Collectd

Last updated
collectd
Original author(s) Florian Forster
Initial releaseJuly 8, 2005;18 years ago (2005-07-08)
Stable release
5.12.0 [1]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 3 September 2020;3 years ago (3 September 2020)
Repository
Written in C
Operating system Any Unix-like
Available inEnglish
Type Capacity planning
License MIT License & GNU General Public License, version 2
Website collectd.org   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

collectd is a Unix daemon that collects, transfers and stores performance data of computers and network equipment. The acquired data is meant to help system administrators maintain an overview over available resources to detect existing or looming bottlenecks.

Contents

The first version of the daemon was written in 2005 by Florian Forster and has been further developed as free open-source project. Other developers have written improvements and extensions to the software that have been incorporated into the project. [2] Most files of the source code are licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2 (GPLv2), the remaining files are licensed under other open source licenses. [3]

Operation

collectd uses a modular design: The daemon itself only implements infrastructure for filtering and relaying data as well as auxiliary functions and requires very few resources, it even runs on OpenWrt-powered embedded devices. Data acquisition and storage is handled by plug-ins in the form of shared objects. [4] This way code specific to one operating system is mostly kept out of the actual daemon. Plug-ins may have their own dependencies, for example a specific operating system or software libraries. Other tasks performed by the plug-ins include processing of “notifications” and log messages.

Data acquisition plug-ins, called "read plug-ins" in collectd's documentation, can be roughly put into three categories:

So called "write plug-ins" offer the possibility to store the collected data on disk using RRD- or CSV-files, or to send data over the network to a remote instance of the daemon.

Networking

Included in the source code distribution of collectd is the so-called "network" plug-in, which can be used to send and receive data to/from other instances of the daemon. In a typical networked setup the daemon would run on each monitored host (called "clients") with the network plug-in configured to send collected data to one or more network addresses. On one or more so called "servers" the same daemon would run but with a different configuration, so that the network plug-in receives data instead of sending it. Often the RRDtool -plug-in is used on servers to store the performance data. [5]

The plug-in uses a binary network protocol over UDP. Both, IPv4 and IPv6 are supported as network layer. It is possible to use unicast (point-to-point) and multicast (point-to-group) addressing. Authentication and encryption has been added to the protocol with version 4.7.0, released in May 2009.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plug-in (computing)</span> Software component that adds a specific feature to an existing software application

In computing, a plug-in is a software component that adds a specific feature to an existing computer program. When a program supports plug-ins, it enables customization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Website</span> Set of related web pages served from a single domain

A website is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, education, commerce, entertainment or social networking. Hyperlinking between web pages guides the navigation of the site, which often starts with a home page. As of May 2023, the top 5 most visited websites are Google Search, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CUPS</span> Computer printing system

CUPS is a modular printing system for Unix-like computer operating systems which allows a computer to act as a print server. A computer running CUPS is a host that can accept print jobs from client computers, process them, and send them to the appropriate printer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Network-attached storage</span> Computer data storage server

Network-attached storage (NAS) is a file-level computer data storage server connected to a computer network providing data access to a heterogeneous group of clients. The term "NAS" can refer to both the technology and systems involved, or a specialized device built for such functionality.

OpenVPN is a virtual private network (VPN) system that implements techniques to create secure point-to-point or site-to-site connections in routed or bridged configurations and remote access facilities. It implements both client and server applications.

NX technology, commonly known as NX or NoMachine, is a remote access and remote control computer software, allowing remote desktop access and maintenance of computers. It is developed by the Luxembourg-based company NoMachine S.à r.l.. NoMachine is proprietary software and is free-of-charge for non-commercial use.

In computing, syslog is a standard for message logging. It allows separation of the software that generates messages, the system that stores them, and the software that reports and analyzes them. Each message is labeled with a facility code, indicating the type of system generating the message, and is assigned a severity level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Git</span> Software for version control of files

Git is a distributed version control system that tracks changes in any set of computer files, usually used for coordinating work among programmers who are collaboratively developing source code during software development. Its goals include speed, data integrity, and support for distributed, non-linear workflows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twisted (software)</span> Event-driven network programming framework

Twisted is an event-driven network programming framework written in Python and licensed under the MIT License.

In computer networking, xinetd is an open-source super-server daemon which runs on many Unix-like systems, and manages Internet-based connectivity.

Veritas Cluster Server is a high-availability cluster software for Unix, Linux and Microsoft Windows computer systems, created by Veritas Technologies. It provides application cluster capabilities to systems running other applications, including databases, network file sharing, and electronic commerce websites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NetworkManager</span> Software

NetworkManager is a daemon that sits on top of libudev and other Linux kernel interfaces and provides a high-level interface for the configuration of the network interfaces.

Azure DevOps Server is a Microsoft product that provides version control, reporting, requirements management, project management, automated builds, testing and release management capabilities. It covers the entire application lifecycle and enables DevOps capabilities. Azure DevOps can be used as a back-end to numerous integrated development environments (IDEs) but is tailored for Microsoft Visual Studio and Eclipse on all platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jami (software)</span> Distributed multimedia communications platform

Jami is a SIP-compatible distributed peer-to-peer softphone and SIP-based instant messenger for Linux, Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. Jami was developed and maintained by the Canadian company Savoir-faire Linux, and with the help of a global community of users and contributors, Jami positions itself as a potential free Skype replacement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenSSH</span> Set of computer programs providing encrypted communication sessions

OpenSSH is a suite of secure networking utilities based on the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol, which provides a secure channel over an unsecured network in a client–server architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shinken (software)</span> Network monitoring software

Shinken is an open source computer system and network monitoring software application compatible with Nagios. It watches hosts and services, gathers performance data and alerts users when error conditions occur and again when the conditions clear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenMediaVault</span> NAS operating system

OpenMediaVault (OMV) is a free Linux distribution designed for network-attached storage (NAS). The project's lead developer is Volker Theile, who instituted it in 2009. OMV is based on the Debian operating system, and is licensed through the GNU General Public License v3.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Perl programming language:

Checkmk is a software developed in Python and C++ for IT Infrastructure monitoring. It is used for the monitoring of servers, applications, networks, cloud infrastructures, containers, storage, databases and environment sensors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Netdata</span> Open-source system monitor software

With Netdata Users can monitor their servers, containers, and applications,in high-resolution and in real-time. Netdata is an open source tool designed to collect real-time metrics, such as CPU usage, disk activity, bandwidth usage, website visits, etc., and then display them in low-latency dashboards. The tool is designed to visualize activity in the greatest possible detail, allowing the user to obtain an overview of what is happening and what has just happened in their system or application.

References

  1. "Release 5.12.0". 3 September 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  2. "Git - collectd.git/blob - AUTHORS". Git.verplant.org. Archived from the original on April 10, 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  3. "Copyright". Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved April 8, 2009.
  4. "Features – collectd – The system statistics collection daemon". Collectd.org. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  5. "Networking introduction - collectd Wiki". Collectd.org. 2015-02-19. Retrieved 2016-04-11.