PowerDNS Recursor

Plugin: go.d.plugin Module: powerdns_recursor

Overview

This collector monitors PowerDNS Recursor instances.

It collects metrics from the internal webserver.

Used endpoints:

/api/v1/servers/localhost/statistics

This collector is supported on all platforms.

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

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

This integration doesn’t support auto-detection.

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 powerdns_recursor 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 powerdns_recursor, 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/powerdns_recursor.conf` and add a job.

:::important

UI configuration requires paid Netdata Cloud plan.

:::

Prerequisites

Enable webserver

Follow webserver documentation.

Enable HTTP API

Follow HTTP API documentation.

Configuration

Options

The following options can be defined globally: update_every, autodetection_retry.

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	Target endpoint URL.	http://127.0.0.1:8081	yes
	timeout	HTTP request timeout (seconds).	1	no
HTTP Auth	username	Username for Basic HTTP authentication.		no
	password	Password for Basic HTTP authentication.		no
	bearer_token_file	Path to a file containing a bearer token (used for `Authorization: Bearer`).		no
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
Proxy	proxy_url	HTTP proxy URL.		no
	proxy_username	Username for proxy Basic HTTP authentication.		no
	proxy_password	Password for proxy Basic HTTP authentication.		no
Request	method	HTTP method to use.	GET	no
	body	Request body (e.g., for POST/PUT).		no
	headers	Additional HTTP headers (one per line as key: value).		no
	not_follow_redirects	Do not follow HTTP redirects.	no	no
	force_http2	Force HTTP/2 (including h2c over TCP).	no	no
Virtual Node	vnode	Associates this data collection job with a Virtual Node.		no

via UI

Configure the powerdns_recursor collector from the Netdata web interface:

Go to Nodes.
Select the node where you want the powerdns_recursor data-collection job to run and click the :gear: (Configure this node). That node will run the data collection.
The Collectors → Jobs view opens by default.
In the Search box, type powerdns_recursor (or scroll the list) to locate the powerdns_recursor collector.
Click the + next to the powerdns_recursor collector to add a new job.
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/powerdns_recursor.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/powerdns_recursor.conf

Examples

Basic

An example configuration.

jobs:
  - name: local
    url: http://127.0.0.1:8081

HTTP authentication

Basic HTTP authentication.

jobs:
  - name: local
    url: http://127.0.0.1:8081
    username: admin
    password: password

Multi-instance

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

Local and remote instances.

jobs:
  - name: local
    url: http://127.0.0.1:8081

  - name: remote
    url: http://203.0.113.0:8081

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 PowerDNS Recursor instance

These metrics refer to the entire monitored application.

This scope has no labels.

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
powerdns_recursor.questions_in	total, tcp, ipv6	questions/s
powerdns_recursor.questions_out	udp, tcp, ipv6, throttled	questions/s
powerdns_recursor.answer_time	0-1ms, 1-10ms, 10-100ms, 100-1000ms, slow	queries/s
powerdns_recursor.timeouts	total, ipv4, ipv6	timeouts/s
powerdns_recursor.drops	over-capacity-drops, query-pipe-full-drops, too-old-drops, truncated-drops, empty-queries	drops/s
powerdns_recursor.cache_usage	cache-hits, cache-misses, packet-cache-hits, packet-cache-misses	events/s
powerdns_recursor.cache_size	cache, packet-cache, negative-cache	entries

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 powerdns_recursor 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 powerdns_recursor

To debug a specific job:

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

Getting Logs

If you’re encountering problems with the powerdns_recursor 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 powerdns_recursor

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 powerdns_recursor /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 powerdns_recursor

Industry

Technology

Use cases