OUTPUTS.md

Output Plugins

This section is for developers who want to create a new output sink. Outputs are created in a similar manner as collection plugins, and their interface has similar constructs.

Output Plugin Guidelines

• An output must conform to the telegraf.Output interface.
• Outputs should call outputs.Add in their init function to register themselves. See below for a quick example.
• To be available within Telegraf itself, plugins must add themselves to the github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/outputs/all/all.go file.
• The SampleConfig function should return valid toml that describes how the plugin can be configured. This is included in telegraf config. Please consult the SampleConfig page for the latest style guidelines.
• The Description function should say in one line what this output does.

Output Plugin Example

package simpleoutput

// simpleoutput.go

import (
    "github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
    "github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/outputs"
)

type Simple struct {
    Ok bool
}

func (s *Simple) Description() string {
    return "a demo output"
}

func (s *Simple) SampleConfig() string {
    return `
  ok = true
`
}

func (s *Simple) Connect() error {
    // Make a connection to the URL here
    return nil
}

func (s *Simple) Close() error {
    // Close connection to the URL here
    return nil
}

func (s *Simple) Write(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
    for _, metric := range metrics {
        // write `metric` to the output sink here
    }
    return nil
}

func init() {
    outputs.Add("simpleoutput", func() telegraf.Output { return &Simple{} })
}

Data Formats

Some output plugins, such as the file plugin, can write in any supported output data formats.

In order to enable this, you must specify a SetSerializer(serializer serializers.Serializer) function on the plugin object (see the file plugin for an example), as well as defining serializer as a field of the object.

You can then utilize the serializer internally in your plugin, serializing data before it's written. Telegraf's configuration layer will take care of instantiating and creating the Serializer object.

You should also add the following to your SampleConfig():

  ## Data format to output.
  ## Each data format has its own unique set of configuration options, read
  ## more about them here:
  ## https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/docs/DATA_FORMATS_OUTPUT.md
  data_format = "influx"