InfiniBand and AWS Timestream Integration

Input and output integration overview

The InfiniBand Telegraf plugin collects performance metrics from all InfiniBand devices installed on a Linux system, providing essential insights for monitoring network performance and reliability.

The AWS Timestream Telegraf plugin enables users to send metrics directly to Amazon’s Timestream service, which is designed for time series data management. This plugin offers a variety of configuration options for authentication, data organization, and retention settings.

Integration details

InfiniBand

This plugin gathers statistics for all InfiniBand devices and ports on the system. InfiniBand is a high-speed networking technology commonly used in high-performance computing and enterprise data centers. The plugin retrieves various performance counters from the system’s InfiniBand devices located in /sys/class/infiniband/<dev>/port/<port>/counters/. The metrics depend on the specific InfiniBand hardware and include various packet and error statistics that are essential for monitoring network health and performance. By utilizing this plugin, users can gain insights into the operational status of their InfiniBand networks, helping to identify potential issues and optimize performance.

AWS Timestream

This plugin is designed to efficiently write metrics to Amazon’s Timestream service, a time series database optimized for IoT and operational applications. With this plugin Telegraf can send data collected from various sources and supports a flexible configuration for authentication, data organization, and retention management. It utilizes a credential chain for authentication, allowing various methods such as web identity, assumed roles, and shared profiles. Users can define how metrics are organized in Timestream—whether to use a single table or multiple tables, alongside control over aspect such as retention periods for both magnetic and memory stores. A key feature is its ability to handle multi-measure records, enabling efficient data ingestion and helping to reduce the overhead of multiple writes. In terms of error handling, the plugin includes mechanisms for addressing common issues related to AWS errors during data writes, such as retry logic for throttling and the ability to create tables as needed.

Configuration

InfiniBand

# Gets counters from all InfiniBand cards and ports installed
# This plugin ONLY supports Linux
[[inputs.infiniband]]
  # no configuration

  ## Collect RDMA counters
  # gather_rdma = false

AWS Timestream

[[outputs.timestream]]
  ## Amazon Region
  region = "us-east-1"

  ## Amazon Credentials
  ## Credentials are loaded in the following order:
  ## 1) Web identity provider credentials via STS if role_arn and web_identity_token_file are specified
  ## 2) Assumed credentials via STS if role_arn is specified
  ## 3) explicit credentials from 'access_key' and 'secret_key'
  ## 4) shared profile from 'profile'
  ## 5) environment variables
  ## 6) shared credentials file
  ## 7) EC2 Instance Profile
  #access_key = ""
  #secret_key = ""
  #token = ""
  #role_arn = ""
  #web_identity_token_file = ""
  #role_session_name = ""
  #profile = ""
  #shared_credential_file = ""

  ## Endpoint to make request against, the correct endpoint is automatically
  ## determined and this option should only be set if you wish to override the
  ## default.
  ##   ex: endpoint_url = "http://localhost:8000"
  # endpoint_url = ""

  ## Timestream database where the metrics will be inserted.
  ## The database must exist prior to starting Telegraf.
  database_name = "yourDatabaseNameHere"

  ## Specifies if the plugin should describe the Timestream database upon starting
  ## to validate if it has access necessary permissions, connection, etc., as a safety check.
  ## If the describe operation fails, the plugin will not start
  ## and therefore the Telegraf agent will not start.
  describe_database_on_start = false

  ## Specifies how the data is organized in Timestream.
  ## Valid values are: single-table, multi-table.
  ## When mapping_mode is set to single-table, all of the data is stored in a single table.
  ## When mapping_mode is set to multi-table, the data is organized and stored in multiple tables.
  ## The default is multi-table.
  mapping_mode = "multi-table"

  ## Specifies if the plugin should create the table, if the table does not exist.
  create_table_if_not_exists = true

  ## Specifies the Timestream table magnetic store retention period in days.
  ## Check Timestream documentation for more details.
  ## NOTE: This property is valid when create_table_if_not_exists = true.
  create_table_magnetic_store_retention_period_in_days = 365

