Configure Exec integration

Exec is a Telegraph integration. You can configure it to execute commands at regular intervals and parse metrics from their output in JSON. See Exec Input Plugin at GitHub.

To integrate Exec with SolarWinds Observability SaaS:

1. In SolarWinds Observability SaaS, click Add Data at the top.

2. In the Add Data dialog Intro, click the Integrations tab, and then click Exec.

3. Create or select an API Ingestion token to use when sending your collected entity type data by doing either of the following:

   • Select Generate New Token and enter an Ingestion Token Name, and then click Next.
   • Select Use Existing Token and select an ingestion token from the list, and then click Next.

4. Install Telegraf. See Install Telegraf at influxdata.com.

5. Create a telegraf.conf file that contains the correct configuration options for the service to monitor (input) and for the information to be sent to SolarWinds Observability SaaS (output). See Telegraf | Generate a custom configuration file.

   telegraf --sample-config --input-filter exec --output-filter opentelemetry > telegraf.conf

6. Open the telegraf.conf file and adjust it:

   1. Set up the output. The values included in the code are required for the successful data submission and ingestion.

      Include the following section, replacing:

      • otel.collector.xx-yy.cloud.solarwinds.com:443 with the correct endpoint for your organization. See Data centers and endpoint URIs.
      • ABC123abcABC123abcABC123abcABC123abcABC123abcABC123abcABC123abcABC123ab with your SolarWinds Observability API token. See API Tokens.

      [[outputs.opentelemetry]]
          service_address = "otel.collector.xx-yy.cloud.solarwinds.com:443"  # differs per production environment
          insecure_skip_verify = true
        [outputs.opentelemetry.headers]
          Authorization = "Bearer ABC123abcABC123abcABC123abcABC123abcABC123abcABC123abcABC123abcABC123ab" # create one in SWO settings -> API Tokens

   2. Configure inputs section [[inputs.exec]]. See the Exec documentation for details.

7. Test the configuration file by starting the Telegraf service. Run the following code.

   telegraf --config /telegraf/telegraf.conf

8. If the service starts without major errors or failures, move the telegraf.conf file to /etc/telegraf/telegraf.conf.

   mv ./telegraf.conf /etc/telegraf/telegraf.conf

9. Restart the Telegraf service.

   systemctl restart telegraf

10. When the installation is complete, you can continue to observe Exec data. Use the buttons on the Summary screen.

To view metrics collected for Exec, click Analyze > Metrics and search for Exec. See Metrics Explorer for details.