Tail and SigNoz Integration

Input and output integration overview

<p>The Tail Telegraf plugin collects metrics by tailing specified log files, capturing new log entries in real-time for further analysis.</p>

<p>This configuration turns any Telegraf agent into a Remote Write publisher for SigNoz, streaming rich metrics straight into the SigNoz backend with a single URL change.</p>

Integration details

Tail

<p>The tail plugin is designed to continuously monitor and parse log files, making it ideal for real-time log analysis and monitoring. It mimics the functionality of the Unix <code>tail</code> command, allowing users to specify a file or pattern and begin reading new lines as they are added. Key features include the ability to follow log-rotated files, start reading from the end of a file, and support various parsing formats for the log messages. Users can customize the plugin through various configuration options, such as specifying file encoding, the method for watching file updates, and filter settings for processing log data. This plugin is particularly valuable in environments where log data is critical for monitoring application performance and diagnosing issues.</p>

SigNoz

<p>SigNoz is an open source observability platform that stores metrics, traces, and logs. When you deploy SigNoz, its <strong>signoz-otel-collector-metrics</strong> service exposes a Prometheus Remote Write receiver (default <strong>:13133/api/v1/write</strong>). By configuring Telegraf’s Prometheus plugin to point at this endpoint, you can push any Telegraf collected metrics, SNMP counters, cloud services, or business KPIs—directly into SigNoz. The plugin natively serializes metrics in the Remote Write protobuf format, supports external labels, metadata export, retries, and TLS or bearer-token auth, so it fits zero-trust and multi-tenant SigNoz clusters. Inside SigNoz, the data lands in ClickHouse tables that back Metrics Explorer, alert rules, and unified dashboards. This approach lets organizations unify Prometheus and OTLP pipelines, enables long-term retention powered by ClickHouse compression, and avoids vendor lock-in while retaining PromQL-style queries.</p>

Configuration

Tail

SigNoz

Input and output integration examples

Tail

<ol> <li> <p><strong>Real-Time Server Health Monitoring</strong>: Implement the Tail plugin to parse web server access logs in real-time, providing immediate visibility into user activity, error rates, and performance metrics. By visualizing this log data, operations teams can quickly identify and respond to spikes in traffic or errors, enhancing system reliability and user experience.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Centralized Log Management</strong>: Utilize the Tail plugin to aggregate logs from multiple sources across a distributed system. By configuring each service to send its logs to a centralized location via the Tail plugin, teams can simplify log analysis and ensure that all relevant data is accessible from a single interface, streamlining troubleshooting processes.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Security Incident Detection</strong>: Use this plugin to monitor authentication logs for unauthorized access attempts or suspicious activity. By setting up alerts on certain log messages, teams can leverage this plugin to enhance security postures and respond promptly to potential security threats, reducing the risk of breaches and increasing overall system integrity.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Dynamic Application Performance Insights</strong>: Integrate with analytics tools to create real-time dashboards that display application performance metrics based on log data. This setup not only helps developers diagnose bottlenecks and inefficiencies but also allows for proactive performance tuning and resource allocation, optimizing application behavior under varying loads.</p> </li> </ol>

SigNoz

<ol> <li> <p><strong>Multi-Cluster Federated Monitoring</strong>: Drop a Telegraf DaemonSet into each Kubernetes cluster, tag metrics with <code>cluster=&lt;name&gt;</code>, and Remote Write them to a central SigNoz instance. Ops teams get a single PromQL window across prod, staging, and edge clusters without running Thanos sidecars.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Factory-Floor Edge Gateway</strong>: A rugged Intel NUC on the shop floor runs Telegraf to scrape Modbus PLCs and environmental sensors. It batches readings every 5 seconds and pushes them over an intermittent 4G link to SigNoz SaaS. ClickHouse compression keeps costs low while AI-based outlier detection in SigNoz flags overheating motors before failure.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>SaaS Usage Metering</strong>: Telegraf runs alongside each micro-service, exporting per-tenant counters (<code>api_calls</code>, <code>gigabytes_processed</code>). Remote Write streams the data to SigNoz where a scheduled ClickHouse materialized view aggregates usage for monthly billing—no separate metering stack required.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Autoscaling Feedback Loop</strong>: Combine Telegraf’s Kubernetes input with the Remote Write output to publish granular pod CPU and queue-length metrics into SigNoz. A custom SigNoz alert fires when P95 latency breaches 200 ms and a GitOps controller reads that alert to trigger a HorizontalPodAutoscaler tweak—closing the loop between observability and automation.</p> </li> </ol>

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