3 collectd.conf - Configuration for the system statistics collection daemon B<collectd>
7 BaseDir "/path/to/data/"
8 PIDFile "/path/to/pidfile/collectd.pid"
9 Server "123.123.123.123" 12345
22 This config file controls how the system statistics collection daemon
23 B<collectd> behaves. The most significant option is B<LoadPlugin>, which
24 controls which plugins to load. These plugins ultimately define collectd's
27 The syntax of this config file is similar to the config file of the famos
28 B<Apache Webserver>. Each line contains either a key-value-pair or a
29 section-start or -end. Empty lines and everything after the hash-symbol `#' is
30 ignored. Values are either string, enclosed in double-quotes,
31 (floating-point-)numbers or a boolean expression, i.E<nbsp>e. either B<true> or
32 B<false>. String containing of only alphanumeric characters and underscores do
33 not need to be quoted.
39 =item B<BaseDir> I<Directory>
41 Sets the base directory. This is the directory beneath all RRD-files are
42 created. Possibly more subdirectories are created. This is also the working
43 directory for the daemon.
45 =item B<LoadPlugin> I<Plugin>
47 Loads the plugin I<Plugin>. There must be at least one such line or B<collectd>
48 will be mostly useless.
50 =item B<PIDFile> I<File>
52 Sets where to write the PID file to. This file is overwritten when it exists
53 and deleted when the program ist stopped. Some init-scripts might override this
54 setting using the B<-P> commandline option.
56 =item B<PluginDir> I<Directory>
58 Path to the plugins (shared objects) of collectd.
60 =item B<TypesDB> I<File>
62 Set the file that contains the data-set descriptions.
64 =item B<Interval> I<Seconds>
66 Configures the interval in which to query the read plugins. Obviously smaller
67 values lead to a higher system load produces by collectd, while higher values
68 lead to more coarse statistics.
70 =item B<ReadThreads> I<Num>
72 Number of threads to start for reading plugins. The default value if B<5>, but
73 you may want to increase this if you have more than five plugins that take a
74 long time to read. Mostly those are plugin that do network-IO. Setting this to
75 a value higher than the number of plugins you've loaded is totally useless.
81 Some Plugins may register own options. These options must be enclosed in a
82 C<Plugin>-Section. Which options exist depends on the plugin used. Some plugins
83 require external configuration, too. The C<apache plugin>, for example,
84 required C<mod_status> to be configured in the webserver you're going to
85 collect data from. These plugins are listed below as well, even if they don't
86 require any configuration within collectd's configfile.
88 A list of all plugins and a short summary for each plugin can be found in the
89 F<README> file shipped with the sourcecode and hopefully binary packets as
92 =head2 Plugin C<apache>
94 To configure the C<apache>-plugin you first need to configure the Apache
95 webserver correctly. The Apache-plugin C<mod_status> needs to be loaded and
96 working and the C<ExtendedStatus> directive needs to be B<enabled>. You can use
97 the following snipped to base your Apache config upon:
100 <IfModule mod_status.c>
101 <Location /mod_status>
102 SetHandler server-status
106 Since its C<mod_status> module is very similar to Apache's, B<lighttpd> is
107 also supported. It introduces a new field, called C<BusyServers>, to count the
108 number of currently connected clients. This field is also supported.
110 The following options are accepted by the C<apache>-plugin:
114 =item B<URL> I<http://host/mod_status?auto>
116 Sets the URL of the C<mod_status> output. This needs to be the output generated
117 by C<ExtendedStatus on> and it needs to be the machine readable output
118 generated by appending the C<?auto> argument.
120 =item B<User> I<Username>
122 Optional user name needed for authentication.
124 =item B<Password> I<Password>
126 Optional password needed for authentication.
128 =item B<CACert> I<File>
130 File that holds one or more SSL certificates. If you want to use HTTPS you will
131 possibly need this option. What CA certificates come bundled with C<libcurl>
132 and are checked by default depends on the distribution you use.
136 =head2 Plugin C<apcups>
140 =item B<Host> I<Hostname>
142 Hostname of the host running B<apcupsd>. Defaults to B<localhost>. Please note
143 that IPv6 support has been disabled unless someone can confirm or decline that
144 B<apcupsd> can handle it.
146 =item B<Port> I<Port>
148 TCP-Port to connect to. Defaults to B<3551>.
152 =head2 Plugin C<cpufreq>
154 This plugin doesn't have any options. It reads
155 F</sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq> (for the first CPU
156 installed) to get the current CPU frequency. If this file does not exist make
157 sure B<cpufreqd> (L<http://cpufreqd.sourceforge.net/>) or a similar tool is
158 installed and an "cpu governor" (that's a kernel module) is loaded.
