--- title: Install Telegraf description: Learn how to install, configure, and start Telegraf on your system. url: https://docs.influxdata.com/telegraf/v1/install/ estimated_tokens: 10452 product: Telegraf version: v1 --- # Install Telegraf Use this guide to install, start, and configure Telegraf on your system: - [Review requirements](#requirements) - [Download and install Telegraf](#download-and-install-telegraf) - [Deploy in Kubernetes with Helm](#deploy-telegraf-in-kubernetes-with-helm) - [Generate a configuration file](#generate-a-configuration-file) - [Custom compile Telegraf](#custom-compile-telegraf) ## Requirements Installation of the Telegraf package may require `root` or administrator privileges to complete successfully. ### Networking Telegraf offers multiple service [input plugins](/telegraf/v1/plugins/inputs/) that may require custom ports. Modify port mappings through the configuration file (`telegraf.conf`). For Linux distributions, this file is located at `/etc/telegraf` for default installations. For Windows distributions, the configuration file is located in the directory where you unzipped the Telegraf ZIP archive. The default location is `C:\InfluxData\telegraf`. ### NTP Telegraf uses a host’s local time in UTC to assign timestamps to data. Use the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to synchronize time between hosts. If hosts’ clocks aren’t synchronized with NTP, the timestamps on the data might be inaccurate. ## Download and install Telegraf Recommended:: Before you open and install packages and downloaded files, use SHA checksum verification and GPG signature verification to ensure the files are intact and authentic. SHA checksum and GPG signature verification are complementary checks. *For some Linux platforms, the [installation instructions](#download-and-install-instructions) include steps to verify downloaded packages and binaries.* For more information, see the following: [](#verify-download-integrity-using-sha-256) Verify download integrity using SHA-256 For each released binary, InfluxData publishes the SHA checksum that you can use to verify that the downloaded file is intact and hasn’t been corrupted. To use the SHA checksum to verify the downloaded file, do the following: 1. In the [downloads page](https://www.influxdata.com/downloads), select the **Version** and **Platform** for your download, and then copy the SHA256 checksum for the file. 2. Compute the SHA checksum of the downloaded file and compare it to the checksum you copied in the preceding step–for example, enter the following command in your terminal. ### Syntax ```bash # Use 2 spaces to separate the checksum from the filename echo " telegraf-1.38.4_linux_amd64.tar.gz" \ | sha256sum -c - ``` Replace the following: - ``: the **SHA256:** checksum value that you copied from the downloads page ### Example The following sample code uses `curl` to download Telegraf, and then uses `sha256` to compare it to the checksum: ```bash curl -s --location -O \ "https://dl.influxdata.com/telegraf/releases/telegraf-1.38.4_linux_amd64.tar.gz" echo "21e781cc2352713e4eabf0931e3eeea640a2014850a33ea04f86b4dc288d6add telegraf-1.38.4_linux_amd64.tar.gz" \ | sha256sum -c - ``` Replace the following: - `21e781cc2352713e4eabf0931e3eeea640a2014850a33ea04f86b4dc288d6add`: the **SHA256:** checksum value that you copied from the downloads page If the checksums match, the output is the following; otherwise, an error message. ``` telegraf-1.38.4_linux_amd64.tar.gz: OK ``` [](#verify-file-integrity-and-authenticity-using-gpg) Verify file integrity and authenticity using GPG InfluxData uses [GPG (GnuPG)](https://www.gnupg.org/software/) to sign released software and provides public key and encrypted private key (`.key` file) pairs that you can use to verify the integrity of packages and binaries from the InfluxData repository. Before running the [install](#download-and-install-instructions) sample code, substitute the key-pair compatible with your OS version: For newer OS releases (for example, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and newer, Debian Buster and newer) that support subkey verification: - GPG key file: [`influxdata-archive.key`](https://repos.influxdata.com/influxdata-archive.key) - Primary key fingerprint: `24C975CBA61A024EE1B631787C3D57159FC2F927` For older versions (for example, CentOS/RHEL 7, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, or Debian Stretch) that don’t support subkeys for verification: - GPG key file: [`influxdata-archive_compat.key`](https://repos.influxdata.com/influxdata-archive_compat.key) - Signing key fingerprint: `9D539D90D3328DC7D6C8D3B9D8FF8E1F7DF8B07E` *For security, InfluxData periodically rotates keys and publishes the new key pairs.