---
title: Telegraf Documentation
description: Telegraf plugin for collecting metrics from Stackdriver Google Cloud Monitoring
url: https://docs.influxdata.com/telegraf/v1/input-plugins/stackdriver/
estimated_tokens: 3622
product: Telegraf
version: v1
---

-   Telegraf v1.10.0+

# Stackdriver Google Cloud Monitoring Input Plugin

This plugin collects metrics from [Google Cloud Monitoring](https://cloud.google.com/monitoring) (formerly Stackdriver) using the [Cloud Monitoring API v3](https://cloud.google.com/monitoring/api/v3/).

This plugin accesses APIs which are [chargeable](https://cloud.google.com/stackdriver/pricing#stackdriver_monitoring_services), cost might incur.

**Introduced in:** Telegraf v1.10.0 **Tags:** cloud **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
# Gather timeseries from Google Cloud Platform v3 monitoring API
[[inputs.stackdriver]]
  ## GCP Project
  project = "erudite-bloom-151019"

  ## Include timeseries that start with the given metric type.
  metric_type_prefix_include = [
    "compute.googleapis.com/",
  ]

  ## Exclude timeseries that start with the given metric type.
  # metric_type_prefix_exclude = []

  ## Most metrics are updated no more than once per minute; it is recommended
  ## to override the agent level interval with a value of 1m or greater.
  interval = "1m"

  ## Maximum number of API calls to make per second.  The quota for accounts
  ## varies, it can be viewed on the API dashboard:
  ##   https://cloud.google.com/monitoring/quotas#quotas_and_limits
  # rate_limit = 14

  ## The delay and window options control the number of points selected on
  ## each gather.  When set, metrics are gathered between:
  ##   start: now() - delay - window
  ##   end:   now() - delay
  #
  ## Collection delay; if set too low metrics may not yet be available.
  # delay = "5m"
  #
  ## If unset, the window will start at 1m and be updated dynamically to span
  ## the time between calls (approximately the length of the plugin interval).
  # window = "1m"

  ## TTL for cached list of metric types.  This is the maximum amount of time
  ## it may take to discover new metrics.
  # cache_ttl = "1h"

  ## If true, raw bucket counts are collected for distribution value types.
  ## For a more lightweight collection, you may wish to disable and use
  ## distribution_aggregation_aligners instead.
  # gather_raw_distribution_buckets = true

  ## Aggregate functions to be used for metrics whose value type is
  ## distribution.  These aggregate values are recorded in in addition to raw
  ## bucket counts; if they are enabled.
  ##
  ## For a list of aligner strings see:
  ##   https://cloud.google.com/monitoring/api/ref_v3/rpc/google.monitoring.v3#aligner
  # distribution_aggregation_aligners = [
  #  "ALIGN_PERCENTILE_99",
  #  "ALIGN_PERCENTILE_95",
  #  "ALIGN_PERCENTILE_50",
  # ]

  ## Filters can be added to reduce the number of time series matched.  All
  ## functions are supported: starts_with, ends_with, has_substring, and
  ## one_of.  Only the '=' operator is supported.
  ##
  ## The logical operators when combining filters are defined statically using
  ## the following values:
  ##   filter ::= <resource_labels> {AND <metric_labels> AND <user_labels> AND <system_labels>}
  ##   resource_labels ::= <resource_labels> {OR <resource_label>}
  ##   metric_labels ::= <metric_labels> {OR <metric_label>}
  ##   user_labels ::= <user_labels> {OR <user_label>}
  ##   system_labels ::= <system_labels> {OR <system_label>}
  ##
  ## For more details, see https://cloud.google.com/monitoring/api/v3/filters
  #
  ## Resource labels refine the time series selection with the following expression:
  ##   resource.labels.<key> = <value>
  # [[inputs.stackdriver.filter.resource_labels]]
  #   key = "instance_name"
  #   value = 'starts_with("localhost")'
  #
  ## Metric labels refine the time series selection with the following expression:
  ##   metric.labels.<key> = <value>
  #  [[inputs.stackdriver.filter.metric_labels]]
  #    key = "device_name"
  #    value = 'one_of("sda", "sdb")'
  #
  ## User labels refine the time series selection with the following expression:
  ##   metadata.user_labels."<key>" = <value>
  #  [[inputs.stackdriver.filter.user_labels]]
  #    key = "environment"
  #    value = 'one_of("prod", "staging")'
  #
  ## System labels refine the time series selection with the following expression:
  ##   metadata.system_labels."<key>" = <value>
  #  [[inputs.stackdriver.filter.system_labels]]
  #    key = "machine_type"
  #    value = 'starts_with("e2-")'
```

### Authentication

It is recommended to use a service account to authenticate with the Stackdriver Monitoring API. [Getting Started with Authentication](https://cloud.google.com/docs/authentication/getting-started).

## Troubleshooting

When Telegraf is ran with `--debug`, detailed information about the performed queries will be logged.

## Metrics

Metrics are created using one of there patterns depending on if the value type is a scalar value, raw distribution buckets, or aligned bucket values.

In all cases, the Stackdriver metric type is split on the last component into the measurement and field:

```sh
compute.googleapis.com/instance/disk/read_bytes_count
└──────────  measurement  ─────────┘ └──  field  ───┘
```

### Scalar Values

-   measurement
    -   tags:
        -   resource\_labels
        -   metric\_labels
    -   fields:
        -   field

### Distributions

Distributions are represented by a set of fields along with the bucket values tagged with the bucket boundary. Buckets are cumulative: each bucket represents the total number of items less than the `lt` tag.

-   measurement
    
    -   tags:
        -   resource\_labels
        -   metric\_labels
    -   fields:
        -   field\_count
        -   field\_mean
        -   field\_sum\_of\_squared\_deviation
        -   field\_range\_min
        -   field\_range\_max
-   measurement
    
    -   tags:
        -   resource\_labels
        -   metric\_labels
        -   lt (less than)
    -   fields:
        -   field\_bucket

### Aligned Aggregations

-   measurement
    -   tags:
        -   resource\_labels
        -   metric\_labels
    -   fields:
        -   field\_alignment\_function

## Example Output

The output depends on the defined filters and metric types.

#### Related

-   [Configure plugins](/telegraf/v1/configure_plugins/)
-   [Stackdriver Google Cloud Monitoring Plugin Source](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/tree/v1.38.4/plugins/inputs/stackdriver/README.md)
