Plugin graph categories

The graph categories should create a general grouping of plugins.

A plugin that outputs a “graph_category” attribute will get the graph grouped with other plugin graphs using the same category, across all nodes on the same Munin master.

If a plugin doesn’t declare a graph_category in its config output, the graph is moved to default plugin category other.

A graph may only belong to one category.

Note

A multigraph plugin may create multiple graphs, and may place those in different categories.

To get a clear and concise overview in the Munin web interface the list of categories should be small and meaningful.

Therefore we compiled a list of well-known categories (see below).

Customizing category names

If you have lots of different types of databases in use, it makes sense to be more specific, and add a graph_category for each e.g. “oracle”, “mysql”.

Also graphs in several categories could be moved to a “security” category, but that may not make sense for everyone.

Or in our example below we add a new category mem to collect graphs that show memory aspects of the machine.

In short: Categories should reflect your monitoring perspective and you can move graphs to other categories or create new category names by overwriting the graph_category directives in the concerning host tree section of the Munin Master configuration in munin.conf.

Example configuration

[munin.example.com]
address localhost

# Node specific changes of plugin directives
memory.graph_category mem
buddyinfo.graph_category mem
swap.graph_category mem

Well known categories

Below we name our well-known graph categories (as already implemented in the contrib repository) and describe which data sources are suitable for the different categories.

The list is meant as a proposal to discuss and comment. You can do so on our munin-users mailing list or by creating a bug report (issue) on github.

Info for plugin contributors

You should refer to the “well known categories” when uploading your plugins to the repository.

The graph categories set for plugins in the repositories are also used to browse the Munin Plugin Gallery. They are shown on each index page on the left side with a link to the concerning category page which lists all plugins with graphs in this category.

Therefore it makes sense to use generic terms only for the categories. This way we make sure that users get significant search results when looking for a special software product using a search engine. Specific product names should be used to name the directories in the repository, where you place the plugin. Their names are shown in the Plugin Gallery as title of the section where the plugins are listed. This way the search for product names brings only those Gallery pages as hits, where significant plugins are listed.

Please do not contribute plugins with product specific category terms as the search will then bring all index pages as hits, which is not helpful for the users of the Gallery. It should operate in an effective way as Plugin Shop, so significant retrieval is an important and critical demand here.

Note

Important! Please write the config line for plugins category in a concrete string (e.g. graph_category memory). The gallery build script scans for such a line in the plugins source code and needs it. Otherwise (e.g. use of variables) your plugin will only be shown under category “other”.


graph_category

1sec

Description
Examples

graph_category

antivirus

Description

Anti virus tools

Examples

graph_category

appserver

Description

Application servers

Examples

graph_category

auth

Description

Authentication servers and services

Examples

graph_category

backup

Description

All measurements around backup creation

Examples

graph_category

chat

Description

Messaging servers

Examples

graph_category

cloud

Description

Cloud providers and cloud components

Examples

graph_category

cms

Description

Content Management Systems

Examples

graph_category

cpu

Description

CPU measurements

Examples

graph_category

db

Description

Database servers

Examples

MySQL, PosgreSQL, MongoDB, Oracle


graph_category

devel

Description

(Software) Development Tools

Examples

graph_category

disk

Description

Disk and other storage measurements

Examples

: used space, free inodes, activity, latency, throughput


graph_category

dns

Description

Domain Name Server

Examples

graph_category

filetransfer

Description

Filetransfer tools and servers

Examples

graph_category

forum

Description

Forum applications

Examples

graph_category

fs

Description

(Network) Filesystem activities, includes also monitoring of distributed storage appliances

Examples

graph_category

fw

Description

All measurements around network filtering

Examples

graph_category

games

Description

Game-Server

Examples

graph_category

htc

Description

High-throughput computing

Examples

graph_category

loadbalancer

Description

Load balancing and proxy servers..

Examples

graph_category

mail

Description

Mail throughput, mail queues, etc.

Examples

Postfix, Exim, Sendmail

Comment

For monitoring a large mail system, it makes sense to override this with configuration on the Munin master, and make graph categories for the mail roles you provide. Mail Transfer Agent (postfix and exim), Mail Delivery Agent (filtering, sorting and storage), Mail Retrieval Agent (imap server).


graph_category

mailinglist

Description

Listserver

Examples

graph_category

memory

Description

All kind of memory measurements. Note that info about memory caching servers is also placed here

Examples

graph_category

munin

Description

Monitoring the monitoring.. (includes other monitoring servers also)

Examples

graph_category

network

Description

General networking metrics.

Examples

interface activity, latency, number of open network connections


graph_category

other

Description

Plugins that address seldom used products. Category /other/ is the default, so if the plugin doesn’t declare a category, it is also shown here.

Examples

graph_category

printing

Description

Monitor printers and print jobs

Examples

graph_category

processes

Description

Process and kernel related measurements

Examples

graph_category

radio

Description

Receivers, signal quality, recording, ..

Examples

graph_category

san

Description

Storage Area Network

Examples

graph_category

search

Description

All kinds of measurement around search engines

Examples

graph_category

security

Description

Security information

Examples

login failures, number of pending update packages for OS, number of CVEs in the running kernel fixed by the latest installed kernel, firewall counters.


graph_category

sensors

Description

Sensor measurements of device and environment

Examples

temperature, power, devices health state, humidity, noise, vibration


graph_category

spamfilter

Description

Spam fighters at work

Examples

graph_category

streaming

Description
Examples

graph_category

system

Description

General operating system metrics.

Examples

CPU speed and load, interrupts, uptime, logged in users


graph_category

time

Description

Time synchronization

Examples

graph_category

tv

Description

Video devices and servers

Examples

graph_category

virtualization

Description

All kind of measurements about server virtualization. Includes also Operating-system-level virtualization

Examples

graph_category

voip

Description

Voice over IP servers

Examples

graph_category

webserver

Description

All kinds of webserver measurements and also for related components

Examples

requests, bytes, errors, cache hit rate for Apache httpd, nginx, lighttpd, varnish, hitch, and other web servers, caches or TLS wrappers.


graph_category

wiki

Description

wiki applications

Examples

graph_category

wireless

Description
Examples