Intel PowerStat and M3DB Integration

Input and output integration overview

Monitor power statistics on Intel-based platforms and is compatible with Linux-based operating systems. It helps in understanding and managing power efficiency and CPU performance.

This plugin allows Telegraf to stream metrics to M3DB using the Prometheus Remote Write protocol, enabling scalable ingestion through the M3 Coordinator.

Integration details

Intel PowerStat

The Intel PowerStat plugin is designed to monitor power statistics specifically on Intel-based platforms running a Linux operating system. It offers visibility into critical metrics such as CPU temperature, utilization, and power consumption, making it essential for power saving initiatives and workload migration strategies. By leveraging telemetry frameworks, this plugin enables users to gain insights into platform-level metrics that help with monitoring and analytics systems in the context of Management and Orchestration (MANO). It facilitates the ability to make informed decisions and perform corrective actions based on the state of the platform, ultimately contributing to better system efficiency and reliability.

M3DB

This configuration uses Telegraf’s HTTP output plugin with prometheusremotewrite format to send metrics directly to M3DB through the M3 Coordinator. M3DB is a distributed time series database designed for scalable, high-throughput metric storage. It supports ingestion of Prometheus remote write data via its Coordinator component, which manages translation and routing into the M3DB cluster. This approach enables organizations to collect metrics from systems that aren’t natively instrumented for Prometheus (e.g., Windows, SNMP, legacy systems) and ingest them efficiently into M3’s long-term, high-performance storage engine. The setup is ideal for high-scale observability stacks with Prometheus compatibility requirements.

Configuration

Intel PowerStat

[[inputs.intel_powerstat]]
  # package_metrics = ["current_power_consumption", "current_dram_power_consumption", "thermal_design_power"]
  # cpu_metrics = []
  # included_cpus = []
  # excluded_cpus = []
  # event_definitions = ""
  # msr_read_timeout = "0ms"

M3DB

# Configuration for sending metrics to M3
[outputs.http]
  ## URL is the address to send metrics to
  url = "https://M3_HOST:M3_PORT/api/v1/prom/remote/write"

  ## HTTP Basic Auth credentials
  username = "admin"
  password = "password"

  ## Data format to output.
  data_format = "prometheusremotewrite"

  ## Outgoing HTTP headers
  [outputs.http.headers]
    Content-Type = "application/x-protobuf"
    Content-Encoding = "snappy"
    X-Prometheus-Remote-Write-Version = "0.1.0"

Input and output integration examples

Intel PowerStat

1. Optimizing Data Center Energy Usage: Monitor power consumption metrics across all CPUs in a data center. By capturing real-time data, administrators can identify which servers consume the most power and implement shutdowns or load balancing strategies during low demand periods, effectively reducing operational costs.

2. Dynamic Workload Migration Based on Power Efficiency: Integrate this plugin with a cloud orchestration tool to enable dynamic migration of workloads based on power usage metrics. If a particular server is recorded as consuming excessive power without corresponding output, the orchestrator can seamlessly migrate workloads to more efficient nodes, ensuring optimal resource utilization and lower energy expenses.

3. Monitoring and Alerting Mechanism for Overheating CPUs: Implement an alerting system using the CPU temperature metrics captured by Intel PowerStat. Setting thresholds for temperature can alert system administrators when a CPU is prone to overheating, allowing proactive measures to be taken before hardware damage occurs, ultimately extending the life of the components.

4. Performance Benchmarking for CPU-intensive Applications: Use the metrics provided to benchmark the performance of CPU-intensive applications. By analyzing the cpu_frequency, cpu_temperature, and power metrics under load, developers can optimize application performance and make informed decisions regarding scaling and resource allocation.

M3DB

1. Large-Scale Cloud Infrastructure Monitoring: Deploy Telegraf agents across thousands of virtual machines and containers to collect metrics and stream them into M3DB through the M3 Coordinator. This provides reliable, long-term visibility with minimal storage overhead and high availability.

2. Legacy System Metrics Ingestion: Use Telegraf to gather metrics from older systems that lack native Prometheus exporters (e.g., Windows servers, SNMP devices) and forward them to M3DB via remote write. This bridges modern observability workflows with legacy infrastructure.

3. Centralized App Telemetry Aggregation: Collect application-specific telemetry using Telegraf’s plugin ecosystem (e.g., exec, http, jolokia) and push it into M3DB for centralized storage and query via PromQL. This enables unified analytics across diverse data sources.

4. Hybrid Cloud Observability: Install Telegraf agents on-prem and in the cloud to collect and remote-write metrics into a centralized M3DB cluster. This ensures consistent visibility across environments while avoiding the complexity of running Prometheus federation layers.

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