Posted on by admin

InfluxDB, Telegraf and Grafana on a Raspberry PI

The combination of InfluxDB, Telegraf and Grafana lets you collect and visualise almost any data. Here is who is doing what:

  • InfluxDB is a time-series database
  • Telegraf is an agent collecting data and sending it to InfluxDB
  • Grafana is a tool to visualize data using dashboard. Is supports, InfluxDB as a data source, amonst many others.

The result of this tutorial will be a nice dashboard of the system usage on a Raspberry PI.

Install the components

InfluxDB and Telegraf are available from the InfluxData apt repo.

echo "deb https://repos.influxdata.com/debian stretch stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/influxdb.list
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install influxdb telegraf -y

Grafana on the other hand does not provide an apt repo for the ARM arch. We therefore download and install the Debian package manually.

wget https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/grafana-releases/release/grafana_5.2.2_armhf.deb
sudo dpkg -i grafana_5.2.2_armhf.deb

Configuration

Telegraf and InfluxDB provide a default configuration and start to collect data immediately. We can directly proceed to Grafana.

Open the Grafana UI using a browser: http://192.168.0.xx:3000.

The default username is admin/admin.

Add the following InfluxDB data source:

We’re pretty much done now. The only thing missing is a dashboard showing the data. You can either create your own or import mine:

{
  "__inputs": [
    {
      "name": "DS_LOCAL",
      "label": "local",
      "description": "",
      "type": "datasource",
      "pluginId": "influxdb",
      "pluginName": "InfluxDB"
    }
  ],
  "__requires": [
    {
      "type": "grafana",
      "id": "grafana",
      "name": "Grafana",
      "version": "5.2.2"
    },
    {
      "type": "panel",
      "id": "graph",
      "name": "Graph",
      "version": "5.0.0"
    },
    {
      "type": "datasource",
      "id": "influxdb",
      "name": "InfluxDB",
      "version": "5.0.0"
    },
    {
      "type": "panel",
      "id": "singlestat",
      "name": "Singlestat",
      "version": "5.0.0"
    }
  ],
  "annotations": {
    "list": [
      {
        "builtIn": 1,
        "datasource": "-- Grafana --",
        "enable": true,
        "hide": true,
        "iconColor": "rgba(0, 211, 255, 1)",
        "name": "Annotations & Alerts",
        "type": "dashboard"
      }
    ]
  },
  "editable": true,
  "gnetId": null,
  "graphTooltip": 0,
  "id": null,
  "links": [],
  "panels": [
    {
      "aliasColors": {},
      "bars": false,
      "dashLength": 10,
      "dashes": false,
      "datasource": "${DS_LOCAL}",
      "fill": 1,
      "gridPos": {
        "h": 9,
        "w": 9,
        "x": 0,
        "y": 0
      },
      "id": 4,
      "legend": {
        "avg": false,
        "current": false,
        "max": false,
        "min": false,
        "show": true,
        "total": false,
        "values": false
      },
      "lines": true,
      "linewidth": 1,
      "links": [],
      "nullPointMode": "null",
      "percentage": false,
      "pointradius": 5,
      "points": false,
      "renderer": "flot",
      "seriesOverrides": [],
      "spaceLength": 10,
      "stack": false,
      "steppedLine": false,
      "targets": [
        {
          "alias": "total",
          "groupBy": [],
          "measurement": "disk",
          "orderByTime": "ASC",
          "policy": "default",
          "refId": "A",
          "resultFormat": "time_series",
          "select": [
            [
              {
                "params": [
                  "total"
                ],
                "type": "field"
              }
            ]
          ],
          "tags": [
            {
              "key": "path",
              "operator": "=",
              "value": "/"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "alias": "free",
          "groupBy": [],
          "measurement": "disk",
          "orderByTime": "ASC",
          "policy": "default",
          "refId": "B",
          "resultFormat": "time_series",
          "select": [
            [
              {
                "params": [
                  "free"
                ],
                "type": "field"
              }
            ]
          ],
          "tags": [
            {
              "key": "path",
              "operator": "=",
              "value": "/"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "thresholds": [],
      "timeFrom": null,
      "timeShift": null,
      "title": "Disk",
      "tooltip": {
        "shared": true,
        "sort": 0,
        "value_type": "individual"
      },
      "type": "graph",
      "xaxis": {
        "buckets": null,
        "mode": "time",
        "name": null,
        "show": true,
        "values": []
      },
      "yaxes": [
        {
          "format": "decbytes",
          "label": null,
          "logBase": 1,
          "max": null,
          "min": null,
          "show": true
        },
        {
          "format": "short",
          "label": null,
          "logBase": 1,
          "max": null,
          "min": null,
          "show": true
        }
      ],
      "yaxis": {
        "align": false,
        "alignLevel": null
      }
    },
    {
      "aliasColors": {},
      "bars": false,
      "dashLength": 10,
      "dashes": false,
      "datasource": "${DS_LOCAL}",
      "fill": 1,
      "gridPos": {
        "h": 12,
        "w": 10,
        "x": 9,
        "y": 0
      },
      "id": 5,
      "legend": {
        "avg": false,
        "current": false,
        "max": false,
        "min": false,
        "show": true,
        "total": false,
        "values": false
      },
      "lines": true,
      "linewidth": 1,
      "links": [],
      "nullPointMode": "null",
      "percentage": false,
      "pointradius": 5,
      "points": false,
      "renderer": "flot",
      "seriesOverrides": [],
      "spaceLength": 10,
      "stack": true,
      "steppedLine": false,
      "targets": [
        {
          "alias": "",
          "groupBy": [],
          "hide": false,
          "measurement": "cpu",
          "orderByTime": "ASC",
          "policy": "default",
          "refId": "A",
          "resultFormat": "time_series",
          "select": [
            [
              {
                "params": [
                  "usage_user"
                ],
                "type": "field"
              }
            ],
            [
              {
                "params": [
                  "usage_system"
                ],
                "type": "field"
              }
            ],
            [
              {
                "params": [
                  "usage_guest"
                ],
                "type": "field"