164 =item B<DataDir> I<Directory>
166 Set the directory to store RRD-files under. Per default RRD-files are generated
167 beneath the daemon's working directory, i.E<nbsp>e. the B<BaseDir>.
175 =item B<Device> I<Device>
177 Select partitions based on the devicename.
179 =item B<MountPoint> I<Directory>
181 Select partitions based on the mountpoint.
183 =item B<FSType> I<FSType>
185 Select partitions based on the filesystem type.
187 =item B<IgnoreSelected> I<true>|I<false>
189 Invert the selection: If set to true, all partitions B<except> the ones that
190 match any one of the criteria are collected. By default only selected
191 partitions are collected if a selection is made. If no selection is configured
192 at all, B<all> partitions are selected.
200 =item B<Interface> I<Interface>
202 The dns plugin uses B<libpcap> to capture dns traffic and analyses it. This
203 option sets the interface that should be used. If this option is not set, or
204 set to "any", the plugin will try to get packets from B<all> interfaces. This
205 may not work on certain platforms, such as MacE<nbsp>OSE<nbsp>X.
207 =item B<IgnoreSource> I<IP-address>
209 Ignore packets that originate from this address.
213 =head2 Plugin C<email>
217 =item B<SocketGroup> I<Group>
219 If running as root change the group of the UNIX-socket after it has been
220 created. Defaults to B<collectd>.
222 =item B<SocketPerms> I<Permissions>
224 Change the file permissions of the UNIX-socket after it has been created. The
225 permissions must be given as a numeric, octal value as you would pass to
226 L<chmod(1)>. Defaults to B<0770>.
228 =item B<MaxConns> I<Number>
230 Sets the maximum number of connections that can be handled in parallel. Since
231 this many threads will be started immediately setting this to a very high
232 value will waste valuable resources. Defaults to B<5> and will be forced to be
233 at most B<16384> to prevent typos and dumb mistakes.
237 =head2 Plugin C<exec>
239 Please make sure to read L<collectd-exec(5)> before using this plugin. It
240 contains valuable information on when the executable is executed and the
241 output that is expected from it.
245 =item B<Exec> I<User> I<Executable>
247 Execute the executable I<Executable> as user I<User>.
251 =head2 Plugin C<hddtemp>
253 To get values from B<hddtemp> collectd connects to B<localhost> (127.0.0.1),
254 port B<7634/tcp>. The B<Host> and B<Port> options can be used to change these
255 default values, see below. C<hddtemp> has to be running to work correctly. If
256 C<hddtemp> is not running timeouts may appear which may interfere with other
259 The B<hddtemp> homepage can be found at
260 L<http://www.guzu.net/linux/hddtemp.php>.
264 =item B<Host> I<Hostname>
266 Hostname to connect to. Defaults to B<127.0.0.1>.
268 =item B<Port> I<Port>
270 TCP-Port to connect to. Defaults to B<7634>.
274 =head2 Plugin C<interface>
278 =item B<Interface> I<Interface>
280 Select this interface. By default these interfaces will then be collected. For
281 a more detailed description see B<IgnoreSelected> below.
283 =item B<IgnoreSelected> I<true>|I<false>
285 If no configuration if given, the B<traffic>-plugin will collect data from
286 all interfaces. This may not be practical, especially for loopback- and
287 similar interfaces. Thus, you can use the B<Interface>-option to pick the
288 interfaces you're interested in. Sometimes, however, it's easier/preferred
289 to collect all interfaces I<except> a few ones. This option enables you to
290 do that: By setting B<IgnoreSelected> to I<true> the effect of
291 B<Interface> is inversed: All selected interfaces are ignored and all
292 other interfaces are collected.
296 =head2 Plugin C<iptables>
300 =item B<Chain> I<Table> I<Chain> [I<Comment|Number> [I<Name>]]
302 Select the rules to count. If only I<Table> and I<Chain> are given, this plugin
303 will collect the counters of all rules which have a comment-match. The comment
304 is then used as type-instance.
306 If I<Comment> or I<Number> is given, only the rule with the matching comment or
307 the I<n>th rule will be collected. Again, the comment (or the number) will be
308 used as the type-instance.
