Telegraf template patterns

Template patterns are a mini language that describes how a dot delimited string should be mapped to and from metrics.

A template has the form:

"host.mytag.mytag.measurement.measurement.field*"

Where the following keywords can be set:

1. measurement: specifies that this section of the graphite bucket corresponds to the measurement name. This can be specified multiple times.
2. field: specifies that this section of the graphite bucket corresponds to the field name. This can be specified multiple times.
3. measurement*: specifies that all remaining elements of the graphite bucket correspond to the measurement name.
4. field*: specifies that all remaining elements of the graphite bucket correspond to the field name.

Any part of the template that is not a keyword is treated as a tag key. This can also be specified multiple times.

NOTE: field* cannot be used in conjunction with measurement*.

Examples

Measurement and tag templates

The most basic template is to specify a single transformation to apply to all incoming metrics. So the following template:

templates = [
    "region.region.measurement*"
]

would result in the following Graphite -> Telegraf transformation.

us.west.cpu.load 100
=> cpu.load,region=us.west value=100

Multiple templates can also be specified, but these should be differentiated using filters (see below for more details)

templates = [
    "*.*.* region.region.measurement", # <- all 3-part measurements will match this one.
    "*.*.*.* region.region.host.measurement", # <- all 4-part measurements will match this one.
]

Field templates

The field keyword tells Telegraf to give the metric that field name. So the following template:

separator = "_"
templates = [
    "measurement.measurement.field.field.region"
]

would result in the following Graphite -> Telegraf transformation.

cpu.usage.idle.percent.eu-east 100
=> cpu_usage,region=eu-east idle_percent=100

The field key can also be derived from all remaining elements of the graphite bucket by specifying field*:

separator = "_"
templates = [
    "measurement.measurement.region.field*"
]

which would result in the following Graphite -> Telegraf transformation.

cpu.usage.eu-east.idle.percentage 100
=> cpu_usage,region=eu-east idle_percentage=100

Filter templates

Users can also filter the template(s) to use based on the name of the bucket, using glob matching, like so:

templates = [
    "cpu.* measurement.measurement.region",
    "mem.* measurement.measurement.host"
]

which would result in the following transformation:

cpu.load.eu-east 100
=> cpu_load,region=eu-east value=100

mem.cached.localhost 256
=> mem_cached,host=localhost value=256

Adding Tags

Additional tags can be added to a metric that don’t exist on the received metric. You can add additional tags by specifying them after the pattern. Tags have the same format as the line protocol. Multiple tags are separated by commas.

templates = [
    "measurement.measurement.field.region datacenter=1a"
]

would result in the following Graphite -> Telegraf transformation.

cpu.usage.idle.eu-east 100
=> cpu_usage,region=eu-east,datacenter=1a idle=100