Apache

Overview

This plugin collects metrics from the mod_status module, targeting the server-status endpoint. The plugin requests the machine-readable content from this endpoint and parses metrics out from the retrieved data. This plugin can fetch metrics from multiple Apache servers.

Setup

This integration is included as part of a SWI collector. The SWI collector bundles several collectors into one integrated binary.

The apache plugin is included with the SolarWinds Snap Agent by default, follow the directions below to enable it for an agent instance.

Prerequisites

This plugin requires that mod_status with the ExtendedStatus option is enabled for your Apache server. Below is an example configuration:

<Location /server-status>
  SetHandler server-status
  Order deny, allow
  Deny from all
  Allow from 127.0.0.1 ::1
  Allow from your.ip.address.here
</Location>
ExtendedStatus on

Refer to the Apache mod_status documentation for more information.

Configuration

An example task file is included with the Snap Agent to help you get started quickly. It includes a pre-defined task configuration, which you can modify with the correct settings for your Apache server. To enable the plugin:

1. Make a copy of the apache example configuration file apache.yaml.example, renaming it to apache.yaml:

   On Windows, run the following in PowerShell or the command line:

   copy "C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Snap\tasks-autoload.d\task-aoapache.yaml.example" "C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Snap\tasks-autoload.d\task-aoapache.yaml"

   On Linux, run the following in the command line:

   sudo cp -p /opt/SolarWinds/Snap/etc/tasks-autoload.d/task-aoapache.yaml.example /opt/SolarWinds/Snap/etc/tasks-autoload.d/task-aoapache.yaml

2. (optional) Edit the task-aoapache.yaml task manifest file with settings specific to your Apache server.

   version: 2
   schedule:
     type: simple
     interval: "60s"
   
   plugins:
     - plugin_name: apache
       binary_name: snap-plugin-collector-aoapache
       config:
   
         #apache_mod_status_webservers:
   
         ## URL pointing to Apache status endpoint
         #  - url: http://localhost/server-status?auto
   
         ## Name used to tag and identify metrics.
         #  server_name: localhost
   
         ## Not all version of the Apache status endpoint return the same metrics.
         ## If set to true, collects metrics that are present in every version of Apache status endpoint.
         ## If set to false, collects all possible metrics.
         #  safe: true
   
         ## Controls whether to send/receive metrics
         ## in the standard naming format (eg. /apache/[webserver]/workers/dns_lookup)
         ## or the deprecated old one (eg. /apache/[webserver]/workers/DNSLookup).
         ## WARNING: Switching this option to true might break existing dashboards
         #  new_namespaces: true
   
   
       metrics:
         ## All available metrics
   
         ## New namespace format
         - /apache/[webserver]/busy_workers
         #- /apache/[webserver]/bytes_per_req
         - /apache/[webserver]/bytes_per_sec
         - /apache/[webserver]/conns_async_closing
         - /apache/[webserver]/conns_async_keep_alive
         - /apache/[webserver]/conns_async_writing
         - /apache/[webserver]/conns_total
         #- /apache/[webserver]/cpu_children_system
         #- /apache/[webserver]/cpu_children_user
         - /apache/[webserver]/cpu_load
         - /apache/[webserver]/cpu_system
         #- /apache/[webserver]/cpu_user
         - /apache/[webserver]/idle_workers
         - /apache/[webserver]/load_1
         - /apache/[webserver]/load_15
         - /apache/[webserver]/load_5
         #- /apache/[webserver]/parent_server_config_generation
         #- /apache/[webserver]/parent_server_mpm_generation
         - /apache/[webserver]/req_per_sec
         #- /apache/[webserver]/duration_per_req
         #- /apache/[webserver]/total_accesses
         #- /apache/[webserver]/total_kbytes
         - /apache/[webserver]/uptime
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/closing
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/dns_lookup
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/finishing
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/idle_cleanup
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/keep_alive
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/logging
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/open
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/reading
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/sending
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/starting
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/waiting
   
         ## Old namespace format
         - /apache/[webserver]/BusyWorkers
         #- /apache/[webserver]/BytesPerReq
         - /apache/[webserver]/BytesPerSec
         - /apache/[webserver]/ConnsAsyncClosing
         - /apache/[webserver]/ConnsAsyncKeepAlive
         - /apache/[webserver]/ConnsAsyncWriting
         - /apache/[webserver]/ConnsTotal
         #- /apache/[webserver]/CPUChildrenSystem
         #- /apache/[webserver]/CPUChildrenUser
         - /apache/[webserver]/CPULoad
         - /apache/[webserver]/CPUSystem
         #- /apache/[webserver]/CPUUser
         - /apache/[webserver]/IdleWorkers
         - /apache/[webserver]/Load1
         - /apache/[webserver]/Load15
         - /apache/[webserver]/Load5
         #- /apache/[webserver]/ParentServerConfigGeneration
         #- /apache/[webserver]/ParentServerMPMGeneration
         - /apache/[webserver]/ReqPerSec
         #- /apache/[webserver]/DurationPerReq
         #- /apache/[webserver]/Total_Accesses
         #- /apache/[webserver]/Total_kBytes
         - /apache/[webserver]/Uptime
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/Closing
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/DNSLookup
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/Finishing
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/Idle_Cleanup
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/Keepalive
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/Logging
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/Open
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/Reading
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/Sending
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/Starting
         - /apache/[webserver]/workers/Waiting
   
