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Netdata Functions

Netdata Agent collectors are able to expose functions that can be executed in run-time and on-demand. These will be executed on the node - host where the function is made available.

What is a function?

Collectors besides the metric collection, storing, and/or streaming work are capable of executing specific routines on request. These routines will bring additional information to help you troubleshoot or even trigger some action to happen on the node itself.

A function is a key - value pair. The key uniquely identifies the function within a node. The value is a function (i.e. code) to be run by a data collector when the function is invoked.

For more details please check out documentation on how we use our internal collector to get this from the first collector that exposes functions - plugins.d.

What functions are currently available?

FunctionDescriptionAlternative to CLI toolsRequire Cloudplugin - module
Block-devicesDisk I/O activity for all block devices, offering insights into both data transfer volume and operation performance.iostatnoproc
Containers-vmsInsights into the resource utilization of containers and QEMU virtual machines: CPU usage, memory consumption, disk I/O, and network traffic.docker stats, systemd-cgtopnocgroups
Ipmi-sensorsReadings and status of IPMI sensors.ipmi-sensorsnofreeipmi
Mount-pointsDisk usage for each mount point, including used and available space, both in terms of percentage and actual bytes, as well as used and available inode counts.dfnodiskspace
Network-interfacesNetwork traffic, packet drop rates, interface states, MTU, speed, and duplex mode for all network interfaces.bmon, bwm-ngnoproc
ProcessesReal-time information about the system's resource usage, including CPU utilization, memory consumption, and disk IO for every running process.top, htopyesapps
Systemd-journalViewing, exploring and analyzing systemd journal logs.journalctlyessystemd-journal
Systemd-list-unitsInformation about all systemd units, including their active state, description, whether or not they are enabled, and more.systemctl list-unitsyessystemd-journal
Systemd-servicesSystem resource utilization for all running systemd services: CPU, memory, and disk IO.systemd-cgtopnocgroups
StreamingComprehensive overview of all Netdata children instances, offering detailed information about their status, replication completion time, and many more.yes

If you have ideas or requests for other functions:

How do functions work with streaming?

Via streaming, the definitions of functions are transmitted to a parent node, so it knows all the functions available on any children connected to it.

If the parent node is the one connected to Netdata Cloud it is capable of triggering the call to the respective children node to run the function.

Why are some functions only available on Netdata Cloud?

Since these functions are able to execute routines on the node and due to the potential use cases that they can cover, our concern is to ensure no sensitive information or disruptive actions are exposed through the Agent's API.

With the communication between the Netdata Agent and Netdata Cloud being through ACLK this concern is addressed.


Do you have any feedback for this page? If so, you can open a new issue on our netdata/learn repository.