iptables and Elasticsearch Integration
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Table of Contents
Powerful Performance, Limitless Scale
Collect, organize, and act on massive volumes of high-velocity data. Any data is more valuable when you think of it as time series data. with InfluxDB, the #1 time series platform built to scale with Telegraf.
See Ways to Get Started
Input and output integration overview
The iptables plugin for Telegraf collects metrics on packet and byte counts for specified iptables rules, providing insights into firewall activity and performance.
The Telegraf Elasticsearch Plugin seamlessly sends metrics to an Elasticsearch server. The plugin handles template creation and dynamic index management, and supports various Elasticsearch-specific features to ensure data is formatted correctly for storage and retrieval.
Integration details
iptables
The iptables plugin gathers packets and bytes counters for rules within a set of table and chain from the Linux iptables firewall. The plugin monitors rules identified by associated comments, as rules without comments are ignored. This approach ensures a unique identification for the monitored rules, which is particularly important since the rule number can change dynamically as rules are modified. To use this plugin effectively, users must name their rules with unique comments. The plugin also requires elevated permissions (CAP_NET_ADMIN and CAP_NET_RAW) to run, which can be configured either by running Telegraf as root (discouraged), using systemd capabilities, or by configuring sudo appropriately. Additionally, defining multiple instances of the plugin might lead to conflicts; thus, using locking mechanisms in the configuration is recommended to avoid errors during concurrent accesses.
Elasticsearch
This plugin writes metrics to Elasticsearch, a distributed, RESTful search and analytics engine capable of storing large amounts of data in near real-time. It is designed to handle Elasticsearch versions 5.x through 7.x and utilizes its dynamic template features to manage data type mapping properly. The plugin supports advanced features such as template management, dynamic index naming, and integration with OpenSearch. It also allows configurations for authentication and health monitoring of the Elasticsearch nodes.
Configuration
iptables
[[inputs.iptables]]
## iptables require root access on most systems.
## Setting 'use_sudo' to true will make use of sudo to run iptables.
## Users must configure sudo to allow telegraf user to run iptables with
## no password.
## iptables can be restricted to only list command "iptables -nvL".
use_sudo = false
## Setting 'use_lock' to true runs iptables with the "-w" option.
## Adjust your sudo settings appropriately if using this option
## ("iptables -w 5 -nvl")
use_lock = false
## Define an alternate executable, such as "ip6tables". Default is "iptables".
# binary = "ip6tables"
## defines the table to monitor:
table = "filter"
## defines the chains to monitor.
## NOTE: iptables rules without a comment will not be monitored.
## Read the plugin documentation for more information.
chains = [ "INPUT" ]
Elasticsearch
[[outputs.elasticsearch]]
## The full HTTP endpoint URL for your Elasticsearch instance
## Multiple urls can be specified as part of the same cluster,
## this means that only ONE of the urls will be written to each interval
urls = [ "http://node1.es.example.com:9200" ] # required.
## Elasticsearch client timeout, defaults to "5s" if not set.
timeout = "5s"
## Set to true to ask Elasticsearch a list of all cluster nodes,
## thus it is not necessary to list all nodes in the urls config option
enable_sniffer = false
## Set to true to enable gzip compression
enable_gzip = false
## Set the interval to check if the Elasticsearch nodes are available
## Setting to "0s" will disable the health check (not recommended in production)
health_check_interval = "10s"
## Set the timeout for periodic health checks.
# health_check_timeout = "1s"
## HTTP basic authentication details.
## HTTP basic authentication details
# username = "telegraf"
# password = "mypassword"
## HTTP bearer token authentication details
# auth_bearer_token = "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9"
## Index Config
## The target index for metrics (Elasticsearch will create if it not exists).
## You can use the date specifiers below to create indexes per time frame.
## The metric timestamp will be used to decide the destination index name
# %Y - year (2016)
# %y - last two digits of year (00..99)
# %m - month (01..12)
# %d - day of month (e.g., 01)
# %H - hour (00..23)
# %V - week of the year (ISO week) (01..53)
## Additionally, you can specify a tag name using the notation {{tag_name}}
## which will be used as part of the index name. If the tag does not exist,
## the default tag value will be used.
# index_name = "telegraf-{{host}}-%Y.%m.%d"
# default_tag_value = "none"
index_name = "telegraf-%Y.%m.%d" # required.
