UDP protocol support in InfluxDB

The UDP Input

A note on UDP/IP OS buffer sizes

Some operating systems (most notably, Linux) place very restrictive limits on the performance of UDP protocols. It is highly recommended that you increase these OS limits to at least 25MB before trying to run UDP traffic to your instance. 25MB is just a recommendation, and should be adjusted to be inline with your read-buffer plugin setting.

Linux

Check the current UDP/IP receive buffer default and limit by typing the following commands:

  1. sysctl net.core.rmem_max
  2. sysctl net.core.rmem_default

If the values are less than 26214400 bytes (25MB), you should add the following lines to the /etc/sysctl.conf file:

  1. net.core.rmem_max=26214400
  2. net.core.rmem_default=26214400

Changes to /etc/sysctl.conf do not take effect until reboot. To update the values immediately, type the following commands as root:

  1. sysctl -w net.core.rmem_max=26214400
  2. sysctl -w net.core.rmem_default=26214400

BSD/Darwin

On BSD/Darwin systems, you need to add about a 15% padding to the kernel limit socket buffer. For example, if you want a 25MB buffer (26214400 bytes) you need to set the kernel limit to 26214400*1.15 = 30146560. This is not documented anywhere but happens in the kernel here.

Checking current UDP/IP buffer limits

To check the current UDP/IP buffer limit, type the following command:

  1. sysctl kern.ipc.maxsockbuf

If the value is less than 30146560 bytes, you should add the following lines to the /etc/sysctl.conf file (create it if necessary):

  1. kern.ipc.maxsockbuf=30146560

Changes to /etc/sysctl.conf do not take effect until reboot. To update the values immediately, type the following command as root:

  1. sysctl -w kern.ipc.maxsockbuf=30146560

Using the read-buffer option for the UDP listener

The read-buffer option allows users to set the buffer size for the UDP listener. It sets the size of the operating system’s receive buffer associated with the UDP traffic. Keep in mind that the OS must be able to handle the number set here or the UDP listener will error and exit.

Setting read-buffer = 0 results in the OS default being used and is usually too small for high UDP performance.

Configuration

Each UDP input allows the binding address, target database, and target retention policy to be set. If the database does not exist, it will be created automatically when the input is initialized. If the retention policy is not configured, then the default retention policy for the database is used. However, if the retention policy is set, the retention policy must be explicitly created. The input will not automatically create it.

Each UDP input also performs internal batching of the points it receives, as batched writes to the database are more efficient. The default batch size is 1000, pending batch factor is 5, with a batch timeout of 1 second. This means the input will write batches of maximum size 1000, but if a batch has not reached 1000 points within 1 second of the first point being added to a batch, it will emit that batch regardless of size. The pending batch factor controls how many batches can be in memory at once, allowing the input to transmit a batch, while still building other batches.

Processing

The UDP input can receive up to 64KB per read, and splits the received data by newline. Each part is then interpreted as line-protocol encoded points, and parsed accordingly.

UDP is connectionless

Since UDP is a connectionless protocol, there is no way to signal to the data source if any error occurs, and if data has even been successfully indexed. This should be kept in mind when deciding if and when to use the UDP input. The built-in UDP statistics are useful for monitoring the UDP inputs.

Config examples

One UDP listener

  1. # influxd.conf
  2. ...
  3. [[udp]]
  4.   enabled = true
  5.   bind-address = ":8089" # the bind address
  6.   database = "telegraf" # Name of the database that will be written to
  7.   batch-size = 5000 # will flush if this many points get buffered
  8.   batch-timeout = "1s" # will flush at least this often even if the batch-size is not reached
  9.   batch-pending = 10 # number of batches that may be pending in memory
  10.   read-buffer = 0 # UDP read buffer, 0 means to use OS default
  11. ...

Multiple UDP listeners

  1. # influxd.conf
  2. ...
  3. [[udp]]
  4.   # Default UDP for Telegraf
  5.   enabled = true
  6.   bind-address = ":8089" # the bind address
  7.   database = "telegraf" # Name of the database that will be written to
  8.   batch-size = 5000 # will flush if this many points get buffered
  9.   batch-timeout = "1s" # will flush at least this often even if the batch-size is not reached
  10.   batch-pending = 10 # number of batches that may be pending in memory
  11.   read-buffer = 0 # UDP read buffer size, 0 means to use OS default
  13. [[udp]]
  14.   # High-traffic UDP
  15.   enabled = true
  16.   bind-address = ":8189" # the bind address
  17.   database = "mymetrics" # Name of the database that will be written to
  18.   batch-size = 5000 # will flush if this many points get buffered
  19.   batch-timeout = "1s" # will flush at least this often even if the batch-size is not reached
  20.   batch-pending = 100 # number of batches that may be pending in memory
  21.   read-buffer = 8388608 # (8*1024*1024) UDP read buffer size
  22. ...

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