* **Ubuntu & Debian:** Debian and Ubuntu users can install the latest stable version of Telegraf using the `apt-get` package manager. - [Install from the InfluxData repository](#install-from-the-influxdata-repository) - [Install from a `.deb` file](#install-from-a-deb-file) ### Install from the InfluxData repository Run the following commands using `apt-get` to install Telegraf from the InfluxData repository: **Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and newer:** ```bash curl --silent --location -O https://repos.influxdata.com/influxdata-archive.key gpg --show-keys --with-fingerprint --with-colons ./influxdata-archive.key 2>&1 \ | grep -q '^fpr:\+24C975CBA61A024EE1B631787C3D57159FC2F927:$' \ && cat influxdata-archive.key \ | gpg --dearmor \ | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/influxdata-archive.gpg > /dev/null \ && echo 'deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/influxdata-archive.gpg] https://repos.influxdata.com/debian stable main' \ | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/influxdata.list sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install telegraf ``` **Older than Ubuntu 20.04:** ```bash # influxdata-archive_compat.key GPG Fingerprint: 9D539D90D3328DC7D6C8D3B9D8FF8E1F7DF8B07E curl --silent --location -O https://repos.influxdata.com/influxdata-archive_compat.key gpg --show-keys --with-fingerprint --with-colons ./influxdata-archive_compat.key 2>&1 \ | grep -q '^fpr:\+9D539D90D3328DC7D6C8D3B9D8FF8E1F7DF8B07E:$' \ && cat influxdata-archive_compat.key \ | gpg --dearmor \ | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/influxdata-archive_compat.gpg > /dev/null echo 'deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/influxdata-archive_compat.gpg] https://repos.influxdata.com/debian stable main' \ | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/influxdata.list sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install telegraf ``` ### Install from a `.deb` file To manually install the Debian package from a `.deb` file: 1. Download the latest Telegraf `.deb` release from the [downloads page](https://influxdata.com/downloads/#telegraf). 2. Run the following command (making sure to supply the correct version number for the downloaded file): ```bash sudo dpkg -i telegraf_1.38.4-1_amd64.deb ``` **RedHat & CentOS:** To learn how to manually install the RPM package from a file, see the [downloads page](https://www.influxdata.com/downloads/). To use the `yum` package manager to install the latest stable version of Telegraf, follow these steps: 1. In your terminal, enter the following command to add the InfluxData repository to the `yum` configuration: ```bash cat < **ARM (Apple Silicon):** ```zsh telegraf -config /opt/homebrew/etc/telegraf.conf ``` **x86_64 (Intel):** ```zsh telegraf -config /usr/local/etc/telegraf.conf ``` ### Run Telegraf as a background service In your terminal, enter the following command to add `telegraf` to your system’s `LaunchAgents`: **ARM (Apple Silicon):** ```zsh ln -sfv /opt/homebrew/opt/telegraf/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents ``` **x86_64 (Intel):** ```zsh ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/telegraf/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents ``` The next time you login, launchd starts the `telegraf` service. To immediately start the `telegraf` service, enter the following command: ```zsh launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.telegraf.plist ``` **Windows:** #### Download and run Telegraf as a Windows service Installing a Windows service requires administrative permissions. To run PowerShell as an administrator, see [Launch PowerShell as administrator](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/windows-powershell/starting-windows-powershell?view=powershell-7#with-administrative-privileges-run-as-administrator). In PowerShell *as an administrator*, do the following: 1. Use the following commands to download the Telegraf Windows binary and extract its contents to `C:\Program Files\InfluxData\telegraf\`: ```powershell wget ` https://dl.influxdata.com/telegraf/releases/telegraf-1.38.4_windows_amd64.zip ` -UseBasicParsing ` -OutFile telegraf-1.38.4_windows_amd64.zip Expand-Archive .\telegraf-1.38.4_windows_amd64.zip ` -DestinationPath 'C:\Program Files\InfluxData\telegraf\' ``` 2. Choose *one* of the following steps to place your `telegraf.exe` and `telegraf.conf` files in `C:\Program Files\InfluxData\telegraf`: - Move the `telegraf.exe` and `telegraf.conf` files from `C:\Program Files\InfluxData\telegraf\telegraf-1.38.4` to the parent directory `C:\Program Files\InfluxData\telegraf`–for example: ```powershell cd "C:\Program Files\InfluxData\telegraf"; mv .\telegraf-1.38.4\telegraf.* . ``` - **Or**, create a [Windows symbolic link (Symlink)](https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2016/12/02/symlinks-windows-10/) for `C:\Program Files\InfluxData\telegraf` that points to the extracted directory. The remaining instructions assume that `telegraf.exe` and `telegraf.conf` files are stored in `C:\Program Files\InfluxData\telegraf` or that you created a Symlink to point to this directory. 3. Optional: Enable a plugin to collect Windows-specific metrics–for example, uncomment the [`inputs.win_services` plugin](/telegraf/v1/plugins/#input-win_services) configuration line: ```toml ... # # Input plugin to report Windows services info. # # This plugin ONLY supports Windows [[inputs.win_services]] ... ``` 4. Run the following command to install Telegraf and the configuration as a Windows service. For the `--config` option, pass the absolute path of the `telegraf.conf` configuration file. ```powershell .\telegraf.exe --service install ` --config "C:\Program Files\InfluxData\telegraf\telegraf.conf" ``` 5. To test that the installation works, enter the following command: ```powershell .