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OpenTSDB

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OpenTSDB is a distributed, scalable Time Series Database (TSDB). OpenTSDB stores, indexes, and serves metrics collected from computer systems at a large scale, and makes this data easily accessible and suitable for graphing.

OpenTSDB parameters and supported features in Nobl9
General support:
Release channel: Stable, Beta
Connection method: Agent
Replay and SLI Analyzer: Not supported
Event logs: Not supported
Query checker: Not supported
Query parameters retrieval: Not supported
Timestamp cache persistence: Supported

Query parameters:
Query interval: 1 min
Query delay: 1 min
Jitter: 15 sec
Timeout: 30 sec

Agent details and minimum required versions for supported features:
Environment variable: OPENTSDB_QUERY_DELAY
Plugin name: n9opentsdb
Timestamp cache persistence: 0.65.0

Authentication​

Nobl9 integration with OpenTSDB does not support an authentication and access control system. The API calls are open to the public.

To limit access to OpenTSDB, you must use network ACLs or firewalls. OpenTSDB is meant to be run behind a user’s private environment and is not public-facing.

Adding OpenTSDB as a data source​

To ensure data transmission between Nobl9 and OpenTSDB, it may be necessary to list Nobl9 IP addresses as trusted.

IP addresses to add to your allowlist:
  • 18.159.114.21
  • 18.158.132.186
  • 3.64.154.26
⚠ Applies to app.nobl9.com only. In all other cases, contact Nobl9 support.

You can add the OpenTSDB data source using the agent connection method.

Nobl9 Web​

Follow the instructions below to configure your OpenTSDB agent:

  1. Navigate to Integrations > Sources.
  2. Click .
  3. Click the required Source button.
  4. Choose Agent.
  1. 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 a beta 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.
  2. Enter a URL to connect to your data source.

  1. 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 the default project.
  2. Enter a Display Name.
    You can enter a user-friendly name with spaces in this field.
  3. 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.
  4. Enter a Description.
    Here you can add details such as who is responsible for the integration (team/owner) and the purpose of creating it.
  5. Specify the Query delay to set a customized delay for queries when pulling the data from the data source.
    • The default value in OpenTSDB integration for Query delay is 1 minute.
    info
    Changing the Query delay may affect your SLI data. For more details, check the Query delay documentation.
  6. Click Add Data Source.

sloctl​

The YAML for setting up an agent connection to OpenTSDB looks like this:

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: Agent
metadata:
# String, mandatory. The name identifier of the data source. Allowed characters: a-z, 0-9, and dashes
name: opentsdb-data-source
# String, optional. A user-friendly name of your data source
displayName: My OpenTSDB agent data source
# String, mandatory. The name identifier of the project to locate the data source in
project: my-project
spec:
# String, optional. A user-friendly description of your data source
description: Sample OpenTSDB data source (agent connection)
releaseChannel: stable
opentsdb:
url: http://your-opentsdb-instance.opentsdb:port
queryDelay:
value: 2
unit: Minute
FieldTypeDescription
queryDelay.unit
mandatory
enumSpecifies the unit for the query delay. Possible values: Second | Minute.
β€’ Check query delay documentation for default unit of query delay for each source.
queryDelay.value
mandatory
numericSpecifies the value for the query delay.
β€’ Must be a number less than 1440 minutes (24 hours).
β€’ Check query delay documentation for default unit of query delay for each source.
releaseChannel
mandatory
enumSpecifies the release channel. Accepted values: beta | stable.
Source-specific fields
opentsdb.url
mandatory
stringBase URL that points to your OpenTSDB instance.
warning

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 Nobl9 Web, under the Agent Configuration section. Be sure to swap in your credentials.