  ## Specifies the Timestream table memory store retention period in hours.
  ## Check Timestream documentation for more details.
  ## NOTE: This property is valid when create_table_if_not_exists = true.
  create_table_memory_store_retention_period_in_hours = 24

  ## Specifies how the data is written into Timestream.
  ## Valid values are: true, false
  ## When use_multi_measure_records is set to true, all of the tags and fields are stored
  ## as a single row in a Timestream table.
  ## When use_multi_measure_record is set to false, Timestream stores each field in a
  ## separate table row, thereby storing the tags multiple times (once for each field).
  ## The recommended setting is true.
  ## The default is false.
  use_multi_measure_records = "false"

  ## Specifies the measure_name to use when sending multi-measure records.
  ## NOTE: This property is valid when use_multi_measure_records=true and mapping_mode=multi-table
  measure_name_for_multi_measure_records = "telegraf_measure"

  ## Specifies the name of the table to write data into
  ## NOTE: This property is valid when mapping_mode=single-table.
  # single_table_name = ""

  ## Specifies the name of dimension when all of the data is being stored in a single table
  ## and the measurement name is transformed into the dimension value
  ## (see Mapping data from Influx to Timestream for details)
  ## NOTE: This property is valid when mapping_mode=single-table.
  # single_table_dimension_name_for_telegraf_measurement_name = "namespace"

  ## Only valid and optional if create_table_if_not_exists = true
  ## Specifies the Timestream table tags.
  ## Check Timestream documentation for more details
  # create_table_tags = { "foo" = "bar", "environment" = "dev"}

  ## Specify the maximum number of parallel go routines to ingest/write data
  ## If not specified, defaulted to 1 go routines
  max_write_go_routines = 25

  ## Please see README.md to know how line protocol data is mapped to Timestream
  ##

Input and output integration examples

InfiniBand

1. Performance Monitoring in High-Performance Computing (HPC): Monitor the performance metrics of InfiniBand interconnects in a high-performance computing cluster. By analyzing metrics such as packet errors and throughput, system administrators can ensure optimal operation and quickly identify any performance degradation. This setup enhances the reliability of computational tasks by allowing timely interventions based on accurate monitoring data.

2. Network Health Audits: Perform routine health checks of InfiniBand networks. The detailed metrics gathered, such as excessive buffer overruns and link integrity errors, provide valuable insights for network audits. By establishing baseline performance and watching for anomalies, IT professionals can ensure the stability and performance of critical infrastructures.

3. Integration with Alerting Systems: Set up the InfiniBand plugin to work in conjunction with alerting systems to trigger notifications based on performance thresholds. For instance, if the number of link errors exceeds a predefined limit, an alert can be sent to the network operations team. This proactive approach ensures that potential issues are addressed before they impact business operations.

4. Data Visualization Dashboards: Feed InfiniBand metrics to a visualization tool to create dashboards that display the real-time performance of the network. This can help stakeholders visualize critical data such as packet transmission rates and errors, facilitating better decision-making regarding network management and capacity planning.

AWS Timestream

1. IoT Data Metrics: Use the Timestream plugin to send real-time metrics from IoT devices to Timestream, allowing for quick analysis and visualization of sensor data. By organizing device readings into a time series format, users can track trends, identify anomalies, and streamline operational decisions based on device performance.

2. Application Performance Monitoring: Leverage Timestream alongside application monitoring tools to send metrics about service performance over time. This integration enables engineers to perform historical analysis of application performance, correlate it with business metrics, and optimize resource allocation based on usage patterns viewed over time.

3. Automated Data Archiving: Configure the Timestream plugin to write data to Timestream while simultaneously managing retention periods. This setup can automate archiving strategies, ensuring that older data is preserved according to predefined criteria. This is especially useful for compliance and historical analysis, allowing businesses to maintain their data lifecycle with minimal manual intervention.

4. Multi-Application Metrics Aggregation: Utilize the Timestream plugin to aggregate metrics from multiple applications into Timestream. By creating a unified database of performance metrics, organizations can gain holistic insights across various services, improving visibility into system-wide performance and facilitating cross-application troubleshooting.

Feedback

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