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Unbound

Unbound

Plugin: go.d.plugin Module: unbound

Overview

This collector monitors Unbound servers.

This collector is supported on all platforms.

This collector supports collecting metrics from multiple instances of this integration, including remote instances.

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

This integration doesn’t support auto-detection.

Limits

The default configuration for this integration does not impose any limits on data collection.

Performance Impact

The default configuration for this integration is not expected to impose a significant performance impact on the system.

Setup

Prerequisites

Enable remote control interface

Set control-enable to yes in unbound.conf.

Check permissions and adjust if necessary

If using unix socket:

  • socket should be readable and writeable by netdata user

If using ip socket and TLS is disabled:

  • socket should be accessible via network

If TLS is enabled, in addition:

  • control-key-file should be readable by netdata user
  • control-cert-file should be readable by netdata user

For auto-detection parameters from unbound.conf:

  • unbound.conf should be readable by netdata user
  • if you have several configuration files (include feature) all of them should be readable by netdata user

Configuration

File

The configuration file name for this integration is go.d/unbound.conf.

You can edit the configuration file using the edit-config script from the Netdata config directory.

cd /etc/netdata 2>/dev/null || cd /opt/netdata/etc/netdata
sudo ./edit-config go.d/unbound.conf

Options

The following options can be defined globally: update_every, autodetection_retry.

Name Description Default Required
update_every Data collection frequency. 5 no
autodetection_retry Recheck interval in seconds. Zero means no recheck will be scheduled. 0 no
address Server address in IP:PORT format. 127.0.0.1:8953 yes
timeout Connection/read/write/ssl handshake timeout. 1 no
conf_path Absolute path to the unbound configuration file. /etc/unbound/unbound.conf no
cumulative_stats Statistics collection mode. Should have the same value as the statistics-cumulative parameter in the unbound configuration file. no no
use_tls Whether to use TLS or not. yes no
tls_skip_verify Server certificate chain and hostname validation policy. Controls whether the client performs this check. yes no
tls_ca Certificate authority that client use when verifying server certificates. no
tls_cert Client tls certificate. /etc/unbound/unbound_control.pem no
tls_key Client tls key. /etc/unbound/unbound_control.key no

Examples

Basic

An example configuration.

jobs:
  - name: local
    address: 127.0.0.1:8953

Unix socket

Connecting through Unix socket.

jobs:
  - name: socket
    address: /var/run/unbound.sock

Multi-instance

Note: When you define multiple jobs, their names must be unique.

Local and remote instances.

jobs:
  - name: local
    address: 127.0.0.1:8953

  - name: remote
    address: 203.0.113.11:8953

Metrics

Metrics grouped by scope.

The scope defines the instance that the metric belongs to. An instance is uniquely identified by a set of labels.

Per Unbound instance

These metrics refer to the entire monitored application.

This scope has no labels.

Metrics:

Metric Dimensions Unit
unbound.queries queries queries
unbound.queries_ip_ratelimited ratelimited queries
unbound.dnscrypt_queries crypted, cert, cleartext, malformed queries
unbound.cache hits, miss events
unbound.cache_percentage hits, miss percentage
unbound.prefetch prefetches prefetches
unbound.expired expired replies
unbound.zero_ttl_replies zero_ttl replies
unbound.recursive_replies recursive replies
unbound.recursion_time avg, median milliseconds
unbound.request_list_usage avg, max queries
unbound.current_request_list_usage all, users queries
unbound.request_list_jostle_list overwritten, dropped queries
unbound.tcpusage usage buffers
unbound.uptime time seconds
unbound.cache_memory message, rrset, dnscrypt_nonce, dnscrypt_shared_secret KB
unbound.mod_memory iterator, respip, validator, subnet, ipsec KB
unbound.mem_streamwait streamwait KB
unbound.cache_count infra, key, msg, rrset, dnscrypt_nonce, shared_secret items
unbound.type_queries a dimension per query type queries
unbound.class_queries a dimension per query class queries
unbound.opcode_queries a dimension per query opcode queries
unbound.flag_queries qr, aa, tc, rd, ra, z, ad, cd queries
unbound.rcode_answers a dimension per reply rcode replies

Per thread

These metrics refer to threads.

This scope has no labels.

Metrics:

Metric Dimensions Unit
unbound.thread_queries queries queries
unbound.thread_queries_ip_ratelimited ratelimited queries
unbound.thread_dnscrypt_queries crypted, cert, cleartext, malformed queries
unbound.thread_cache hits, miss events
unbound.thread_cache_percentage hits, miss percentage
unbound.thread_prefetch prefetches prefetches
unbound.thread_expired expired replies
unbound.thread_zero_ttl_replies zero_ttl replies
unbound.thread_recursive_replies recursive replies
unbound.thread_recursion_time avg, median milliseconds
unbound.thread_request_list_usage avg, max queries
unbound.thread_current_request_list_usage all, users queries
unbound.thread_request_list_jostle_list overwritten, dropped queries
unbound.thread_tcpusage usage buffers

Alerts

There are no alerts configured by default for this integration.

Troubleshooting

Debug Mode

Important: Debug mode is not supported for data collection jobs created via the UI using the Dyncfg feature.

To troubleshoot issues with the unbound collector, run the go.d.plugin with the debug option enabled. The output should give you clues as to why the collector isn’t working.

  • Navigate to the plugins.d directory, usually at /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/. If that’s not the case on your system, open netdata.conf and look for the plugins setting under [directories].

    cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/
    
  • Switch to the netdata user.

    sudo -u netdata -s
    
  • Run the go.d.plugin to debug the collector:

    ./go.d.plugin -d -m unbound
    

Getting Logs

If you’re encountering problems with the unbound collector, follow these steps to retrieve logs and identify potential issues:

  • Run the command specific to your system (systemd, non-systemd, or Docker container).
  • Examine the output for any warnings or error messages that might indicate issues. These messages should provide clues about the root cause of the problem.

System with systemd

Use the following command to view logs generated since the last Netdata service restart:

journalctl _SYSTEMD_INVOCATION_ID="$(systemctl show --value --property=InvocationID netdata)" --namespace=netdata --grep unbound

System without systemd

Locate the collector log file, typically at /var/log/netdata/collector.log, and use grep to filter for collector’s name:

grep unbound /var/log/netdata/collector.log

Note: This method shows logs from all restarts. Focus on the latest entries for troubleshooting current issues.

Docker Container

If your Netdata runs in a Docker container named “netdata” (replace if different), use this command:

docker logs netdata 2>&1 | grep unbound

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