       publish:
         - plugin_name: publisher-appoptics

3. Restart the agent.

   On Windows, run the following in the command line:

   net stop swisnapd
   net start swisnapd

   On Linux, run the following in the command line:

   sudo service swisnapd restart

4. Enable the Apache plugin in AppOptics.

If you completed these steps successfully, after a few minutes the Apache plugin will be listed on the Integrations page. If the plugin is not included on the page, see Troubleshooting Linux or Troubleshooting Windows.

Select the Apache plugin to open the configuration menu in the user interface, and then enable the plugin. When completed, the apache metrics are available on the dashboard.

Metrics and tags

The tables below detail the available metrics collected by the apache plugin. The Safe metrics table lists the metrics that are safe to collect for all versions of Apache servers. The Unsafe metrics table contains metrics that are available only in newer versions of Apache servers.

All metrics are available in two formats: CamelCase for compatibility with the pre-existing dashboards and snake_case to match the conventions used in other plugins.

The Metric tags table lists the tags provided by the apache plugin.

Safe metrics

Old format namespace	New format namespace	Description
apache.BusyWorkers	apache.busy_workers	Busy workers
apache.BytesPerSec	apache.bytes_per_sec	Bytes transferred per second
apache.CPULoad	apache.cpu_load	CPU load
apache.ConnsAsyncClosing	apache.conns_async_closing	Asynchronous closing connections
apache.ConnsAsyncKeepAlive	apache.conns_async_keep_alive	Asynchronous keepalive connections
apache.ConnsAsyncWriting	apache.conns_async_writing	Writing asynchronous connections
apache.ConnsTotal	apache.conns_total	Total connections
apache.IdleWorkers	apache.idle_workers	Idle workers
apache.ReqPerSec	apache.req_per_sec	Requests per second
apache.Uptime	apache.uptime	Server uptime
apache.workers.Closing	apache.workers.closing	Closing connections
apache.workers.DNSLookup	apache.workers.dns_lookup	DNS Lookup
apache.workers.Finishing	apache.workers.finishing	Gracefully finishing
apache.workers.Idle_Cleanup	apache.workers.idle_cleanup	Idle cleanup of worker
apache.workers.Keepalive	apache.keep_alive	Keepalive (read)
apache.workers.Logging	apache.workers.logging	Logging
apache.workers.Open	apache.workers.open	Open slot with no current process
apache.workers.Reading	apache.workers.reading	Reading request
apache.workers.Sending	apache.workers.sending	Sending reply
apache.workers.Starting	apache.workers.starting	Starting up
apache.workers.Waiting	apache.workers.waiting	Waiting for connection
apache.Total_Accesses	apache.total_accesses	Total accesses
apache.Total_kBytes	apache.total_kbytes	Total kBytes

Unsafe metrics

Old format namespace	New format namespace	Description
apache.Load1	apache.load_1	Server load over last 1 minute
apache.Load5	apache.load_5	Server load over last 5 minutes
apache.Load15	apache.load_15	Server load over last 15 minutes
apache.BytesPerReq	apache.bytes_per_req	Bytes transferred per request
apache.DurationPerReq	apache.duration_per_req	Average request handling time
apache.CPUUser	apache.cpu_user	Jiffs used in user mode
apache.CPUSystem	apache.cpu_system	Jiffs used in system mode
apache.CPUChildrenUser	apache.cpu_children_user	Jiffs used in user mode by child processes
apache.CPUChildrenSystem	apache.cpu_children_system	Jiffs used in system mode by child processes
apache.ParentServerConfigGeneration	apache.parent_server_config_generation	Times apache has reread configs and restarted child processes
apache.ParentServerMPMGeneration	apache.parent_server_mpm_generation	Times apache has reread MPM configs and restarted child processes

Metric tags

All Apache metrics are tagged with the hostname and webserver names that were set in the configuration. Additionally, if the safe option is set to true in the configuration of a webserver, then the following tags are provided:

Tag name	Description
server_mpm	Apache server version
server_version	Apache servers selected MPM

The scripts are not supported under any SolarWinds support program or service. The scripts are provided AS IS without warranty of any kind. SolarWinds further disclaims all warranties including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability or of fitness for a particular purpose. The risk arising out of the use or performance of the scripts and documentation stays with you. In no event shall SolarWinds or anyone else involved in the creation, production, or delivery of the scripts be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of or inability to use the scripts or documentation.