Access Points
Access Points
Plugin: charts.d.plugin Module: ap
Overview
The ap collector visualizes data related to wireless access points.
It uses the iw command line utility to detect access points. For each interface that is of type AP, it then runs iw INTERFACE station dump and collects statistics.
This collector is only supported on the following platforms:
- Linux
This collector only supports collecting metrics from a single instance of this integration.
Default Behavior
Auto-Detection
The plugin is able to auto-detect if you are running access points on your linux box.
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
Install charts.d plugin
If using our official native DEB/RPM packages, make sure netdata-plugin-chartsd is installed.
iw utility.
Make sure the iw utility is installed.
Configuration
File
The configuration file name for this integration is charts.d/ap.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 charts.d/ap.conf
Options
The config file is sourced by the charts.d plugin. It’s a standard bash file.
The following collapsed table contains all the options that can be configured for the ap collector.
| Name | Description | Default | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| ap_update_every | The data collection frequency. If unset, will inherit the netdata update frequency. | 1 | no |
| ap_priority | Controls the order of charts at the netdata dashboard. | 6900 | no |
| ap_retries | The number of retries to do in case of failure before disabling the collector. | 10 | no |
Examples
Change the collection frequency
Specify a custom collection frequence (update_every) for this collector
# the data collection frequency
# if unset, will inherit the netdata update frequency
ap_update_every=10
# the charts priority on the dashboard
#ap_priority=6900
# the number of retries to do in case of failure
# before disabling the module
#ap_retries=10
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 wireless device
These metrics refer to the entire monitored application.
This scope has no labels.
Metrics:
| Metric | Dimensions | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| ap.clients | clients | clients |
| ap.net | received, sent | kilobits/s |
| ap.packets | received, sent | packets/s |
| ap.issues | retries, failures | issues/s |
| ap.signal | average signal | dBm |
| ap.bitrate | receive, transmit, expected | Mbps |
Alerts
There are no alerts configured by default for this integration.
Troubleshooting
Debug Mode
To troubleshoot issues with the ap collector, run the charts.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.ddirectory, usually at/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/. If that’s not the case on your system, opennetdata.confand look for thepluginssetting under[directories].cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/ -
Switch to the
netdatauser.sudo -u netdata -s -
Run the
charts.d.pluginto debug the collector:./charts.d.plugin debug 1 ap
Getting Logs
If you’re encountering problems with the ap 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 ap
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 ap /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 ap