Google VPC Metrics via Telegraf

Google Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is a networking service provided by Google Cloud that enables organizations to create and manage their own isolated virtual networks in the cloud. VPC allows for secure communication and data transfer between resources within the network and provides control over network configuration and routing.

• Begin by heading over to the 'Project Selector' and select the specific project from which you wish to send metrics.
• Progress to the 'Service Account Details' screen. Here, assign a distinct name to your service account and opt for 'Create and Continue'.
• In the 'Grant This Service Account Access to Project' screen, ensure the following roles: 'Compute Viewer', 'Monitoring Viewer', and 'Cloud Asset Viewer'.
• Upon completion of the above, click 'Done'.
• Now find and select your project in the 'Service Accounts for Project' list.
• Move to the 'KEYS' section.
• Navigate through Keys > Add Key > Create New Key, and specify 'JSON' as the key type.
• Lastly, click on 'Create', and make sure to save your new key.

Now add the environment variable for the key

On the machine run:

export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=<your-gcp-key>

This integration allows you to configure a Telegraf agent to send your metrics, in multiple formats, to Logit.io.

Telegraf is a flexible server agent equipped with plug-in support, useful for sending metrics and events from data sources like web servers, APIs, application logs, and cloud services.

To ship your metrics to Logit.io, we will integrate the relevant input and outputs.http plug-in into your Telegraf configuration file.

Choose the install for your operating system below to get started:

Windows

wget https://dl.influxdata.com/telegraf/releases/telegraf-1.19.2_windows_amd64.zip

Download and extract to: C:\Program Files\Logitio\telegraf\

Configuration file: C:\Program Files\Logitio\telegraf\

MacOS

brew install telegraf

Configuration file x86_64 Intel: /usr/local/etc/telegraf.conf Configuration file ARM (Apple Silicon): /opt/homebrew/etc/telegraf.conf

Ubuntu/Debian

wget -q https://repos.influxdata.com/influxdata-archive_compat.key
echo '393e8779c89ac8d958f81f942f9ad7fb82a25e133faddaf92e15b16e6ac9ce4c influxdata-archive_compat.key' | sha256sum -c && cat influxdata-archive_compat.key | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/influxdata-archive_compat.gpg > /dev/null
echo 'deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/influxdata-archive_compat.gpg] https://repos.influxdata.com/debian stable main' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/influxdata.list

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install telegraf

Configuration file: /etc/telegraf/telegraf.conf

RedHat and CentOS

cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/influxdata.repo
[influxdata]
name = InfluxData Repository - Stable
baseurl = https://repos.influxdata.com/stable/\$basearch/main
enabled = 1
gpgcheck = 1
gpgkey = https://repos.influxdata.com/influxdata-archive_compat.key
EOF

sudo yum install telegraf

Configuration file: /etc/telegraf/telegraf.conf

SLES & openSUSE

zypper ar -f obs://devel:languages:go/ go
zypper in telegraf

Configuration file: /etc/telegraf/telegraf.conf

FreeBSD/PC-BSD

sudo pkg install telegraf

Configuration file: /etc/telegraf/telegraf.conf

Read more about how to configure data scraping and configuration options for Telegraf

First you need to set up the input plug-in to enable Telegraf to scrape the GCP data from your hosts. This can be accomplished by incorporating the following code into your configuration file:

# Gather timeseries from Google Cloud Platform v3 monitoring API
[[inputs.stackdriver]]
  ## GCP Project
  project = "<your-project-name>"

  ## Include timeseries that start with the given metric type.
  metric_type_prefix_include = [
    "vpcaccess.googleapis.com",
  ]

  ## Most metrics are updated no more than once per minute; it is recommended
  ## to override the agent level interval with a value of 1m or greater.
  interval = "1m"

Read more about how to configure data scraping and configuration options for Stackdriver

Once you have generated the configuration file, you need to set up the output plug-in to allow Telegraf to transmit your data to Logit.io in Prometheus format. This can be accomplished by incorporating the following code into your configuration file:

[[outputs.http]]
  
  url = "https://<your-metrics-username>:<your-metrics-password>@<your-metrics-stack-id>-vm.logit.io:0/api/v1/write"
  data_format = "prometheusremotewrite"

  [outputs.http.headers]
    Content-Type = "application/x-protobuf"
    Content-Encoding = "snappy"

Windows

telegraf.exe --service start

MacOS

telegraf --config telegraf.conf

Linux

sudo service telegraf start

for systemd installations

systemctl start telegraf

Data should now have been sent to your Stack.

View my data

If you don't see metrics take a look at How to diagnose no data in Stack below for how to diagnose common issues.

If you don't see data appearing in your Stack after following the steps, visit the Help Centre guide for steps to diagnose no data appearing in your Stack or Chat to support now.

Telegraf, the dynamic open-source server agent by InfluxData, is designed for collecting metrics and data from a variety of sources, including cloud networks. Google VPC provides scalable and secure private networking for VMs, containers, and microservices, allowing users to customize their network topology and manage traffic flow and connectivity in a cloud environment.

By integrating Telegraf with Google VPC, organizations can monitor network performance, utilization, and security metrics in real time. This is crucial for network administrators and cloud architects who need to ensure optimal network performance, enforce security policies, and troubleshoot connectivity issues within their Google Cloud environments. Key metrics that can be monitored include network traffic flow, packet loss, latency, and the status of network security rules, providing insights necessary for maintaining a high-performing and secure cloud network infrastructure.

However, the complexity and volume of data generated by cloud networks like Google VPC can present significant challenges in terms of analysis, management, and visualization. Logit.io addresses these challenges by offering a sophisticated platform that simplifies the processing and analysis of network metrics from Telegraf and Google VPC.

With Logit.io, organizations can enhance their network monitoring and analytics capabilities, enabling them to quickly identify and address performance bottlenecks, optimize network configurations, and ensure compliance with security standards. The platform's comprehensive analytics and visualization tools support a proactive approach to network management, helping users to maintain seamless connectivity and robust security across their Google Cloud infrastructure.

For those leveraging Telegraf in conjunction with Google VPC and looking to advance their network monitoring and analytics, Logit.io provides the essential tools and support needed. Our platform facilitates the effective management of network metrics, allowing you to derive actionable insights and ensure the reliability and security of your cloud networking infrastructure. With the addition of leveraging our Google AI Platform integration, you can also automatically process and categorize logs, ensuring that the right data is sent to Logit.io for analysis. This integration enhances the accuracy and efficiency of log analysis, making it easier to identify and respond to critical events in real-time. Additionally, for a comprehensive approach to cloud security and access control, organizations can tie this data transmission process into Google Identity Access Metrics. By implementing Google Identity Access Metrics alongside Logit.io, you can monitor and assess user access and behavior patterns, strengthening your cloud security posture and ensuring that your log data is protected from unauthorized access. These integrations are perfectly in sync with Logit.io's GCP logging.