\telegraf.exe ` --config C:\"Program Files"\InfluxData\telegraf\telegraf.conf --test ``` When run in test mode (using the `--test` flag), Telegraf runs once, collects metrics, outputs them to the console, and then exits. It doesn’t run processors, aggregators, or output plugins. 6. To start collecting data, run: ```powershell .\telegraf.exe --service start ``` ### Logging and troubleshooting When Telegraf runs as a Windows service, Telegraf logs messages to Windows event logs. If the Telegraf service fails to start, view error logs by selecting **Event Viewer**→**Windows Logs**→**Application**. ### Windows service commands The following commands are available: | Command | Effect | | --- | --- | | telegraf.exe --service install | Install telegraf as a service | | telegraf.exe --service uninstall | Remove the telegraf service | | telegraf.exe --service start | Start the telegraf service | | telegraf.exe --service stop | Stop the telegraf service | ## Deploy Telegraf in Kubernetes with Helm For Kubernetes deployments, InfluxData provides several Helm charts: - [telegraf](https://github.com/influxdata/helm-charts/tree/master/charts/telegraf): Deploy Telegraf as a single instance - [telegraf-ds](https://github.com/influxdata/helm-charts/tree/master/charts/telegraf-ds): Deploy Telegraf as a DaemonSet to run on every node - [telegraf-operator](https://github.com/influxdata/helm-charts/tree/master/charts/telegraf-operator): Deploy the Telegraf Operator for managing Telegraf instances declaratively ## Generate a configuration file The `telegraf config` command lets you generate a configuration file from Telegraf’s [plugin list](/telegraf/v1/commands/plugins/). - [Create a configuration file with default input and output plugins](#create-a-configuration-file-with-default-input-and-output-plugins) - [Create a configuration with specific input and output plugins](#create-a-configuration-file-with-specific-input-and-output-plugins) ### Create a configuration file with default input and output plugins To generate a configuration file with default input and output plugins enabled, enter the following command in your terminal: **Linux and macOS:** ```bash telegraf config > telegraf.conf ``` **Windows:** ```powershell .\telegraf.exe config > telegraf.conf ``` ### Create a configuration file with specific input and output plugins To generate a configuration file that contains settings for only specific plugins, use the `--input-filter` and `--output-filter` options to specify [input plugins](/telegraf/v1/configure_plugins/input_plugins/) and [output plugins](/telegraf/v1/configure_plugins/output_plugins/)–for example: **Linux and macOS:** ```bash telegraf \ --input-filter cpu:http \ --output-filter influxdb_v2:file \ config > telegraf.conf ``` **Windows:** ```powershell .\telegraf.exe ` --input-filter cpu:http ` --output-filter influxdb_v2:file ` config > telegraf.conf ``` For more advanced configuration details, see the [configuration documentation](/telegraf/v1/administration/configuration/). ## Custom-compile Telegraf Use the Telegraf custom builder tool to compile Telegraf with only the plugins you need and reduce the Telegraf binary size. 1. [Prerequisites](#prerequisites) 2. [Build the custom builder tool](#build-the-custom-builder-tool) 3. [Run the custom builder to create a `telegraf` binary](#run-the-custom-builder-to-create-a-telegraf-binary) ### Prerequisites - Follow the instructions to install [Go](https://go.dev/) for your system. - [Create your Telegraf configuration file](#generate-a-configuration-file) with the plugins you want to use. ### Build the custom builder tool 1. Clone the Telegraf repository and then change into the repository directory–for example, enter the following command in your terminal: ```bash git clone https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf.git && cd ./telegraf ``` 2. To build the Telegraf custom builder tool, enter the following command: ```bash make build_tools ``` ### Run the custom builder to create a `telegraf` binary The custom builder builds a `telegraf` binary with only the plugins included in the specified configuration files or directories. Run the `custom_builder` tool with at least one `--config` or `--config-directory` flag to specify Telegraf configuration files to build from. - `--config`: accepts local file paths and URLs. - `--config-dir`: accepts local directory paths. You can include multiple `--config` and `--config-dir` flags. #### Examples ##### Single Telegraf configuration ```bash ./tools/custom_builder/custom_builder --config /etc/telegraf.conf ``` ##### Single Telegraf configuration and Telegraf configuration directory ```bash ./tools/custom_builder/custom_builder \ --config /etc/telegraf.conf \ --config-dir /etc/telegraf/telegraf.d ``` ##### Remote Telegraf configuration ```bash ./tools/custom_builder/custom_builder \ --config http://url-to-remote-telegraf/telegraf.conf ``` After a successful build, you can view your customized `telegraf` binary within the top level of your Telegraf repository. ### Update your custom binary To add or remove plugins from your customized Telegraf build, edit your configuration file, and then [run the custom builder](#run-the-custom-builder-to-create-a-telegraf-binary) to regenerate the Telegraf binary.