InfluxDB

InfluxDB is a time-series database into which you can store your load balancer metrics. You can then graph the data to see trends over time.

In this guide, we use Telegraf, a metrics-collections tool from InfluxData, to pull metrics from the load balancer and push them to InfluxDB.

Installation and setup Jump to heading #

1. Follow the InfluxDB Getting Started guide to install InfluxDB onto a server.

2. Once installed, InfluxDB hosts a UI dashboard at port 8086. Go to the InfluxDB UI at http://[INFLUXDB SERVER]:8086 and click Get Started to set up your initial user account. During setup, you will set the organization and default bucket for your data.

3. Go to Data > Buckets and create a new bucket named haproxy-enterprise.

   

4. Go to Data > Tokens and click Generate to create a new Read/Write token. Set the Read and Write scopes to your haproxy-enterprise bucket. Telegraf will use this token when connecting to InfluxDB.

   

5. To see an example configuration for Telegraf, go to Data > Sources, find HAProxy in the list of Telgraf plugins, and click it.

   

   Copy the sample configuration from the HAProxy Input Plugin page.

   

6. Follow the Introducing Telegraf guide to download and install Telegraf onto each of your load balancer servers. Telegraf is the service that exports metrics to InfluxDB.

7. Enable the Runtime API in your load balancer configuration to allow Telegraf to collect metrics. Configure it to listen on the UNIX socket /var/run/hapee-2.8/hapee-lb.sock:

   haproxy
   global
     stats socket /var/run/hapee-2.8/hapee-lb.sock  user hapee-lb  group hapee  mode 660  level admin  expose-fd listeners

   haproxy
   global
     stats socket /var/run/hapee-2.8/hapee-lb.sock  user hapee-lb  group hapee  mode 660  level admin  expose-fd listeners

8. Add the telegraf user to the hapee group so that it has access to the Runtime API socket:

   nix
   sudo usermod -a -G hapee telegraf

   nix
   sudo usermod -a -G hapee telegraf

9. Edit the file /etc/telegraf/telegraf.conf:

   • Uncomment the [[outputs.influxdb_v2]] section and set the following fields:

     • set urls to the address of your InfluxDB server, which listens on port 8086
     • set token to the value of the Read/Write token you created in InfluxDB
     • set organization to the organization you set when you installed InfluxDB
     • set bucket to haproxy-enterprise

     ini
     [[outputs.influxdb_v2]]
       urls = [http://192.168.50.26:8086]
       token = "IyjPRrnA5Fb4P_bHd8YBeea5K-y2DmSV_7D0wT5592YDc9v87vzQKKt-etS2YTHwbpo_gSrFQDhtBUfcDuIzXQ=="
       organization = "test"
       bucket = "haproxy-enterprise"

     ini
     [[outputs.influxdb_v2]]
       urls = [http://192.168.50.26:8086]
       token = "IyjPRrnA5Fb4P_bHd8YBeea5K-y2DmSV_7D0wT5592YDc9v87vzQKKt-etS2YTHwbpo_gSrFQDhtBUfcDuIzXQ=="
       organization = "test"
       bucket = "haproxy-enterprise"

   • Uncomment the [[inputs.haproxy]] section. Set the servers field to the path of the Runtime API socket.

     ini
     # Read metrics of HAProxy, via socket or HTTP stats page
     [[inputs.haproxy]]
       servers = ["/var/run/hapee-2.8/hapee-lb.sock"]

     ini
     # Read metrics of HAProxy, via socket or HTTP stats page
     [[inputs.haproxy]]
       servers = ["/var/run/hapee-2.8/hapee-lb.sock"]

10. Restart the Telegraf and load balancer services:

    nix
    sudo systemctl restart telegraf
    sudo systemctl restart hapee-2.8-lb

    nix
    sudo systemctl restart telegraf
    sudo systemctl restart hapee-2.8-lb

Visualize metrics Jump to heading #

You can create graphs for your load balancer metrics in the InfluxDB UI. Go to Explore and create a new query.

For example, you could create the following query:

• Set FROM to haproxy-enterprise
• Set the first Filter to _measurement and select haproxy
• Set the second Filter to _field and select req_rate to see the HTTP request rate

HAProxy Monitoring Template Jump to heading #

InfluxData also provides an HAProxy monitoring template that configures a prebaked dashboard of commonly used graphs.

1. In the InfluxDB UI, go to Settings > Templates and enter the URL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/influxdata/community-templates/master/haproxy/haproxy.yml. Then click Install Template.

2. The template creates a bucket named haproxy. Generate a new Read/Write token that has access to that bucket.

3. Update the Telegraf configuration on your load balancer servers to use the new token and haproxy for the bucket value.

4. In the InfluxDB UI, go to Boards and click the haproxy dashboard to see the graphs.