Nginx and MariaDB Integration

Input and output integration overview

<p>The Nginx plugin for Telegraf is designed to collect status metrics from Nginx web servers, providing real-time insights into server operation metrics.</p>

<p>This plugin writes metrics from Telegraf directly into MariaDB using parameterized SQL INSERT statements, offering a flexible way to store metrics in structured, relational tables.</p>

Integration details

Nginx

<p>This plugin gathers status metrics from Nginx. It utilizes the ngx_http_stub_status_module to collect basic metrics related to the server’s performance. The plugin provides valuable insights into active connections, requests handled, and the current state of various metrics. This real-time data is essential for monitoring web server performance and ensuring optimal operations. The configuration allows users to specify the URL for the Nginx status endpoint, set timeouts, and configure TLS settings if necessary.</p>

MariaDB

<p>The SQL output plugin in Telegraf enables direct writing of metrics into SQL-compatible databases like MariaDB by executing parameterized SQL statements. With support for the MySQL driver, the plugin seamlessly integrates with MariaDB for reliable, structured metric storage. This setup is ideal for users who prefer SQL-based analytics or want to store metrics alongside business data for unified querying. MariaDB is a community-developed, enterprise-grade fork of MySQL that emphasizes performance, security, and openness. The plugin supports inserting time series metrics into custom schemas, enabling flexible analytics and integrations with BI tools like Metabase or Grafana using SQL connectors.</p>

Configuration

Nginx

MariaDB

Input and output integration examples

Nginx

<ol> <li> <p><strong>Web Performance Monitoring</strong>: Use the Nginx plugin to gather performance metrics from various Nginx servers across your infrastructure. By visualizing these metrics in real-time dashboards, teams can track performance trends, identify bottlenecks, and enhance the user experience on their web applications. Implementing such monitoring allows businesses to proactively address performance issues before they impact end-users.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Load Balancer Monitoring</strong>: Integrate this plugin with your load balancers to track the performance of backend Nginx servers. By collecting statistics like ‘active connections’ and ‘requests handled’, your operations team can ensure that traffic is flowing optimally and that no single server is overwhelmed. This proactive approach to load balancing prevents service downtime and enhances user experience.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Automated Alerting Systems</strong>: Combine the Nginx plugin with alerting services to automatically notify your team when a server’s metrics exceed predefined thresholds. For instance, if the number of active connections is too high, the system can trigger alerts so that corrective actions can be taken immediately, thus maintaining service quality and reliability.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Historical Data Analysis</strong>: Store the metrics collected by the Nginx plugin in a time-series database to analyze historical performance trends. This analysis can uncover periods of high traffic or poor performance, allowing for data-driven decisions about infrastructure scaling and optimization. By understanding past trends, organizations can better prepare for future demands.</p> </li> </ol>

MariaDB

<ol> <li> <p><strong>Business Intelligence Integration</strong>: Store application performance metrics directly into MariaDB and connect it to BI tools like Metabase or Apache Superset. This setup allows blending of operational data with business KPIs for unified dashboards, enhancing visibility across departments.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Compliance Reporting with Historical Metrics</strong>: Use this plugin to log metrics into MariaDB for audit and compliance use cases. The relational model enables precise querying of past performance indicators with timestamped entries, supporting regulatory documentation.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Custom Alerting Based on SQL Logic</strong>: Insert metrics into MariaDB and use custom SQL queries to define alert thresholds or conditions. Combined with cron jobs or scheduled scripts, this enables advanced alerting workflows not possible with traditional metric platforms.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>IoT Sensor Metrics Storage</strong>: Collect sensor data from IoT devices via Telegraf and store it in MariaDB using a normalized schema. This approach is cost-effective and integrates well with existing SQL-based systems for real-time or historical analysis.</p> </li> </ol>

Feedback

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