310 If I<Name> is supplied, it will be used as the type-instance instead of the
311 comment or the number.
321 Select this irq. By default these irqs will then be collected. For a more
322 detailed description see B<IgnoreSelected> below.
324 =item B<IgnoreSelected> I<true>|I<false>
326 If no configuration if given, the B<irq>-plugin will collect data from all
327 irqs. This may not be practical, especially if no interrupts happen. Thus, you
328 can use the B<Irq>-option to pick the interrupt you're interested in.
329 Sometimes, however, it's easier/preferred to collect all interrupts I<except> a
330 few ones. This option enables you to do that: By setting B<IgnoreSelected> to
331 I<true> the effect of B<Irq> is inversed: All selected interrupts are ignored
332 and all other interrupts are collected.
336 =head2 Plugin C<logfile>
340 =item B<LogLevel> B<debug|info|notice|warning|err>
342 Sets the log-level. If, for example, set to B<notice>, then all events with
343 severity B<notice>, B<warning>, or B<err> will be written to the logfile.
345 =item B<File> I<File>
347 Sets the file to write log messages to. The special strings B<stdout> and
348 B<stderr> can be used to write to the standard output and standard error
349 channels, respectively. This, of course, only makes much sense when collectd is
350 running in foreground- or non-daemon-mode.
354 =head2 Plugin C<mbmon>
356 The C<mbmon plugin> uses mbmon to retrieve temperature, voltage, etc.
358 Be default collectd connects to B<localhost> (127.0.0.1), port B<411/tcp>. The
359 B<Host> and B<Port> options can be used to change these values, see below.
360 C<mbmon> has to be running to work correctly. If C<mbmon> is not running
361 timeouts may appear which may interfere with other statistics..
363 C<mbmon> must be run with the -r option ("print TAG and Value format");
364 Debian's F</etc/init.d/mbmon> script already does this, other people
365 will need to ensure that this is the case.
369 =item B<Host> I<Hostname>
371 Hostname to connect to. Defaults to B<127.0.0.1>.
373 =item B<Port> I<Port>
375 TCP-Port to connect to. Defaults to B<411>.
379 =head2 Plugin C<mysql>
381 The C<mysql plugin> requires B<mysqlclient> to be installed. It connects to the
382 database when started and keeps the connection up as long as possible. When the
383 connection is interrupted for whatever reason it will try to re-connect. The
384 plugin logs loud complaints in case anything goes wrong.
386 This plugin issues C<SHOW STATUS> and evaluates C<Bytes_{received,sent}>,
387 C<Com_*> and C<Handler_*> which correspond to F<mysql_octets.rrd>,
388 F<mysql_commands-*.rrd> and F<mysql_handler-*.rrd>. Also, the values of
389 C<Qcache_*> are put in F<mysql_qcache.rrd> and values of C<Threads_*> are put
390 in F<mysql_threads.rrd>. Please refer to the B<MySQL reference manual>,
391 I<5.2.4. Server Status Variables> for an explanation of these values.
393 Use the following options to configure the plugin:
397 =item B<Host> I<Hostname>
399 Hostname of the database server. Defaults to B<localhost>.
401 =item B<User> I<Username>
403 Username to use when connecting to the database.
405 =item B<Password> I<Password>
407 Password needed to log into the database.
409 =item B<Database> I<Database>
411 Select this database. Defaults to I<no database> which is a perfectly reasonable
412 option for what this plugin does.
416 =head2 Plugin C<network>
420 =item B<Listen> I<Host> [I<Port>]
422 =item B<Server> I<Host> [I<Port>]
424 The B<Server> statement sets the server to send datagrams B<to>. The statement
425 may occur multiple times to send each datagram to multiple destinations.
427 The B<Listen> statement sets the interfaces to bind to. When multiple
428 statements are found the daemon will bind to multiple interfaces.
430 The argument I<Host> may be a hostname, an IPv4 address or an IPv6 address. If
431 the argument is a multicast address the daemon will join that multicast group.
433 If no B<Listen> statement is found the server tries join both, the default IPv6
434 multicast group and the default IPv4 multicast group. If no B<Server> statement
435 is found the client will try to send data to the IPv6 multicast group first. If
436 that fails the client will try the IPv4 multicast group.
438 The default IPv6 multicast group is C<ff18::efc0:4a42>. The default IPv4
439 multicast group is C<239.192.74.66>.
