KNX and Graphite Integration

Input and output integration overview

The KNX plugin listens for messages from the KNX home-automation bus via a KNX-IP interface, allowing for real-time data integration from KNX-enabled devices.

The Graphite plugin enables users to send metrics collected by Telegraf into Graphite via TCP. This integration allows for efficient storage and visualization of time-series data using Graphite’s powerful capabilities.

Integration details

KNX

The KNX plugin allows for the listening to messages transmitted over the KNX home-automation bus. It establishes a connection with the KNX bus through a KNX-IP interface, making it compatible with various message datapoint types that KNX employs. The plugin supports service input configuration, wherein it remains active to listen for relevant metrics or events rather than relying solely on scheduled intervals. This inherent characteristic enables real-time data capture from the KNX systems, enhancing automation and integration possibilities for building management and smart home applications. Additionally, this plugin is designed to handle multiple measurements from the KNX data, allowing for a flexible categorization of metrics based on the derived datapoint types, thus broadening the scope of data integration in smart environments.

Graphite

This plugin writes metrics to Graphite via raw TCP, allowing for seamless integration of Telegraf collected metrics into the Graphite ecosystem. With this plugin, users can configure multiple TCP endpoints for load balancing, ensuring high availability and reliability in metric transmission. The ability to customize metric naming with prefixes and utilize various templating options enhances flexibility in how data is represented within Graphite. Additionally, support for Graphite tags and options for strict sanitization of metric names allow for robust data management, catering to the varying needs of users. This capability is essential for organizations looking to leverage Graphite’s powerful metrics storage and visualization while maintaining control over data representation.

Configuration

KNX

[[inputs.knx_listener]]
  ## Type of KNX-IP interface.
  ## Can be either "tunnel_udp", "tunnel_tcp", "tunnel" (alias for tunnel_udp) or "router".
  # service_type = "tunnel"

  ## Address of the KNX-IP interface.
  service_address = "localhost:3671"

  ## Measurement definition(s)
  # [[inputs.knx_listener.measurement]]
  #   ## Name of the measurement
  #   name = "temperature"
  #   ## Datapoint-Type (DPT) of the KNX messages
  #   dpt = "9.001"
  #   ## Use the string representation instead of the numerical value for the
  #   ## datapoint-type and the addresses below
  #   # as_string = false
  #   ## List of Group-Addresses (GAs) assigned to the measurement
  #   addresses = ["5/5/1"]

  # [[inputs.knx_listener.measurement]]
  #   name = "illumination"
  #   dpt = "9.004"
  #   addresses = ["5/5/3"]

Graphite

# Configuration for Graphite server to send metrics to
[[outputs.graphite]]
  ## TCP endpoint for your graphite instance.
  ## If multiple endpoints are configured, the output will be load balanced.
  ## Only one of the endpoints will be written to with each iteration.
  servers = ["localhost:2003"]

  ## Local address to bind when connecting to the server
  ## If empty or not set, the local address is automatically chosen.
  # local_address = ""

  ## Prefix metrics name
  prefix = ""

  ## Graphite output template
  ## see https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/docs/DATA_FORMATS_OUTPUT.md
  template = "host.tags.measurement.field"

  ## Strict sanitization regex
  ## This is the default sanitization regex that is used on data passed to the
  ## graphite serializer. Users can add additional characters here if required.
  ## Be aware that the characters, '/' '@' '*' are always replaced with '_',
  ## '..' is replaced with '.', and '\' is removed even if added to the
  ## following regex.
  # graphite_strict_sanitize_regex = '[^a-zA-Z0-9-:._=\p{L}]'

  ## Enable Graphite tags support
  # graphite_tag_support = false

  ## Applied sanitization mode when graphite tag support is enabled.
  ## * strict - uses the regex specified above
  ## * compatible - allows for greater number of characters
  # graphite_tag_sanitize_mode = "strict"

  ## Character for separating metric name and field for Graphite tags
  # graphite_separator = "."

  ## Graphite templates patterns
  ## 1. Template for cpu
  ## 2. Template for disk*
  ## 3. Default template
  # templates = [
  #  "cpu tags.measurement.host.field",
  #  "disk* measurement.field",
  #  "host.measurement.tags.field"
  #]

  ## timeout in seconds for the write connection to graphite
  # timeout = "2s"

  ## 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

Input and output integration examples

KNX

1. Smart Home Energy Monitoring: Utilize the KNX plugin to monitor energy consumption across various devices in a smart home setup. By configuring measurements for different appliances, users can gather real-time data on power usage, enabling them to optimize energy consumption and reduce costs. This setup can also integrate with visualization tools to provide insights into energy trends and usage patterns.

2. Automated Lighting Control System: Leverage this plugin to listen for lighting status updates from KNX sensors in a building. By capturing measurements related to illumination, users can develop an automated lighting control system that adjusts the brightness based on the time of day or occupancy, enhancing comfort and energy efficiency.

3. HVAC Performance Tracking: Implement the KNX plugin to track temperature and ventilation data across different zones in a building. By monitoring these metrics, facilities managers can identify trends in HVAC performance, optimize climate control strategies, and proactively address maintenance needs to ensure consistent environmental quality.

4. Integrated Security Solutions: Use the plugin to capture data from KNX security sensors, such as door/window open/close statuses. This information can be routed into a central monitoring system, providing real-time alerts and enabling automated responses, such as locking doors or activating alarms, thus enhancing the building’s security posture.

Graphite

1. Dynamic Metric Visualization: The Graphite plugin can be utilized to feed real-time metrics from various sources, such as application performance data or server health metrics, into Graphite. This dynamic integration allows teams to create interactive dashboards that visualize key performance indicators, track trends over time, and make data-driven decisions to enhance system performance.

2. Load Balanced Metrics Collection: By configuring multiple TCP endpoints within the plugin, organizations can implement load balancing for metric transmission. This use case ensures that metric delivery is both resilient and efficient, reducing the risk of data loss during high-traffic periods and maintaining a reliable flow of information to Graphite.

3. Customized Metrics Tagging: With support for Graphite tags, users can employ the Graphite plugin to enhance the granularity of their metrics. Tagging metrics with relevant information, such as application environment or service type, allows for more refined queries and analytics, enabling teams to drill down into specific areas of interest for better operational insights.

4. Enhanced Data Sanitization: Leveraging the plugin’s strict sanitization options, users can ensure that their metric names comply with Graphite’s requirements. This proactive measure eliminates potential issues arising from invalid characters in metric names, allowing for cleaner data management and more accurate visualizations.

Feedback

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