What are System metrics?
Metrics represent raw resource usage or behavior data that can be observed and collected from a system. These can be low-level usage summaries provided by the operating system, or they can be high-level data types associated with a particular function or activity of a component, such as requests processed per second or membership in a pool of web servers. Some metrics are shown in terms of overall capacity, while others are shown as rates, which indicate the “utilization” of components.
Often the simplest metrics to start with are those already provided by the operating system to show the utilization of the underlying physical resources. Data on disk space, CPU utilization, swap utilization, etc. are already available, provides immediate value, and can be transferred to your monitoring system with little additional effort. Many web servers, database servers, and other software also provide their own metrics that can be shared.
Why should you collect System metrics?
Other components, especially your own application, may need to add code or interfaces to expose metrics of interest. Collecting and publishing metrics is sometimes referred to as adding instrumentation to your service.
Metrics are useful because they provide insight into system behavior and health, especially when analyzed in aggregate. They represent the raw footage that surveillance systems use to create a complete picture of the environment, automate responses to change, and alert people when necessary. Metrics are baseline values used to understand historical trends, correlate various factors, and measure changes in performance, consumption, or error rates.
Logstail SaaS Platform contribution
Metrics are the data in your system, and monitoring is the process of collecting, combining, and analyzing these values to increase your knowledge of the characteristics and behavior of your components. Data about the environment is collected from various sources and fed into monitoring systems that store, aggregate, visualize and trigger automatic responses when certain thresholds are met. Logstail takes over this role, making your job easier and saving you valuable time.
Metricbeat Installation
Metricbeat is a lightweight shipper that you can install on your servers to periodically collect metrics from the operating system and from services running on the server.
[Note: You need to have an active Logstail account to follow the links given below.]
To install the Metricbeat agent, you need to use the guide found on the log shippers page.
1. First, you must follow the detailed steps given by the instructions in the link above to install our agent.
[Note: Don’t forget to specify you operating system as shown above.]
2. As soon as your shipper is set up and ready your next move is to head to the apps page and locate the system metrics service, there by pressing: “Add data” you will install the dashboards that will provide you with the visualizations which are used for providing a cleaner and clearer picture of your system.
[Note: A pop up message should appear on the bottom-right corner of your screen verifying that the dashboards were successfully installed.]
3. Now you can head up at the dashboards page and you will be able to select from a bunch of different dashboards as seen below:
[Note: In case that you have more dashboards, you can always use search.]
This is an example of how [Metrics System] Host overview ECS dashboard will look:
Logstail Insights plugin.
Insights is a powerful AI-Powered plugin. It integrates the Anomaly detection tool which is another important capability that can be leveraged through Logstail Platform. Anomaly detection involves identifying patterns or data points that deviate significantly from the norm, which may indicate unusual or potential problematic activity. It provides the user with data visualizations, such as charts and graphs. These visualizations are helpful in identifying patterns and trends that may not be immediately apparent through simple data analysis. The insights plugin is functioning in real time analyzing new ingested logs, performing predictive analytics to identify issues before that occur and automatic alerting the user in combination with the Alerting Plugin.
Setup Anomaly-Detection for System metrics using Logstail Insights Plugin.
1. Navigate to the Insights plugin page from the top menu and click on Create detector.
2. Name your detector and add an optional description:
3. Select your Logstail-metrics_system-* index.
4. Configure the Timestamp field and click next:
5. Configure the Feature settings as you prefer and click next:
[Note: you can add more than one Features.]
6. Set up your detector jobs:
Logstail Alerting plugin.
Alerting plugin can be used to create and manage alerts based on a specific condition and when conditions are met it will trigger a notification to alert the user.
Why use Logstail Alerting plugin?
The ability provided by the Logstail platform to combine the alerting plugin with system metrics can take your experience in monitoring system metrics to the next level. Ιt can also prevent the worst by immediately triggering alerts for any of your systems that might be malfunctioning, saving you time and money.
Combining Logstail Alerting Plugin with System metrics.
In the following steps we will analyze how you can create your own triggers for your systems with some examples.
Steps to create trigger for CPU usage:
1. First you need to enter the Alerting plugin from the top menu. From there you should click on the Monitors tab as shown below and then press create monitor:
2. On the create monitor section enter you preferred name for the alert you want to create and then select a monitor type and a monitor definition method as seen below:
[Note: Anomaly is selected for the example given you can choose whatever you like to use.]
3. Define detector, which in our case it’s the one we created inside the anomaly detection plugin. Also, you can optimize the scheduled time for your monitor.
4. After all that you must create a trigger as the example below:
5. For the last step you need to create a new action. Actions is the way you get notified for the alerts you have set.
After you’ve made your configurations hit create on the bottom-right of your page and you are ready to go!
Logstail Reporting plugin.
Reports can be produced with the Reporting Plugin in PNG, PDF, and CSV formats. They can be used to convey crucial information to a variety of stakeholders, like as executives, clients, and staff. Reports can offer insightful information on a variety of data sources, including system metrics, that might not be immediately apparent.
Why use Logstail Reporting plugin?
It provides an easier way for companies and individuals to improve performance and lower the risk of mistakes when they have access to timely, relevant information and display data about threats, activities, and events in a clear, succinct manner.
Generating Reports for System metrics.
1. Navigate to Reports plugin from the top menu and click create to create a new Report Definition.
2. Name your Report and you can also add an optional description:
3. Next you need to select the type of your report as well as your source and provide a desired time range for the report.
4. Choose the file format and click create.
5. Finally, you can download your report from the Reports table.
Conclusion.
Logstail platform may assist you by combining the technologies so that you are always aware of the status of your system. This will ensure that it is operating properly and help you to stop any unanticipated events that might have been fatal sooner. Finally, it can offer a full update and a more accurate overall view.
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