## Optional Index Config
## Set to true if Telegraf should use the "create" OpType while indexing
# use_optype_create = false
## 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
## Template Config
## Set to true if you want telegraf to manage its index template.
## If enabled it will create a recommended index template for telegraf indexes
manage_template = true
## The template name used for telegraf indexes
template_name = "telegraf"
## Set to true if you want telegraf to overwrite an existing template
overwrite_template = false
## If set to true a unique ID hash will be sent as sha256(concat(timestamp,measurement,series-hash)) string
## it will enable data resend and update metric points avoiding duplicated metrics with different id's
force_document_id = false
## Specifies the handling of NaN and Inf values.
## This option can have the following values:
## none -- do not modify field-values (default); will produce an error if NaNs or infs are encountered
## drop -- drop fields containing NaNs or infs
## replace -- replace with the value in "float_replacement_value" (default: 0.0)
## NaNs and inf will be replaced with the given number, -inf with the negative of that number
# float_handling = "none"
# float_replacement_value = 0.0
## Pipeline Config
## To use a ingest pipeline, set this to the name of the pipeline you want to use.
# use_pipeline = "my_pipeline"
## Additionally, you can specify a tag name using the notation {{tag_name}}
## which will be used as part of the pipeline name. If the tag does not exist,
## the default pipeline will be used as the pipeline. If no default pipeline is set,
## no pipeline is used for the metric.
# use_pipeline = "{{es_pipeline}}"
# default_pipeline = "my_pipeline"
#
# Custom HTTP headers
# To pass custom HTTP headers please define it in a given below section
# [outputs.elasticsearch.headers]
# "X-Custom-Header" = "custom-value"
## Template Index Settings
## Overrides the template settings.index section with any provided options.
## Defaults provided here in the config
# template_index_settings = {
# refresh_interval = "10s",
# mapping.total_fields.limit = 5000,
# auto_expand_replicas = "0-1",
# codec = "best_compression"
# }
Input and output integration examples
iptables
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Monitoring Firewall Performance: Monitor the performance and efficiency of your firewall rules in real time. By tracking packet and byte counters, network administrators can identify which rules are most active and may require optimization. This enables proactive management of firewall configurations to enhance security and performance, especially in environments where dynamic adjustments are frequently made.
-
Understanding Traffic Patterns: Analyze incoming and outgoing traffic patterns based on specific rules. By leveraging the metrics gathered by this plugin, system admins can gain insights into which services are receiving the most traffic, effectively identifying popular services and potential security threats from unusual traffic spikes.
-
Automated Alerting on Traffic Anomalies: Integrate the iptables plugin with an alerting system to notify administrators of unusual activity detected by the firewall. By setting thresholds on the collected metrics, such as sudden increases in packets dropped or unexpected protocol use, teams can automate responses to potential security incidents, enabling swift remediation of threats to the network.
-
Comparative Analysis of Firewall Rules: Conduct comparative analyses of different firewall rules over time. By collecting historical packet and byte metrics, organizations can evaluate the effectiveness of various rules, making data-driven decisions on which rules to modify, reinforce, or remove altogether, thus streamlining their firewall configurations.
Elasticsearch
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Time-based Indexing: Use this plugin to store metrics in Elasticsearch to index each metric based on the time collected. For example, CPU metrics can be stored in a daily index named
telegraf-2023.01.01
, allowing easy time-based queries and retention policies. -
Dynamic Templates Management: Utilize the template management feature to automatically create a custom template tailored to your metrics. This allows you to define how different fields are indexed and analyzed without manually configuring Elasticsearch, ensuring an optimal data structure for querying.
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OpenSearch Compatibility: If you are using AWS OpenSearch, you can configure this plugin to work seamlessly by activating compatibility mode, ensuring your existing Elasticsearch clients remain functional and compatible with newer cluster setups.
Feedback
Thank you for being part of our community! If you have any general feedback or found any bugs on these pages, we welcome and encourage your input. Please submit your feedback in the InfluxDB community Slack.
Powerful Performance, Limitless Scale
Collect, organize, and act on massive volumes of high-velocity data. Any data is more valuable when you think of it as time series data. with InfluxDB, the #1 time series platform built to scale with Telegraf.
See Ways to Get Started
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