions below to create your SLOs with Graphite in the UI:
-
Navigate to Service Level Objectives.
-
Click
.
-
In step 2, select Graphite as the Data Source for your SLO, then specify the Metric. You can choose either a Threshold Metric, where a single time series is evaluated against a threshold, or a Ratio Metric, which allows you to enter two time series to compare (for example, a count of good requests and total requests).
- Choose the Data Count Method for your ratio metric:
- Non-incremental: counts incoming metric values one-by-one. So the resulting SLO graph is pike-shaped.
- Incremental: counts the incoming metric values incrementally, adding every next value to previous values.
It results in a constantly increasing SLO graph.
-
Enter a Query or Good query, and Total query for the metric you selected. The following are query examples:
-
Threshold metric for Graphite:
Query:carbon.agents.9b365cce.cpuUsage
-
Ratio metric for Graphite:
Good query:stats_counts.response.200
Total query:astats_counts.response.all
SLI values for good and totalWhen choosing the query for the ratio SLI (countMetrics
), keep in mind that the values resulting from that query for both good and total:- Must be positive.
- While we recommend using integers, fractions are also acceptable.
- If using fractions, we recommend them to be larger than
1e-4
=0.0001
. - Shouldn't be larger than
1e+20
.
-
-
In step 3, define a Time Window for the SLO.
-
Rolling time windows are better for tracking the recent user experience of a service.
-
Calendar-aligned windows are best suited for SLOs that are intended to map to business metrics measured on a calendar-aligned basis, such as every calendar month or every quarter.
-
In step 4, specify the Error Budget Calculation Method and your Objective(s).
- Occurrences method counts good attempts against the count of total attempts.
- Time Slicesmethod measures how many good minutes were achieved (when a system operates within defined boundaries) during a time window.
- You can define up to 12 objectives for an SLO.
See the use case example and the SLO calculations guide for more information on the error budget calculation methods.
-
In step 5, add the Display name, Name, and other settings for your SLO:
- Create a composite SLO
- Set notification on data, if this option is available for your data source.
When activated, Nobl9 notifies you if your SLO hasn't received data or received incomplete data for more than 15 minutes. - Add alert policies, labels, and links, if required.
You can add up to 20 links per SLO.
-
Click Create SLO.
sloctl
- rawMetric
- countMetric
Here’s an example of Graphite using a rawMetric
(threshold metric):
apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
name: graphite-slo-1
project: graphite
spec:
service: web-service
indicator:
metricSource:
name: graphite-agent
timeWindows:
- unit: Day
count: 7
isRolling: true
budgetingMethod: Occurrences
objectives:
- displayName: Good
op: lte
rawMetric:
query:
graphite:
metricPath: carbon.agents.9b365cce.cpuUsage
value: 100
target: 0.9
Here’s an example of Graphite using a countMetric
(ratio metric):
apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
name: graphite-slo-2
project: default
spec:
service: web-service
indicator:
metricSource:
name: graphite-agent
timeWIndows:
- unit: Day
count: 7
calendar:
startTime: 2020-03-09 00:00:00
timeZone: Europe/Warsaw
budgetingMethod: Occurrences
objectives:
- displayName: Good
target: 0.95
countMetrics:
incremental: false
good:
graphite:
metricPath: stats_counts.response.200
total:
graphite:
metricPath: stats_counts.response.all
Metric specification for Graphite has only one mandatory field:
metricPath
- it is a string field that specifies Graphite’s metric path, such asservers.cpu.total
Visit the following link to understand Paths and Wildcards.
The Graphite documentation suggests using *
, [
,]
, {
, or }
, but Nobl9 does not support this functionality. When you use *
, [
,]
, {
, or }
, a validation error occurs.
Querying the Graphite server
Metrics are retrieved using the from
and until
parameters once per minute. The API returns a half-open interval (from, until]
, which includes the end date but not the start date.