pmacct-to-elasticsearch

pmacct-to-elasticsearch is a python script designed to read JSON output from pmacct daemons, to process it and to store it into ElasticSearch. It works with both memory and print plugins and, optionally, it can perform manipulations on data (such as to add fields on the basis of other values).

1. pmacct daemons collect IP accounting data and process them with their plugins;
2. data are stored into in-memory-tables (memory plugins) or JSON files (print plugins);
3. crontab jobs (memory plugins) or trigger scripts (print plugins) are invoked to execute pmacct-to-elasticsearch;
4. JSON records are finally processed by pmacct-to-elasticsearch, which reads them from stdin (memory plugins) or directly from JSON file.

Optionally, some data transformations can be configured, to allow pmacct-to-elasticsearch to add or remove fields to/from the output documents that are sent to ElasticSearch for indexing. These additional fields may be useful to enhance graphs and reports legibility, or to add a further level of aggregation or filtering.

Installation

Clone the repository and run the ./install script:

  # cd /usr/local/src/
  # git clone https://github.com/pierky/pmacct-to-elasticsearch.git
  # cd pmacct-to-elasticsearch/
  # ./install

Configuration

Please refer to the CONFIGURATION.md file. The TRANSFORMATIONS.md file contains details about data transformations configuration.

A simple tutorial on pmacct integration with ElasticSearch/Kibana using pmacct-to-elasticsearch can be found at http://blog.pierky.com/integration-of-pmacct-with-elasticsearch-and-kibana.

Future work

• Improve performances by introducing multi-thread processing of input data.
• Add support of more pmacct output formats (CSV, Apache Avro, ...).
• Read input from stdin pipes too.

Author

Pier Carlo Chiodi - http://pierky.com/aboutme

Blog: http://blog.pierky.com Twitter: @pierky