Learn about the Windows Performance Counters Integration.

Windows performance counters

Performance counters help you explore how well the operating system is performing. You can use performance counter data to find bottlenecks and fine tune system and application performance. This integration explains how to install and configure Telegraf to collect performance counter data and send it into Wavefront.

Step 1: Set up the Wavefront Proxy

If you do not have a Wavefront proxy installed on your network, install a proxy.

Step 2: Install the Telegraf Agent

  1. Download wavefront-telegraf-64-setup.exe. Only 64-bit Windows is supported.

  2. Double click the wavefront-telegraf-64-setup.exe file and follow the instructions in the setup dialog to install Telegraf.

    Note: Steps 3-5 are only required if the Wavefront proxy is installed on a different host.

  3. Edit the telegraf.conf file located in Program Files\Telegraf.

    Warning: Do not use notepad to modify the file. Use an editor that supports Unix style line endings, such as Notepad++ or EditPlus.

  4. Configure the outputs section to communicate with your Wavefront proxy: 
    [[outputs.wavefront]]
   host = "WAVEFRONT_PROXY_HOSTNAME"
   port = 2878

    Note: In the default telegraf.conf, the host property is set to localhost.

  5. Restart the Telegraf service using the Windows Services Management Console or from the command prompt: 
    net stop telegraf
net start telegraf
  6. Check Program Files\Telegraf\telegraf.log to verify the installation.

Step 3. Configure Telegraf

Edit the telegraf.conf file located in Program Files\Telegraf and enter the following snippet:

[[inputs.win_perf_counters]]

  [[inputs.win_perf_counters.object]]
    ObjectName = "Process"
    Counters = ["% Processor Time","Handle Count","Private Bytes","Thread Count","Virtual Bytes","Working Set"]
    Instances = ["w3wp"]
    Measurement = "win_proc"
    
  [[inputs.win_perf_counters.object]]
    ObjectName = ".NET CLR Security"
    Counters = ["% Time in RT checks","Stack Walk Depth","Total Runtime Checks"]
    Instances = ["w3wp"]
    Measurement = "win_dotnet_security"

All options except Measurement are required.

  • ObjectName – The object to query for, like Processor, DirectoryServices, or LogicalDisk. For example: ObjectName = "LogicalDisk".
  • Instances – An array of one or more instances of a counter you want returned. For example: Instances = ["C:","D:","E:"]. If the object you specified with ObjectName does not support instance selection, specify Instances = ["------"].
  • Counters – Array of one or more counters you want returned. For example: Counters = ["% Idle Time", "% Disk Read Time", "% Disk Write Time"].
  • Measurement – Optional measurement. Defaults to win_perf_counters. For example: Measurement = "win_disk".

You need to add one [[inputs.win_perf_counters.object]] section for each counters category.

For more options see the Telegraf documentation.

Step 4. Restart Telegraf

After any changes restart your Telegraf agent service.

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