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: my-opentsdb-agent-data-source
namespace: my-namespace
type: Opaque
stringData:
client_id: "unique_client_id"
client_secret: "unique_client_secret"
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: my-opentsdb-agent-data-source
namespace: my-namespace
spec:
replicas: 1
selector:
matchLabels:
nobl9-agent-name: opentsdb-data-source
nobl9-agent-project: my-project
nobl9-agent-organization: my-organization
template:
metadata:
labels:
nobl9-agent-name: opentsdb-data-source
nobl9-agent-project: my-project
nobl9-agent-organization: my-organization
spec:
containers:
- name: agent-container
image: nobl9/agent:0.82.2
resources:
requests:
memory: "350Mi"
cpu: "0.1"
env:
- name: N9_CLIENT_ID
valueFrom:
secretKeyRef:
key: client_id
name: my-opentsdb-agent-data-source
- name: N9_CLIENT_SECRET
valueFrom:
secretKeyRef:
key: client_secret
name: my-opentsdb-agent-data-source
# 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"

Creating SLOs with OpenTSDB​

Nobl9 Web​

Follow the instructions below to create your SLOs with OpenTSDB in the Nobl9 Web:

  1. Navigate to Service Level Objectives.

  2. Click .
  3. In step 1 of the SLO wizard, select the service the SLO will be associated with.

  4. In step 2, select OpenTSDB 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).

    1. 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.
  5. Enter a Metric Selector or Metric selector for good counter and Metric selector for total counter for the metric you selected. The following are query examples:

    • Threshold metric for OpenTSDB:
      Metric Selector: m=none:{{.N9RESOLUTION}}-avg-zero:transaction.duration{host=host.01}

    • Ratio metric for OpenTSDB:
      Metric selector for good counter: m=none:{{.N9RESOLUTION}}-count-zero:cpu{cpu.usage=core.1}}}-count-zero:http.code{code=2xx}

      Metric selector for total counter: m=none:{{.N9RESOLUTION}}-count-zero:http.code{type=http.status_code}

    SLI values for good and total
    When 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.
  6. 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.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.
  3. Click Create SLO.

sloctl​

Here’s an example of OpenTSDB using rawMetric (threshold metric):

apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
kind: SLO
metadata:
name: my-threshold-slo
project: my-project
spec:
description: ""
service: my-service
indicator:
metricSource:
name: my-opentsdb-data-source
timeWindows:
- unit: Day
count: 1
isRolling: true
budgetingMethod: Occurrences
objectives:
- displayName: My objective 1
name: my-objective-1
op: lte
rawMetric:
query:
opentsdb:
query: m=sum:{{.N9RESOLUTION}}-sum-zero:my_metric_name{tag.name_1=tag.tag_1}
value: 5
target: 0.50
- displayName: My objective-2
name: my-objective-2
op: lte
rawMetric:
query:
opentsdb:
query: m=sum:{{.N9RESOLUTION}}-sum-zero:my_metric_name{tag.name_1=tag.tag_1}
value: 10
target: 0.75

Important notes:

Important notes: Nobl9 agent must have control over queried time range. The query must filter out documents in a specific time range: The Nobl9 agent must have control over time series resolution:

m=none:{{.N9RESOLUTION}}-p75:metric.name{tag.name_1=tag.tag_1}

In this query:

  • {{.N9RESOLUTION}} is the mandatory placeholder replaced by the Nobl9 agent with the correct value
  • p75 is the aggregation function that will be used (e.g., count, 99th percentile)
  • test.to.test is the target metric name
  • metric.name is the target metric name
  • {tag.name_1=tag.tag_1} is an optional key-value set parameter for additional filtering (e.g., host=cluster01)
  • {tag.name_1=tag.tag_1} is an optional key-value set parameter for additional filtering (e.g., host=cluster01) Nobl9 also supports a list of TSUIDs that share a common metric instead of a query. For more details, refer to TSUIDs and UIDs.

Querying the OpenTSDB server​

Nobl9 queries OpenTSDB API once per minute and requests a resolution of 4, thus giving 4 data points per minute. The start and end times, along with the specified query and resolution value are passed into the API call.

For a more in-depth look, consult additional resources: