Can't start Telegraf Service Inputs.exec Linux

[raider111111]

Relevant telegraf.conf:

[[inputs.exec]]
  ## Commands array
  commands = ["telegraf --version | awk '{print($2)}' | awk -F '.' '{print($1"."$2)}'"]
  ## Timeout for each command to complete.
  timeout = "5s"

  ## measurement name suffix (for separating different commands)
  name_suffix = "_mycollector"

  ## Data format to consume.
  ## Each data format has its own unique set of configuration options, read
  ## more about them here:
  ## https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/docs/DATA_FORMATS_INPUT.md
  data_format = "influx"

System info:

Steps to reproduce:

1. Place command in the command block

Expected behavior:

Display Telegraf version number

Actual behavior:

Process fails to start

Additional info:

Failed to start The plugin-driven server agent for reporting metrics into InfluxDB.

Command executes sucessfully in the terminal:
telegraf --version | awk '{print($2)}' | awk -F '.' '{print($1"."$2)}'
1.11

This is probably just formatting but I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

[goller]

Hey @raider111111 , would you try escaping the double quotes like this:

  commands = ["telegraf --version | awk '{print($2)}' | awk -F '.' '{print($1\".\"$2)}'"]

[raider111111]

That worked!

Thanks!

[raider111111]

Hi!

That worked but for some reason it isn't sending the data correctly.

Here's my config:

[[inputs.exec]]
  ## Commands array
  commands = ["telegraf --version | awk '{print($2)}' | awk -F '.' '{print($1\".\"$2)}'"]
  ## Timeout for each command to complete.
  ## Timeout for each command to complete.
  timeout = "5s"


  ## measurement name suffix (for separating different commands)
  #name_suffix = "_mycollector"
  name_override = "TelegrafVersion"

  ## Data format to consume.
  ## Each data format has its own unique set of configuration options, read
  ## more about them here:
  ## https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/docs/DATA_FORMATS_INPUT.md
  data_format = "value"
  data_type = "integer"

I'm just trying to send only the Telegraf version number out without the second period, like this:"1.11".

Error from the log:
E! [inputs.exec]: Error in plugin: strconv.Atoi: parsing "c9d8f7b0)": invalid syntax

Any idea?

[goller]

Hey @raider111111 , because your data_type is integer is it trying to convert the output of your awk command to an integer.

What is the output of your command now? I suspect you have the SHA in there as well.

The resolution will likely be to change the datatype to something other than an integer.

[raider111111]

Hi @goller ,
I've tried sending it as a string, float, and integer.

Here is what I see:
String:
2019-06-21T17:32:00Z E! [inputs.exec]: Error in plugin: strconv.Atoi: parsing "c9d8f7b0)": invalid syntax

Float:
2019-06-21T17:36:00Z E! [inputs.exec]: Error in plugin: strconv.ParseFloat: parsing "c9d8f7b0)": invalid syntax

[goller]

Yes, I read that as telegraf is not able to parse your awk output as either a pure float or integer. Your string example looks like it is running Atoi (that'd be converting the output to an integer).

What is the output of the command line when you run it outside of telegraf?

[raider111111]

1.11

[raider111111]

Well, actually it doesn't work with your edits, but I've encountered Telegraf parsing commands differently so I assumed that was probably fine.

Your edit:

telegraf --version | awk '{print($2)}' | awk -F '.' '{print($1\".\"$2)}'
awk: cmd. line:1: {print($1\".\"$2)}
awk: cmd. line:1:          ^ backslash not last character on line
awk: cmd. line:1: {print($1\".\"$2)}
awk: cmd. line:1:          ^ syntax error

Original:

telegraf --version | awk '{print($2)}' | awk -F '.' '{print($1"."$2)}'
1.11

Do you suggest I run a different command?

[goller]

yes, my edits with the escaping of " are only applicable in the telegraf TOML. Those escapes would not be needed when running from the CLI.

try this:

[[inputs.exec]]
  ## Commands array
  commands = ["sh -c \"telegraf --version | awk '{print($2)}' | awk -F '.' '{print($1\".\"$2)}'\""]
  ## Timeout for each command to complete.
  ## Timeout for each command to complete.
  timeout = "5s"


  ## measurement name suffix (for separating different commands)
  #name_suffix = "_mycollector"
  name_override = "TelegrafVersion"

  ## Data format to consume.
  ## Each data format has its own unique set of configuration options, read
  ## more about them here:
  ## https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/docs/DATA_FORMATS_INPUT.md
  data_format = "value"
  data_type = "integer"

I don't believe telegraf supports piping without it being in a single shell command.

This config gives me:

telegraf --test --config howdy.conf
2019-06-21T17:41:19Z I! Starting Telegraf 1.11.0
> TelegrafVersion,host=ip-192-168-194-137.ec2.internal value=111i 1561138879000000000

[raider111111]

Sure thing!

That looks better, though I lose the period in the 1.11.

TelegrafVersion,host=ld08382.homedepot.com value="111" 1561139280000000000
Progress!

Any way to get that . back so it's 1.11?

[goller]

Yup, so, we can't use an integer in this case, so, you'll need to doubly escape the period and use a string:

[[inputs.exec]]
  ## Commands array
  commands = ["sh -c \"telegraf --version | awk '{print($2)}' | awk -F '.' '{print($1\\\".\\\"$2)}'\""]
  ## Timeout for each command to complete.
  ## Timeout for each command to complete.
  timeout = "5s"


  ## measurement name suffix (for separating different commands)
  #name_suffix = "_mycollector"
  name_override = "TelegrafVersion"

  ## Data format to consume.
  ## Each data format has its own unique set of configuration options, read
  ## more about them here:
  ## https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/docs/DATA_FORMATS_INPUT.md
  data_format = "value"
  data_type = "string"

 telegraf --test --config howdy.conf
2019-06-21T17:51:58Z I! Starting Telegraf 1.11.0
> TelegrafVersion,host=ip-192-168-194-137.ec2.internal value="1.11" 1561139519000000000

[raider111111]

I'm trying that out.

So, that came out correctly except that the monitoring appliance doesn't accept strings.

Wavefront allows integers and floats as input values.
Is there no way it can be a integer or a float value?

[goller]

@raider111111 1.11 could be formatted as a float, yes. Try float out

[raider111111]

That did it!

Adding the end result.

[[inputs.exec]]
  ## Commands array
  commands = ["sh -c \"telegraf --version | awk '{print($2)}' | awk -F '.' '{print($1\\\".\\\"$2)}'\""]
  ## Timeout for each command to complete.
  ## Timeout for each command to complete.
  timeout = "5s"


  ## measurement name suffix (for separating different commands)
  #name_suffix = "_mycollector"
  name_override = "TelegrafVersion"

  ## Data format to consume.
  ## Each data format has its own unique set of configuration options, read
  ## more about them here:
  ## https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/docs/DATA_FORMATS_INPUT.md
  data_format = "value"
  data_type = "float"

Thanks for your help friend!

[danielnelson]

Keep an eye on #5958 too, I think it also will do essentially what you want.

[raider111111]

@danielnelson Nice!!

[gmigiro]

@goller I am Having similar issue but i am using python script, which runs on a file and produce the value, I have issue with the output see: [inputs.exec] Error in plugin: strconv.Atoi: parsing "forcepoint=0.04563498497009277": invalid syntax

[goller]

@gmigiro probably best to open a new issue; my instinct is that you need to specify

  data_type = "float"

as @raider111111 did above.