How to Set up Rancher Server Monitoring with TIG Stack?

Server monitoring is as important as the content of your server. It allows you to have all the necessary information about its resources in a single view and informs you if they are going to run out before an unpleasant phone call from your boss.

In this article, I will show you how to set up monitoring of your Rancher infrastructure using the TIG Stack (Telegraf, InfluxDB and Grafana). If you think that you do not have time for server monitoring, you are wrong.

In less then 15 minutes we will have a working dashboard showing how much disk space a mobile or web app consumes, its memory usage, network traffic, and Docker container metrics and even a simple alert for high memory usage.

This tutorial assumes that you have basic knowledge of Docker and Rancher.

What we need:

Telegraf – for collecting, processing, aggregating and writing metrics
InfluxDB – for storing data
Grafana – for visualization of metrics and creating alerts

How to set up Rancher server monitoring? – Tutorial

#1 Create a new stack on Rancher

Step 1

Create a docker-compose.yml file:

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version: '2'
volumes:
influxdb:
driver: local
grafana:
driver: local

services:
influxdb:
image: influxdb
volumes:
- /home/docker/monitoring/influxdb/data:/var/lib/influxdb
- /home/docker/monitoring/influxdb/config/:/etc/influxdb/
ports:
# The API for InfluxDB is served on port 8086
- "8086:8086"
- "8082:8082"
# UDP Port
- "8089:8089"

grafana:
image: grafana/grafana #4.4.2
environment:
- GF_INSTALL_PLUGINS=grafana-clock-panel,grafana-worldmap-panel,grafana-piechart-panel
- GF_SMTP_ENABLED=true
- GF_SMTP_HOST=<SMTP_HOST_ADDRESS:SMTP_PORT>
- GF_SMTP_USER=<SMTP_USERNAME>
- GF_SMTP_PASSWORD=<SMTP_SMTP_PASSWORD>
- GF_SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS=<SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS>
- GF_SMTP_FROM_NAME=<SMTP_FROM_NAME>
links:
- influxdb:influxdb
ports:
- "3000:3000"
volumes:
- /home/docker/monitoring/grafana/data:/var/lib/grafana

All the necessary volumes are defined on top of docker-compose.yml. We stick to the convention that all volumes should be stored inside the /home/docker/ directory so change them if you have a different convention. If you do not have SMTP configured, remove all GF_SMTP_* environment variables from the grafana container.

Step 2

Add new stack in Rancher and upload the docker-compose.yml file

#2 Update Grafana

Your Grafana container probably has some errors. View logs from the container and you will most likely find an issue with permissions. To solve it do the following:

Step 1

Enter the Grafana container and make a directory grafana/data

Step 2

Change the owner of this directory

1	chown 472:472 -R data

Step 3

Restart the grafana container

We will come back to Grafana later on.

#3 Set up InfluxDB

Step 1

Create a influxdb.conf file:

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reporting-disabled = true
bind-address = ":8088"

[meta]
dir = "/var/lib/influxdb/meta"
retention-autocreate = true
logging-enabled = true

[data]
dir = "/var/lib/influxdb/data"
wal-dir = "/var/lib/influxdb/wal"
query-log-enabled = true
cache-max-memory-size = 1073741824
cache-snapshot-memory-size = 26214400
cache-snapshot-write-cold-duration = "10m0s"
compact-full-write-cold-duration = "4h0m0s"
max-series-per-database = 1000000
max-values-per-tag = 100000
index-version = "tsi1"
trace-logging-enabled = false

[coordinator]
write-timeout = "10s"
max-concurrent-queries = 0
query-timeout = "0s"
log-queries-after = "0s"
max-select-point = 0
max-select-series = 0
max-select-buckets = 0

[retention]
enabled = true
check-interval = "30m0s"

[shard-precreation]
enabled = true
check-interval = "10m0s"
advance-period = "30m0s"

[monitor]
store-enabled = true
store-database = "_internal"
store-interval = "10s"

[subscriber]
enabled = true
http-timeout = "30s"
insecure-skip-verify = false
ca-certs = ""
write-concurrency = 40
write-buffer-size = 1000

[http]
enabled = true
flux-enabled = true
bind-address = ":8086"
auth-enabled = false
log-enabled = true
write-tracing = false
pprof-enabled = true
https-enabled = false
https-certificate = "/etc/ssl/influxdb.pem"
https-private-key = ""
max-row-limit = 0
max-connection-limit = 0
shared-secret = ""
realm = "InfluxDB"
unix-socket-enabled = false
bind-socket = "/var/run/influxdb.sock"

[[graphite]]
enabled = false
bind-address = ":2003"
database = "graphite"
retention-policy = ""
protocol = "tcp"
batch-size = 5000
batch-pending = 10
batch-timeout = "1s"
consistency-level = "one"
separator = "."
udp-read-buffer = 0

