Monitoring Linux Process Extra Metrics

This article will help you get the Linux_proc_extras plugin for sd-agent configured and returning metrics

Installing the linux_proc_extras plugin package

Install the linux_proc_extras plugin on Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install sd-agent-linux-proc-extras

Install the linux_proc_extras plugin on RHEL/CentOS:

sudo yum install sd-agent-linux-proc-extras

Read more about agent plugins.

Configuring the agent to collect extra process information on Linux hosts

1. Configure /etc/sd-agent/conf.d/linux_proc_extras.yaml

This check does not need any configuration, however you can set tags

# There's no configuration necessary for this check.
init_config:

instances:
  - tags: []

2. Restart the agent

sudo /etc/init.d/sd-agent restart

or

sudo systemctl restart sd-agent

Verifying the configuration
Execute info to verify the configuration with the following:

sudo /etc/init.d/sd-agent info 

or

/usr/share/python/sd-agent/agent.py info

If the agent has been configured correctly you'll see an output such as:

linux_proc_extras
-----
  - instance #0 [OK]
  - Collected * metrics

You can also view the metrics returned with the following command:

sudo -u sd-agent /usr/share/python/sd-agent/agent.py check linux_proc_extras

Configuring graphs

Click the name of your server from the Devices list in your Server Density account then go to the Metrics tab. Click the + Graph button on the right then choose the linux_proc_extras metrics to display the graphs. The metrics will also be available to select when building dashboard graphs.

Monitored metrics

Metric	Values
system.entropy.available The amount of entropy available	None / None Type: float
system.inodes.total The total inodes available	inode / None Type: float
system.inodes.used The total inodes used	inode / None Type: float
system.linux.context_switches The number of context switches that have occured	None / None Type: float
system.linux.interrupts The number of interrupts	interrupt / None Type: float
system.linux.processes_created The number of processes that have been created	process / None Type: float
system.processes.priorities The amount of processes in each priority, tagged with the priority	None / None Type: float
system.processes.states The amount of processes in each state, tagged with the process state	None / None Type: float