NATS

Plugin: go.d.plugin Module: nats

Overview

This collector monitors the activity and performance of NATS servers.

It sends HTTP requests to the NATS HTTP server’s dedicated monitoring port.

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

The collector can automatically detect NATS instances running on:

localhost that are listening on port 8222
within Docker containers

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

:::important

UI configuration requires paid Netdata Cloud plan.

:::

Prerequisites

Enable NATS monitoring

See Enable monitoring.

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://127.0.0.1:8222	yes
	timeout	HTTP request timeout (seconds).	1	no
Validation	healthz_check	Selects the `/healthz` endpoint mode. Options: `default` (standard check), `js-enabled-only` (error if JetStream is disabled), `js-server-only` (skip account/stream/consumer checks).	default	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 nats collector from the Netdata web interface:

Go to Nodes.
Select the node where you want the nats 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 nats (or scroll the list) to locate the nats collector.
Click the + next to the nats 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/nats.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/nats.conf

Examples

Basic

A basic example configuration.

jobs:
  - name: local
    url: http://127.0.0.1:8222

HTTP authentication

Basic HTTP authentication.

jobs:
  - name: local
    url: http://127.0.0.1:8222
    username: username
    password: password

HTTPS with self-signed certificate

NATS with enabled HTTPS and self-signed certificate.

jobs:
  - name: local
    url: http://127.0.0.1:8222
    tls_skip_verify: yes

Multi-instance

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

Collecting metrics from local and remote instances.

jobs:
  - name: local
    url: http://127.0.0.1:8222

  - name: remote
    url: http://192.0.2.1:8222

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 server

These metrics refer to NATS servers.

Labels:

Label	Description
cluster_name	The name of the NATS cluster this server belongs to.
server_id	A unique identifier for a server within the NATS cluster.
server_name	The configured name of the NATS server.

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
nats.server_traffic	received, sent	bytes/s
nats.server_messages	received, sent	messages/s
nats.server_connections	active	connections
nats.server_connections_rate	connections	connections/s
nats.server_health_probe_status	ok, error	status
nats.server_cpu_usage	used	percent
nats.server_mem_usage	used	bytes
nats.server_uptime	uptime	seconds
nats.jetstream_streams	active	streams
nats.jetstream_streams_storage_bytes	used	bytes
nats.jetstream_streams_storage_messages	stored	messaged
nats.jetstream_consumers	active	consumers
nats.jetstream_api_requests	requests	requests/s
nats.jetstream_api_errors	errors	errors/s
nats.jetstream_api_inflight	inflight	requests
nats.jetstream_memory_used	used	bytes
nats.jetstream_storage_used	used	bytes

Per http endpoint

These metrics refer to HTTP endpoints.

Labels:

Label	Description
cluster_name	The name of the NATS cluster this server belongs to.
server_id	A unique identifier for a server within the NATS cluster.
server_name	The configured name of the NATS server.
http_endpoint	HTTP endpoint path.

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
nats.http_endpoint_requests	requests	requests/s

Per account

These metrics refer to Accounts.

Labels:

Label	Description
cluster_name	The name of the NATS cluster this server belongs to.
server_id	A unique identifier for a server within the NATS cluster.
server_name	The configured name of the NATS server.
account	Account name.

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
nats.account_traffic	received, sent	bytes/s
nats.account_messages	received, sent	messages/s
nats.account_connections	active	connections
nats.account_connections_rate	connections	connections/s
nats.account_subscriptions	active	subscriptions
nats.account_slow_consumers	slow	consumers/s
nats.account_leaf_nodes	leafnode	servers

Per route

These metrics refer to Routes.

Labels:

Label	Description
cluster_name	The name of the NATS cluster this server belongs to.
server_id	A unique identifier for a server within the NATS cluster.
server_name	The configured name of the NATS server.
route_id	A unique identifier for a route within the NATS cluster.
remote_id	he unique identifier of the remote server connected via the route.

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
nats.route_traffic	in, out	bytes/s
nats.route_messages	in, out	messages/s
nats.route_subscriptions	active	subscriptions

Per inbound gateway connection

These metrics refer to Inbound Gateway Connections.

Labels:

Label	Description
cluster_name	The name of the NATS cluster this server belongs to.
server_id	A unique identifier for a server within the NATS cluster.
server_name	The configured name of the NATS server.
gateway	The name of the local gateway.
remote_gateway	The name of the remote gateway.
cid	A unique identifier for the connection.

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
nats.inbound_gateway_conn_traffic	in, out	bytes/s
nats.inbound_gateway_conn_messages	in, out	messages/s
nats.inbound_gateway_conn_subscriptions	active	subscriptions
nats.inbound_gateway_conn_uptime	uptime	seconds

Per outbound gateway connection

These metrics refer to Outbound Gateway Connections.

Labels:

Label	Description
cluster_name	The name of the NATS cluster this server belongs to.
server_id	A unique identifier for a server within the NATS cluster.
server_name	The configured name of the NATS server.
gateway	The name of the local gateway.
remote_gateway	The name of the remote gateway.
cid	A unique identifier for the connection.

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
nats.outbound_gateway_conn_traffic	in, out	bytes/s
nats.outbound_gateway_conn_messages	in, out	messages/s
nats.outbound_gateway_conn_subscriptions	active	subscriptions
nats.outbound_gateway_conn_uptime	uptime	seconds

Per leaf node connection

These metrics refer to Leaf Node Connections.

Labels:

Label	Description
cluster_name	The name of the NATS cluster this server belongs to.
server_id	A unique identifier for a server within the NATS cluster.
server_name	The configured name of the NATS server.
remote_name	Unique identifier of the remote leaf node server, either its configured name or automatically assigned ID.
account	Name of the associated account.
ip	IP address of the remote server.
port	Port used for the connection to the remote server.

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
nats.leaf_node_conn_traffic	in, out	bytes/s
nats.leaf_node_conn_messages	in, out	messages/s
nats.leaf_node_conn_subscriptions	active	subscriptions
nats.leaf_node_conn_rtt	rtt	microseconds

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 nats 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 nats
```
To debug a specific job:
```
./go.d.plugin -d -m nats -j jobName
```

Getting Logs

If you’re encountering problems with the nats 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 nats

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 nats /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 nats

Industry

Technology

Use cases

NATS

NATS

Overview

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

Limits

Performance Impact

Setup

Prerequisites

Enable NATS monitoring

Configuration

Options

via UI

via File

Examples

Basic

HTTP authentication

HTTPS with self-signed certificate

Multi-instance

Metrics

Per server

Per http endpoint

Per account

Per route

Per inbound gateway connection

Per outbound gateway connection

Per leaf node connection

Alerts

Troubleshooting

Debug Mode

Getting Logs

System with systemd

System without systemd

Docker Container

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