Documentation

Collectd input data format

Use the collectd input data format to parse collectd binary network protocol data into Telegraf metrics. Tags are created for host, instance, type, and type instance. All collectd values are added as float64 fields.

For more information about the binary network protocol see here.

You can control the cryptographic settings with parser options. Create an authentication file and set collectd_auth_file to the path of the file, then set the desired security level in collectd_security_level.

Additional information including client setup can be found here.

You can also change the path to the typesdb or add additional typesdb using collectd_typesdb.

Configuration

[[inputs.socket_listener]]
  service_address = "udp://:25826"

  ## Data format to consume.
  ## 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_INPUT.md
  data_format = "collectd"

  ## Authentication file for cryptographic security levels
  collectd_auth_file = "/etc/collectd/auth_file"
  ## One of none (default), sign, or encrypt
  collectd_security_level = "encrypt"
  ## Path of to TypesDB specifications
  collectd_typesdb = ["/usr/share/collectd/types.db"]

  ## Multi-value plugins can be handled two ways.
  ## "split" will parse and store the multi-value plugin data into separate measurements
  ## "join" will parse and store the multi-value plugin as a single multi-value measurement.
  ## "split" is the default behavior for backward compatibility with previous versions of InfluxDB.
  collectd_parse_multivalue = "split"

Example Output

memory,type=memory,type_instance=buffered value=2520051712 1560455990829955922
memory,type=memory,type_instance=used value=3710791680 1560455990829955922
memory,type=memory,type_instance=buffered value=2520047616 1560455980830417318
memory,type=memory,type_instance=cached value=9472626688 1560455980830417318
memory,type=memory,type_instance=slab_recl value=2088894464 1560455980830417318
memory,type=memory,type_instance=slab_unrecl value=146984960 1560455980830417318
memory,type=memory,type_instance=free value=2978258944 1560455980830417318
memory,type=memory,type_instance=used value=3707047936 1560455980830417318

Was this page helpful?

Thank you for your feedback!


New in InfluxDB 3.5

Key enhancements in InfluxDB 3.5 and the InfluxDB 3 Explorer 1.3.

See the Blog Post

InfluxDB 3.5 is now available for both Core and Enterprise, introducing custom plugin repository support, enhanced operational visibility with queryable CLI parameters and manual node management, stronger security controls, and general performance improvements.

InfluxDB 3 Explorer 1.3 brings powerful new capabilities including Dashboards (beta) for saving and organizing your favorite queries, and cache querying for instant access to Last Value and Distinct Value caches—making Explorer a more comprehensive workspace for time series monitoring and analysis.

For more information, check out:

InfluxDB Docker latest tag changing to InfluxDB 3 Core

On November 3, 2025, the latest tag for InfluxDB Docker images will point to InfluxDB 3 Core. To avoid unexpected upgrades, use specific version tags in your Docker deployments.

If using Docker to install and run InfluxDB, the latest tag will point to InfluxDB 3 Core. To avoid unexpected upgrades, use specific version tags in your Docker deployments. For example, if using Docker to run InfluxDB v2, replace the latest version tag with a specific version tag in your Docker pull command–for example:

docker pull influxdb:2