441 The optional I<Port> argument sets the port to use. It can either be given
442 using a numeric port number or a service name. If the argument is omitted the
443 default port B<25826> is assumed.
445 =item B<TimeToLive> I<1-255>
447 Set the time-to-live of sent packets. This applies to all, unicast and
448 multicast, and IPv4 and IPv6 packets. The default is to not change this value.
449 That means that multicast packets will be sent with a TTL of C<1> (one) on most
452 =item B<Forward> I<true|false>
454 If set to I<true>, write packets that were received via the network plugin to
455 the sending sockets. This should only be activated when the B<Listen>- and
456 B<Server>-statements differ. Otherwise packets may be send multiple times to
457 the same multicast group. While this results in more network traffic than
458 necessary it's not a huge problem since the plugin has a duplicate detection,
459 so the values will not loop.
461 =item B<CacheFlush> I<Seconds>
463 For each host/plugin/type combination the C<network plugin> caches the time of
464 the last value being sent or received. Every I<Seconds> seconds the plugin
465 searches and removes all entries that are older than I<Seconds> seconds, thus
466 freeing the unused memory again. Since this process is somewhat expensive and
467 normally doesn't do much, this value should not be too small. The default is
468 1800 seconds, but setting this to 86400 seconds (one day) will not do much harm
473 =head2 Plugin C<ntpd>
477 =item B<Host> I<Hostname>
479 Hostname of the host running B<ntpd>. Defaults to B<localhost>.
481 =item B<Port> I<Port>
483 UDP-Port to connect to. Defaults to B<123>.
491 =item B<UPS> I<upsname>B<@>I<hostname>[B<:>I<port>]
493 Add a UPS to collect data from. The format is identical to the one accepted by
498 =head2 Plugin C<perl>
502 =item B<LoadPlugin> I<Plugin>
504 Loads the Perl plugin I<Plugin>. This does basically the same as B<use> would
505 do in a Perl program.
507 =item B<BaseName> I<Name>
509 Prepends I<Name>B<::> to all plugin names loaded after this option. This is
510 provided for convenience to keep plugin names short.
512 =item B<IncludeDir> I<Dir>
514 Adds I<Dir> to the B<@INC> array. This is the same as using the B<-IDir>
515 command line option or B<use lib Dir> in the source code.
519 =head2 Plugin C<ping>
523 =item B<Host> I<IP-address>
525 Host to ping periodically. This option may be repeated several times to ping
528 =item B<TTL> I<0-255>
530 Sets the Time-To-Live of generated ICMP packets.
534 =head2 Plugin C<processes>
538 =item B<Process> I<Name>
540 Select more detailed statistics of processes matching this name. The statistics
541 collected for these selected processes are size of the resident segment size
542 (RSS), user- and system-time used, number of processes and number of threads,
543 and minor and major pagefaults.
547 =head2 Plugin C<rrdtool>
549 You can use the settings B<StepSize>, B<HeartBeat>, B<RRARows>, and B<XFF> to
550 finetune your RRD-files. Please read L<rrdcreate(1)> if you encounter problems
551 using these settings. If you don't want to dive into the depths of RRDTool, you
552 can safely ignore these settings.
556 =item B<DataDir> I<Directory>
558 Set the directory to store RRD-files under. Per default RRD-files are generated
559 beneath the daemon's working directory, i.E<nbsp>e. the B<BaseDir>.
561 =item B<StepSize> I<Seconds>
563 Sets the stepsize of newly created RRD-files. Ideally (and per default) this
564 setting is identical to the global B<Interval>-option and should not be
565 smaller. If unsure, don't set this option.
567 =item B<HeartBeat> I<Seconds>
569 Sets the heartbeat of newly created RRD-files. Ideally this setting is bigger
570 than the B<Interval>-setting, by default it's twice the B<Interval>-setting. If
571 unsure, don't set this option.
573 =item B<RRARows> I<NumRows>
575 The C<rrdtool plugin> calculates the number of PDPs per CDP based on the
576 B<StepSize>, this setting and a timespan. This plugin creates RRD-files with
577 three times five RRAs, i. e. five RRAs with the CFs B<MIN>, B<AVERAGE>, and
578 B<MAX>. The five RRAs are optimized for graphs covering one hour, one day, one
579 week, one month, and one year.