[[collectd]]
enabled = false
bind-address = ":25826"
database = "collectd"
retention-policy = ""
batch-size = 5000
batch-pending = 10
batch-timeout = "10s"
read-buffer = 0
typesdb = "/usr/share/collectd/types.db"
security-level = "none"
auth-file = "/etc/collectd/auth_file"

[[opentsdb]]
enabled = false
bind-address = ":4242"
database = "opentsdb"
retention-policy = ""
consistency-level = "one"
tls-enabled = false
certificate = "/etc/ssl/influxdb.pem"
batch-size = 1000
batch-pending = 5
batch-timeout = "1s"
log-point-errors = true

[[udp]]
enabled = true
bind-address = ":8089"
database = "udp"
retention-policy = ""
batch-size = 5000
batch-pending = 10
read-buffer = 0
batch-timeout = "1s"
precision = ""

[continuous_queries]
log-enabled = true
enabled = true
run-interval = "1s"

Step 2

Enter the InfluxDB container

Step 3

Copy the configuration file to /var/lib/influxdb/influxdb.conf

Step 4

Restart the influx container

Step 5

Enter the container again

Step 6

Type influx to start using the influx CLI

Step 7

Add a new user

1	CREATE USER <INFLUXDB_USERNAME> WITH PASSWORD '<INFLUXDB_PASSWORD>' WITH ALL PRIVILEGES

Step 8

Type exit to exit the CLI

Step 9

Open influxdb.config again and change auth-enabled to true in the [http] section

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[http]
...
auth-enabled = true

Step 10

Exit and restart the influx container

Next time you would like to use influx CLI you will have to specify the username and password

1	influx -username INFLUXDB_USERNAME -password INFLUXDB_PASSWORD

Now your InfluxDB is ready to collect server monitoring data.

#4 Install Telegraf

Step 1

Install Telegraf on your server. For Ubuntu you can use following commands:

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curl -sL https://repos.influxdata.com/influxdb.key | sudo apt-key add -
source /etc/lsb-release
echo "deb https://repos.influxdata.com/${DISTRIB_ID,,} ${DISTRIB_CODENAME} stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/influxdb.list
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install telegraf

To read more about installation, read the Telegraf installation guide

Step 2

Create a telegraf.conf file:

[agent]
interval = "5s"
round_interval = true
metric_batch_size = 1000
## Telegraf will cache metric_buffer_limit metrics for each output, and will
## flush this buffer on a successful write.
metric_buffer_limit = 10000
## Collection jitter is used to jitter the collection by a random amount.
## Each plugin will sleep for a random time within jitter before collecting.
## This can be used to avoid many plugins querying things like sysfs at the
## same time, which can have a measurable effect on the system.
collection_jitter = "0s"
## Default flushing interval for all outputs. You shouldn't set this below
## interval. Maximum flush_interval will be flush_interval + flush_jitter
flush_interval = "5s"
## Jitter the flush interval by a random amount. This is primarily to avoid
## large write spikes for users running a large number of telegraf instances.
## ie, a jitter of 5s and interval 10s means flushes will happen every 10-15s
flush_jitter = "0s"
precision = ""
## Run telegraf in debug mode
debug = false
## Run telegraf in quiet mode
quiet = false
logfile = ""
## Override default hostname, if empty use os.Hostname()
hostname = ""
omit_hostname = false

###############################################################################
# OUTPUTS #
###############################################################################
[[outputs.influxdb]]
urls = ["http://localhost:8086"]
database = "<INFLUXDB_DATABASENAME>"
username = "<INFLUXDB_USERNAME>"
password = "<INFLUXDB_USERNAME>"
retention_policy = ""
write_consistency = "any"
timeout = "5s"

###############################################################################
# INPUTS #
###############################################################################
# Read metrics about cpu usage
[[inputs.cpu]]
# Whether to report per-cpu stats or not
percpu = true
# Whether to report total system CPU stats or not
totalcpu = true
# Comment this line if you want the raw CPU time metrics
fielddrop = ["time_*"]

# Read metrics about disk usage by mount point
[[inputs.disk]]
# By default, telegraf gather stats for all mountpoints.
# Setting mountpoints will restrict the stats to the specified mountpoints.
mount_points=["/", "/host"]

# Ignore some mountpoints by filesystem type. For example (dev)tmpfs (usually
# present on /run, /var/run, /dev/shm or /dev).
ignore_fs = ["tmpfs", "devtmpfs"]

# Read metrics about disk IO by a device
[[inputs.diskio]]
# By default, telegraf will gather stats for all devices including
# disk partitions.
# Setting devices will restrict the stats to the specified devices.
# devices = ["sda", "sdb"]
# Uncomment the following line if you do not need disk serial numbers.
# skip_serial_number = true