              }
            ],
            [
              {
                "params": [
                  "usage_nice"
                ],
                "type": "field"
              }
            ],
            [
              {
                "params": [
                  "usage_iowait"
                ],
                "type": "field"
              }
            ]
          ],
          "tags": [
            {
              "key": "cpu",
              "operator": "=",
              "value": "cpu-total"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "thresholds": [],
      "timeFrom": null,
      "timeShift": null,
      "title": "CPU",
      "tooltip": {
        "shared": true,
        "sort": 0,
        "value_type": "individual"
      },
      "type": "graph",
      "xaxis": {
        "buckets": null,
        "mode": "time",
        "name": null,
        "show": true,
        "values": []
      },
      "yaxes": [
        {
          "decimals": null,
          "format": "percent",
          "label": null,
          "logBase": 1,
          "max": "100",
          "min": "0",
          "show": true
        },
        {
          "format": "short",
          "label": null,
          "logBase": 1,
          "max": null,
          "min": null,
          "show": true
        }
      ],
      "yaxis": {
        "align": false,
        "alignLevel": null
      }
    },
    {
      "cacheTimeout": null,
      "colorBackground": false,
      "colorValue": false,
      "colors": [
        "#299c46",
        "rgba(237, 129, 40, 0.89)",
        "#d44a3a"
      ],
      "datasource": "${DS_LOCAL}",
      "format": "dtdurations",
      "gauge": {
        "maxValue": 100,
        "minValue": 0,
        "show": false,
        "thresholdLabels": false,
        "thresholdMarkers": true
      },
      "gridPos": {
        "h": 4,
        "w": 4,
        "x": 19,
        "y": 0
      },
      "id": 9,
      "interval": null,
      "links": [],
      "mappingType": 1,
      "mappingTypes": [
        {
          "name": "value to text",
          "value": 1
        },
        {
          "name": "range to text",
          "value": 2
        }
      ],
      "maxDataPoints": 100,
      "nullPointMode": "connected",
      "nullText": null,
      "postfix": "",
      "postfixFontSize": "50%",
      "prefix": "",
      "prefixFontSize": "50%",
      "rangeMaps": [
        {
          "from": "null",
          "text": "N/A",
          "to": "null"
        }
      ],
      "sparkline": {
        "fillColor": "rgba(31, 118, 189, 0.18)",
        "full": false,
        "lineColor": "rgb(31, 120, 193)",
        "show": false
      },
      "tableColumn": "",
      "targets": [
        {
          "groupBy": [],
          "measurement": "system",
          "orderByTime": "ASC",
          "policy": "default",
          "refId": "A",
          "resultFormat": "time_series",
          "select": [
            [
              {
                "params": [
                  "uptime"
                ],
                "type": "field"
              }
            ]
          ],
          "tags": []
        }
      ],
      "thresholds": "",
      "title": "Uptime",
      "type": "singlestat",
      "valueFontSize": "80%",
      "valueMaps": [
        {
          "op": "=",
          "text": "N/A",
          "value": "null"
        }
      ],
      "valueName": "current"
    },
    {
      "cacheTimeout": null,
      "colorBackground": false,
      "colorValue": false,
      "colors": [
        "#299c46",
        "rgba(237, 129, 40, 0.89)",
        "#d44a3a"
      ],
      "datasource": "${DS_LOCAL}",
      "format": "decbytes",
      "gauge": {
        "maxValue": 100,
        "minValue": 0,
        "show": false,
        "thresholdLabels": false,
        "thresholdMarkers": true
      },
      "gridPos": {
        "h": 4,
        "w": 4,
        "x": 19,
        "y": 4
      },
      "id": 11,
      "interval": null,
      "links": [],
      "mappingType": 1,
      "mappingTypes": [
        {
          "name": "value to text",
          "value": 1
        },
        {
          "name": "range to text",
          "value": 2
        }
      ],
      "maxDataPoints": 100,
      "nullPointMode": "connected",
      "nullText": null,
      "postfix": "",
      "postfixFontSize": "50%",
      "prefix": "",
      "prefixFontSize": "50%",
      "rangeMaps": [
        {
          "from": "null",
          "text": "N/A",
          "to": "null"
        }
      ],
      "sparkline": {
        "fillColor": "rgba(31, 118, 189, 0.18)",
        "full": false,
        "lineColor": "rgb(31, 120, 193)",
        "show": false
      },
      "tableColumn": "",
      "targets": [
        {
          "groupBy": [],
          "measurement": "disk",
          "orderByTime": "ASC",
          "policy": "default",
          "refId": "A",
          "resultFormat": "time_series",
          "select": [
            [
              {
                "params": [
                  "free"
                ],
                "type": "field"
              }
            ]
          ],
          "tags": [
            {
              "key": "path",
              "operator": "=",
              "value": "/"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "thresholds": "",