581 So for each timespan, it calculates how many PDPs need to be consolidated into
582 one CDP by calculating:
583 number of PDPs = timespan / (stepsize * rrarows)
585 Bottom line is, set this no smaller than the width of you graphs in pixels. The
588 =item B<RRATimespan> I<Seconds>
590 Adds an RRA-timespan, given in seconds. Use this option multiple times to have
591 more then one RRA. If this option is never used, the built-in default of (3600,
592 86400, 604800, 2678400, 31622400) is used.
594 For more information on how RRA-sizes are calculated see B<RRARows> above.
596 =item B<XFF> I<Factor>
598 Set the "XFiles Factor". The default is 0.1. If unsure, don't set this option.
600 =item B<CacheFlush> I<Seconds>
602 When the C<rrdtool plugin> uses a cache (by setting B<CacheTimeout>, see below)
603 it writes all values for a certain RRD-file if the oldest value is older than
604 (or equal to) the number of seconds specified. If some RRD-file is not updated
605 anymore for some reason (the computer was shut down, the network is broken,
606 etc.) some values may still be in the cache. If B<CacheFlush> is set, then the
607 entire cache is searched for entries older than B<CacheTimeout> seconds and
608 written to disk every I<Seconds> seconds. Since this is kind of expensive and
609 does nothing under normal circumstances, this value should not be too small.
610 900 seconds might be a good value, though setting this to 7200 seconds doesn't
611 normally do much harm either.
613 =item B<CacheTimeout> I<Seconds>
615 If this option is set to a value greater than zero, the C<rrdtool plugin> will
616 save values in a cache, as described above. Writing multiple values at once
617 reduces IO-operations and thus lessens the load produced by updating the files.
618 The tradeoff is that the graphs kind of "drag behind" and that more memory is
623 =head2 Plugin C<sensors>
625 The C<sensors plugin> uses B<lm_sensors> to retrieve sensor-values. This means
626 that all the needed modules have to be loaded and lm_sensors has to be
627 configured (most likely by editing F</etc/sensors.conf>. Read
628 L<sensors.conf(5)> for details.
630 The B<lm_sensors> homepage can be found at
631 L<http://secure.netroedge.com/~lm78/>.
635 =item B<Sensor> I<chip-bus-address/type-feature>
637 Selects the name of the sensor which you want to collect or ignore, depending
638 on the B<IgnoreSelected> below. For example, the option "B<Sensor>
639 I<it8712-isa-0290/voltage-in1>" will cause collectd to gather data for the
640 voltage sensor I<in1> of the I<it8712> on the isa bus at the address 0290.
642 =item B<IgnoreSelected> I<true>|I<false>
644 If no configuration if given, the B<sensors>-plugin will collect data from all
645 sensors. This may not be practical, especially for uninteresting sensors.
646 Thus, you can use the B<Sensor>-option to pick the sensors you're interested
647 in. Sometimes, however, it's easier/preferred to collect all sensors I<except> a
648 few ones. This option enables you to do that: By setting B<IgnoreSelected> to
649 I<true> the effect of B<Sensor> is inversed: All selected sensors are ignored
650 and all other sensors are collected.
654 =head2 Plugin C<syslog>
658 =item B<LogLevel> B<debug|info|notice|warning|err>
660 Sets the log-level. If, for example, set to B<notice>, then all events with
661 severity B<notice>, B<warning>, or B<err> will be submitted to the
666 =head2 Plugin C<unixsock>
670 =item B<SocketFile> I<Path>
672 Sets the socket-file which is to be created.
674 =item B<SocketGroup> I<Group>
676 If running as root change the group of the UNIX-socket after it has been
677 created. Defaults to B<collectd>.
679 =item B<SocketPerms> I<Permissions>
681 Change the file permissions of the UNIX-socket after it has been created. The
682 permissions must be given as a numeric, octal value as you would pass to
683 L<chmod(1)>. Defaults to B<0770>.
687 =head2 Plugin C<vserver>
689 This plugin doesn't have any options. B<VServer> support is only available for
690 Linux. It cannot yet be found in a vanilla kernel, though. To make use of this
691 plugin you need a kernel that has B<VServer> support built in, i.E<nbsp>e. you
692 need to apply the patches and compile your own kernel, which will then provide
693 the F</proc/virtual> filesystem that is required by this plugin.
695 The B<VServer> homepage can be found at L<http://linux-vserver.org/>.
701 L<collectd-unixsock(5)>,
710 Florian Forster E<lt>octo@verplant.orgE<gt>