value

Value Parser Plugin

The "value" data format translates single values into Telegraf metrics. This is done by assigning a measurement name and setting a single field ("value") as the parsed metric.

Configuration

[[inputs.exec]]
  ## Commands array
  commands = ["cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail"]

  ## override the default metric name of "exec"
  name_override = "entropy_available"

  ## override the field name of "value"
  # value_field_name = "value"

  ## Data format to consume.
  ## Each data format has its own unique set of configuration options, read
  ## more about them here:
  ##   https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/docs/DATA_FORMATS_INPUT.md
  data_format = "value"
  data_type = "integer" # required

Metric name

It is recommended to set name_override to a measurement name that makes sense for your metric, otherwise it will just be set to the name of the plugin.

Datatype

You must tell Telegraf what type of metric to collect by using the data_type configuration option. Available options are:

• integer: converts the received data to an integer value. This setting will produce an error on non-integer data.
• float: converts the received data to a floating-point value. This setting will treat integers as floating-point values and produces an error on data that cannot be converted (e.g. strings).
• string: outputs the data as a string.
• boolean: converts the received data to a boolean value. This setting will produce an error on any data except for true and false strings.
• auto_integer: converts the received data to an integer value if possible and will return the data as string otherwise. This is helpful for mixed-type data.
• auto_float: converts the received data to a floating-point value if possible and will return the data as string otherwise. This is helpful for mixed-type data. Integer data will be treated as floating-point values.

NOTE: The auto conversions might convert data to their prioritized type by accident, for example if a string data-source provides "55" it will be converted to integer/float. This might break outputs that require the same datatype within a field or column. It is thus recommended to use strict typing whenever possible.