This is archived documentation for InfluxData product versions that are no longer maintained. For newer documentation, see the latest InfluxData documentation.
Telegraf metrics are the internal representation used to model data during processing. These metrics are closely based on InfluxDB’s data model and contain four main components:
- Measurement name: Description and namespace for the metric.
- Tags: Key/Value string pairs and usually used to identify the metric.
- Fields: Key/Value pairs that are typed and usually contain the metric data.
- Timestamp: Date and time associated with the fields.
This metric type exists only in memory and must be converted to a concrete representation in order to be transmitted or viewed. Telegraf provides output data formats (also known as serializers) for these conversions. Telegraf’s default serializer converts to InfluxDB Line Protocol, which provides a high performance and one-to-one direct mapping from Telegraf metrics.