      "title": "Free Disk Space",
      "type": "singlestat",
      "valueFontSize": "80%",
      "valueMaps": [
        {
          "op": "=",
          "text": "N/A",
          "value": "null"
        }
      ],
      "valueName": "current"
    },
    {
      "aliasColors": {},
      "bars": false,
      "dashLength": 10,
      "dashes": false,
      "datasource": "${DS_LOCAL}",
      "fill": 1,
      "gridPos": {
        "h": 12,
        "w": 9,
        "x": 0,
        "y": 9
      },
      "id": 2,
      "legend": {
        "avg": false,
        "current": false,
        "max": false,
        "min": false,
        "show": true,
        "total": false,
        "values": false
      },
      "lines": true,
      "linewidth": 1,
      "links": [],
      "nullPointMode": "null",
      "percentage": false,
      "pointradius": 5,
      "points": false,
      "renderer": "flot",
      "seriesOverrides": [],
      "spaceLength": 10,
      "stack": false,
      "steppedLine": false,
      "targets": [
        {
          "alias": "memory used",
          "groupBy": [],
          "measurement": "mem",
          "orderByTime": "ASC",
          "policy": "default",
          "refId": "B",
          "resultFormat": "time_series",
          "select": [
            [
              {
                "params": [
                  "used_percent"
                ],
                "type": "field"
              }
            ]
          ],
          "tags": []
        }
      ],
      "thresholds": [],
      "timeFrom": null,
      "timeShift": null,
      "title": "RAM",
      "tooltip": {
        "shared": true,
        "sort": 0,
        "value_type": "individual"
      },
      "type": "graph",
      "xaxis": {
        "buckets": null,
        "mode": "time",
        "name": null,
        "show": true,
        "values": []
      },
      "yaxes": [
        {
          "decimals": null,
          "format": "percent",
          "label": null,
          "logBase": 1,
          "max": "100",
          "min": "0",
          "show": true
        },
        {
          "format": "short",
          "label": null,
          "logBase": 1,
          "max": null,
          "min": null,
          "show": true
        }
      ],
      "yaxis": {
        "align": false,
        "alignLevel": null
      }
    },
    {
      "aliasColors": {},
      "bars": false,
      "dashLength": 10,
      "dashes": false,
      "datasource": "${DS_LOCAL}",
      "fill": 1,
      "gridPos": {
        "h": 9,
        "w": 10,
        "x": 9,
        "y": 12
      },
      "id": 7,
      "legend": {
        "avg": false,
        "current": false,
        "max": false,
        "min": false,
        "show": true,
        "total": false,
        "values": false
      },
      "lines": true,
      "linewidth": 1,
      "links": [],
      "nullPointMode": "null",
      "percentage": false,
      "pointradius": 5,
      "points": false,
      "renderer": "flot",
      "seriesOverrides": [],
      "spaceLength": 10,
      "stack": false,
      "steppedLine": false,
      "targets": [
        {
          "groupBy": [],
          "measurement": "system",
          "orderByTime": "ASC",
          "policy": "default",
          "refId": "A",
          "resultFormat": "time_series",
          "select": [
            [
              {
                "params": [
                  "load1"
                ],
                "type": "field"
              }
            ]
          ],
          "tags": []
        }
      ],
      "thresholds": [],
      "timeFrom": null,
      "timeShift": null,
      "title": "Load",
      "tooltip": {
        "shared": true,
        "sort": 0,
        "value_type": "individual"
      },
      "type": "graph",
      "xaxis": {
        "buckets": null,
        "mode": "time",
        "name": null,
        "show": true,
        "values": []
      },
      "yaxes": [
        {
          "format": "short",
          "label": null,
          "logBase": 1,
          "max": "4",
          "min": "0",
          "show": true
        },
        {
          "format": "short",
          "label": null,
          "logBase": 1,
          "max": null,
          "min": null,
          "show": true
        }
      ],
      "yaxis": {
        "align": false,
        "alignLevel": null
      }
    }
  ],
  "schemaVersion": 16,
  "style": "dark",
  "tags": [],
  "templating": {
    "list": []
  },
  "time": {
    "from": "now-5m",
    "to": "now"
  },
  "timepicker": {
    "refresh_intervals": [
      "5s",
      "10s",
      "30s",
      "1m",
      "5m",
      "15m",
      "30m",
      "1h",
      "2h",
      "1d"
    ],
    "time_options": [
      "5m",
      "15m",
      "1h",
      "6h",
      "12h",
      "24h",
      "2d",
      "7d",
      "30d"
    ]
  },
  "timezone": "",
  "title": "Raspberry PI",
  "uid": "AOu9wKtiz",
  "version": 6
}

Next steps

This setup is completely unsecured. Unless you trust all members of your network, you should definitely enable authentication on InfluxDB as well as Grafana.

Telegraf has an impressive list of input plugins to collect data. You can easily collect whatever data your application exposes and then create a Grafana dashboard for it.

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