NGINX Metrics

First we need to install Metricbeat.

deb (Debian/Ubuntu)

sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https
wget -qO - https://artifacts.elastic.co/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb https://artifacts.elastic.co/packages/oss-6.x/apt stable main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/elastic-6.x.list

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install metricbeat

rpm (Redhat/Centos)

sudo rpm --import https://packages.elastic.co/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch
echo "[elastic-6.x]
name=Elastic repository for 6.x packages
baseurl=https://artifacts.elastic.co/packages/6.x/yum
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://artifacts.elastic.co/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch
enabled=1
autorefresh=1
type=rpm-md" | sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/elastic-beats.repo

sudo yum install metricbeat

sudo chkconfig --add metricbeat

macOS

curl -L -O https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/beats/metricbeat/metricbeat-6.7.2-darwin-x86_64.tar.gz
tar xzvf metricbeat-6.7.2-darwin-x86_64.tar.gz

Windows

• Download the Metricbeat Windows zip file from the official downloads page.

• Extract the contents of the zip file into C:\Program Files.

• Rename the metricbeat-<version>-windows directory to Metricbeat.

• Open a PowerShell prompt as an Administrator (right-click the PowerShell icon and select Run As Administrator). If you are running Windows XP, you may need to download and install PowerShell.

• Run the following commands to install Metricbeat as a Windows service:

  PS > cd 'C:\Program Files\Metricbeat'
  PS C:\Program Files\Metricbeat> .\install-service-metricbeat.ps1
  
  Security warning
  Run only scripts that you trust. While scripts from the internet can be useful,
  this script can potentially harm your computer. If you trust this script, use
  the Unblock-File cmdlet to allow the script to run without this warning message.
  Do you want to run C:\Program Files\Winlogbeat\install-service-metricbeat.ps1?
  [D] Do not run  [R] Run once  [S] Suspend  [?] Help (default is "D"): R
  
  Status   Name               DisplayName
  ------   ----               -----------
  Stopped  metricbeat         metricbeat

deb/rpm /etc/metricbeat/metricbeat.yml
mac/win <EXTRACTED_ARCHIVE>/metricbeat.yml

We'll be shipping to Logstash so that we have the option to run filters before the data is indexed.
Comment out the elasticsearch output block.

## Comment out elasticsearch output
#output.elasticsearch:
#  hosts: ["localhost:9200"]

Uncomment and change the logstash output to match below.

output.logstash:
    hosts: ["your-logstash-host:your-ssl-port"]
    loadbalance: true
    ssl.enabled: true

There are several built in metricbeat modules you can use. To enable the NGINX module, run the following:

deb/rpm

metricbeat modules list
metricbeat modules enable nginx

macOS

./metricbeat modules list
./metricbeat modules enable nginx

Windows

PS > .\metricbeat.exe modules enable nginx

Each module has its own configuration file where different metricsets can be enabled / disabled. Locate the configuration file for the NGINX module.

deb/rpm /etc/metricbeat/modules.d/nginx.yml

mac/win ~/<EXTRACTED_ARCHIVE>/modules.d/nginx.yml

By default the stubstatus metricset is disabled. To enable or disable a metric simply comment or uncomment the line out.

- module: nginx
  metricsets:
    - stubstatus
  period: 10s

  # NGINX hosts
  hosts: ["http://127.0.0.1"]

  # Path to server status. Default server-status
  server_status_path: "nginx_status"

  #username: "user"
  #password: "secret"

In order for the status metricset to work and correctly display the dashboard on Kibana, you will need to enable ngx_http_stub_status on your NGINX web server.

Ok, time to start gathering metrics!

deb/rpm

sudo systemctl enable metricbeat
sudo systemctl start metricbeat

macOS

./metricbeat

Windows

PS C:\Program Files\Metricbeat> Start-Service metricbeat

The NGINX metricsets were tested with NGINX 1.9 and are expected to work with all versions >= 1.9.

The NGINX module comes with a predefined Kibana dashboard. To view your dashboards for any of your Logit stacks, launch Kibana and choose Dashboards.