---
title: Telegraf Documentation
description: Telegraf plugin for collecting metrics from P4 Runtime
url: https://docs.influxdata.com/telegraf/v1/input-plugins/p4runtime/
estimated_tokens: 1564
product: Telegraf
version: v1
---

-   Telegraf v1.26.0+

# P4 Runtime Input Plugin

This plugin collects metrics from the data plane of network devices, such as Programmable Switches or Programmable Network Interface Cards by reading the `Counter` values of the [P4 program](https://p4.org) running on the device. Metrics are collected through a gRPC connection with the [P4 runtime](https://github.com/p4lang/p4runtime) server.

If you want to gather information about the program name, please follow the instruction in [6.2.1. Annotating P4 code with PkgInfo](https://p4.org/p4-spec/p4runtime/main/P4Runtime-Spec.html#sec-annotating-p4-code-with-pkginfo) to modify your P4 program.

**Introduced in:** Telegraf v1.26.0 **Tags:** network, applications **OS support:** all

## Global configuration options

Plugins support additional global and plugin configuration settings for tasks such as modifying metrics, tags, and fields, creating aliases, and configuring plugin ordering. See [CONFIGURATION.md](/telegraf/v1/configuration/#plugins) for more details.

## Configuration

```toml
# P4Runtime telemetry input plugin
[[inputs.p4runtime]]
  ## Define the endpoint of P4Runtime gRPC server to collect metrics.
  # endpoint = "127.0.0.1:9559"
  ## Set DeviceID required for Client Arbitration.
  ## https://p4.org/p4-spec/p4runtime/main/P4Runtime-Spec.html#sec-client-arbitration-and-controller-replication
  # device_id = 1
  ## Filter counters by their names that should be observed.
  ## Example: counter_names_include=["ingressCounter", "egressCounter"]
  # counter_names_include = []

  ## Optional TLS Config.
  ## Enable client-side TLS and define CA to authenticate the device.
  # enable_tls = false
  # tls_ca = "/etc/telegraf/ca.crt"
  ## Set minimal TLS version to accept by the client.
  # tls_min_version = "TLS12"
  ## Use TLS but skip chain & host verification.
  # insecure_skip_verify = true

  ## Define client-side TLS certificate & key to authenticate to the device.
  # tls_cert = "/etc/telegraf/client.crt"
  # tls_key = "/etc/telegraf/client.key"
```

## Metrics

The P4 runtime server communicates using the [P4 Protocol Buffer definition](https://github.com/p4lang/p4runtime/blob/main/proto/p4/v1/p4runtime.proto). Static information about the program loaded into programmable switch are collected by `GetForwardingPipelineConfigRequest` message. The plugin gathers dynamic metrics using the `Read` method. `Readrequest` is defined with single `Entity` of type `CounterEntry`. Since a P4 Counter is an array type, the plugin collects values of every cell of array by [wildcard queries](https://github.com/p4lang/p4runtime/blob/main/proto/p4/v1/p4runtime.proto#L379).

Counters defined in a P4 Program have a unique ID and name. The `counter_index` defines which cell value of the counter array is used in the metric.

Tags are constructed in given manner:

-   `p4program_name`: P4 program name provided by user.
-   `counter_name`: Name of given counter in P4 program.
-   `counter_type`: Type of counter (BYTES, PACKETS, BOTH).

Fields are constructed in given manner:

-   `bytes`: Number of bytes gathered in counter.
-   `packets` Number of packets gathered in counter.
-   `counter_index`: Index at which metrics are collected in P4 counter.

## Example Output

```text
p4_runtime,counter_name=MyIngress.egressTunnelCounter,counter_type=BOTH,host=p4 bytes=408i,packets=4i,counter_index=200i 1675175030000000000
```

#### Related

-   [Configure plugins](/telegraf/v1/configure_plugins/)
-   [P4 Runtime Plugin Source](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/tree/v1.38.4/plugins/inputs/p4runtime/README.md)