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OpenLDAP

OpenLDAP

Plugin: go.d.plugin Module: openldap

Overview

This collector monitors OpenLDAP metrics about connections, operations, referrals and more.

It gathers the metrics using the go-ldap module and the Monitor backend of OpenLDAP.

This collector is only supported on the following platforms:

  • Linux

This collector supports collecting metrics from multiple instances of this integration, including remote instances.

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

The collector cannot auto-detect OpenLDAP instances, because credential configuration is required.

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

You can configure the openldap collector in two ways:

Method Best for How to
UI Fast setup without editing files Go to Nodes → Configure this node → Collectors → Jobs, search for openldap, then click + to add a job.
File If you prefer configuring via file, or need to automate deployments (e.g., with Ansible) Edit go.d/openldap.conf and add a job.

:::important

UI configuration requires paid Netdata Cloud plan.

:::

Prerequisites

Enable the openLDAP Monitor Backend.

Follow instructions from https://www.openldap.org/doc/admin24/monitoringslapd.html to activate monitoring interface.

Configuration

Options

The following options can be defined globally: update_every.

Group Option Description Default Required
Collection update_every Data collection interval (seconds). 1 no
autodetection_retry Autodetection retry interval (seconds). Set 0 to disable. 0 no
Target url LDAP server URL. ldap://127.0.0.1:389 yes
timeout Connection and communication timeout (seconds). 2 no
Auth username Distinguished Name (DN) of the user authorized to query the monitor database. yes
password Password for the DN user. yes
TLS tls_skip_verify Skip TLS certificate and hostname verification (insecure). no no
tls_ca Path to CA bundle used to validate the server certificate. no
tls_cert Path to client TLS certificate (for mTLS). no
tls_key Path to client TLS private key (for mTLS). no
Virtual Node vnode Associates this data collection job with a Virtual Node. no

via UI

Configure the openldap collector from the Netdata web interface:

  1. Go to Nodes.
  2. Select the node where you want the openldap data-collection job to run and click the :gear: (Configure this node). That node will run the data collection.
  3. The Collectors → Jobs view opens by default.
  4. In the Search box, type openldap (or scroll the list) to locate the openldap collector.
  5. Click the + next to the openldap collector to add a new job.
  6. Fill in the job fields, then click Test to verify the configuration and Submit to save.
    • Test runs the job with the provided settings and shows whether data can be collected.
    • If it fails, an error message appears with details (for example, connection refused, timeout, or command execution errors), so you can adjust and retest.

via File

The configuration file name for this integration is go.d/openldap.conf.

The file format is YAML. Generally, the structure is:

update_every: 1
autodetection_retry: 0
jobs:
  - name: some_name1
  - name: some_name2

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 go.d/openldap.conf
Examples
Basic

A basic example configuration.

jobs:
  - name: local
    url: ldap://localhost:389
    username: cn=netdata,dc=example,dc=com 
    password: secret
Multi-instance

Note: When you define multiple jobs, their names must be unique.

Collecting metrics from local and remote instances.

jobs:
  - name: local
    url: ldap://localhost:389
    username: cn=netdata,dc=example,dc=com 
    password: secret

  - name: remote
    url: ldap://192.0.2.1:389
    username: cn=netdata,dc=example,dc=com 
    password: secret

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 OpenLDAP instance

These metrics refer to the entire monitored application.

This scope has no labels.

Metrics:

Metric Dimensions Unit
openldap.current_connections active connections
openldap.connections connections connections/s
openldap.traffic sent bytes/s
openldap.entries sent entries/s
openldap.referrals sent referrals/s
openldap.operations completed, initiated operations/s
openldap.operations_by_type bind, search, unbind, add, delete, modify, compare operations/s
openldap.waiters write, read waiters/s

Alerts

There are no alerts configured by default for this integration.

Troubleshooting

Debug Mode

Important: Debug mode is not supported for data collection jobs created via the UI using the Dyncfg feature.

To troubleshoot issues with the openldap collector, run the go.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.d directory, usually at /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/. If that’s not the case on your system, open netdata.conf and look for the plugins setting under [directories].

    cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/

  • Switch to the netdata user.

    sudo -u netdata -s

  • Run the go.d.plugin to debug the collector:

    ./go.d.plugin -d -m openldap

    To debug a specific job:

    ./go.d.plugin -d -m openldap -j jobName

Getting Logs

If you’re encountering problems with the openldap 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 openldap

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 openldap /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 openldap

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