# Read metrics about memory usage
[[inputs.mem]]

# Read metrics about swap memory usage
[[inputs.swap]]

# Read metrics about system load & uptime
[[inputs.system]]

# collects network bond
[[inputs.bond]]

# total number of processes and groups them by status (zombie, sleeping, running, etc.)
[[inputs.processes]]

# Gather metrics about network interfaces
[[inputs.net]]
## By default, telegraf gathers stats from any up interface (excluding loopback)
## Setting interfaces will tell it to gather these explicit interfaces,
## regardless of status. When specifying an interface, glob-style
## patterns are also supported.
##
interfaces = ["eth*", "en*", "enp0s[0-1]", "lo"]
##
## On linux systems telegraf also collects protocol stats.
## Setting ignore_protocol_stats to true will skip reporting of protocol metrics.
##
# ignore_protocol_stats = false
##

# Get kernel statistics from /proc/stat
[[inputs.kernel]]

[[inputs.netstat]]

#[[inputs.interrupts]]

###############################################################################
# SERVICE INPUTS #
###############################################################################
[[inputs.docker]]
## Docker Endpoint
## To use TCP, set endpoint = "tcp://[ip]:[port]"
## To use environment variables (ie, docker-machine), set endpoint = "ENV"
endpoint = "unix:///var/run/docker.sock"
## Containers to include and exclude. Collect all if empty. Globs accepted.
container_name_include = []
container_name_exclude = []
timeout = "5s"
## Whether to report for each container per-device blkio (8:0, 8:1...) and
## network (eth0, eth1, ...) stats or not
perdevice = true
## Whether to report for each container total blkio and network stats or not
total = false
## Which environment variables should we use as a tag
# tag_env = ["JAVA_HOME", "HEAP_SIZE"]
## 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

[[inputs.influxdb]]
urls = ["http://localhost:8086/debug/vars"]

Step 3

Make sure that you entered correct urls, username and password to your InfluxDB in the [[outputs.influxdb]] section

Step 4

Upload telegraf.conf to your server. In my case, the config file is stored in /etc/telegraf/telegraf.conf

Step 5

Start the Telegraf service, on Ubuntu you can start it via sudo service telegraf start

Step 6

Add the Telegraf agent to the Docker group to get information for dockers.

1	sudo usermod -aG docker telegraf

#5 Update Grafana again

Step 1

Open grafana, it’s on port 3000 by default

Default login: admin
Default password: admin

Step 2

Add a datasource:

Open http://GRAFANA_ADDRESS:3000/datasources
Select influxdb
Set the url to influxdb – http://<INFLUXDB_ADDRESS>:8086
In InfluxDB Details type
- Database: <INFLUXDB_DATABASENAME>
- User: <INFLUXDB_USERNAME>
- Password: <INFLUXDB_PASSWORD>
- Save and Test

Step 3

Import dashboard:

Open http://localhost:3000/dashboard/import
Enter 928 in Grafana Dashboard field
Load

You can pick one of those grafana dashboards. 2738 is quite good for Rancher.

Step 4

Add a notification channel for your server monitoring:

E-mail:

Open Alert => Notification Channels
Name: monitoring
Type: Email
Add Email Addresses
Save and test

Slack or Mattermost by using a webhook:

Name: slack
Type: slack
Url: <SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL>
Save and test. You can find more information about Slack Webhooks here.

Step 5

Add a sample alert for low disk space:

Add a new dashboard
Pick Graph
Click on Panel title => Edit
On the bottom panel Graph => Metrics
In Data Source pick InfluxDB

Or click the hamburger button next to the query builder and select Toggle Edit Mode
Pass a query SELECT mean(“used_percent”) FROM “mem” WHERE (“host” = <YOUR_SERVER_NAME>) AND $timeFilter GROUP BY time($__interval) fill(none)
Switch to the Axes tab
Type 0 to Y-min and 100 to Y-Max

Switch to the Alert tab
Create new alert
Type 80 to IS ABOVE

Select notification channels
Save the dashboard by clicking on the disk icon from the top bar

Now you will be informed when memory usage is above 80% for more than 5 minutes. Was it so hard to set up a full working server monitoring system for your Rancher? Now you are ready to install multiple Telegraf instances on your dev or test servers and see everything in a single Grafana.

Final word

TIG Stack is a combination of really great tools for server monitoring that can save you a lot of time, problems and effort. Combined with the ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash and Kibana) it gives you a nice set of tools for both visualizing metrics and analyzing log messages. You can continue further by adding a load balancer instead of exposing ports.

A working project can be downloaded from GitHub.

If you liked this tutorial and would like to see other tutorials published on our blog, check one of our latest pieces – “How to Perform CSS Regression Testing With Selenium and Hermione.js“.

Szczepan Blaszkiewicz

Szczepan Blaszkiewicz is a JavaScript Full Stack Developer at Brainhub (a software house building awesome Node.js web and mobile apps).

How to Set up Rancher Server Monitoring with TIG Stack?

How to set up Rancher server monitoring? – Tutorial

#1 Create a new stack on Rancher

Step 1

Step 2

#2 Update Grafana

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

#3 Set up InfluxDB

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Step 9

Step 10

#4 Install Telegraf

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

#5 Update Grafana again

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Final word

Szczepan Blaszkiewicz

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