Target parameter is missing

[smutel]

Hello,

I created a short config to scrabe metrics from JIRA but I encounter the error message "Target parameter is missing" when I do to http://127.0.0.1:9321/metrics.

Here is my main config file:

# Global defaults.
global:
  scrape_timeout: 5s
  # Subtracted from Prometheus' scrape_timeout to give us some headroom and prevent Prometheus from timing out first.
  scrape_timeout_offset: 500ms
  # Minimum interval between collector runs: by default (0s) collectors are executed on every scrapee.
  min_interval: 0s
  # all unsuccessful queries will be retried this number of times
  query_retry: 3

profiles_file_config:
  - "profiles/*_profile.yml"

# The targets to monitor and the collectors to execute on it.
targets:
  # default target is used as a pattern for exporter queries with target name not defined locally.
  - name: default
    scheme: https
    host: template
    port: 443
    #auth_name: prometheus_encrypted
    # auth_config:
    #   # mode: basic|token|[anything else:=> user defined login script]
    #   mode: script
    #   user: usrVeeam
    #   password: "/encrypted/base64_encrypted_password_by_passwd_crypt_cmd"
    profile: jira
    collectors:
      - ~.*_metrics

  - targets_files: ["targets/*.yml"]

# Collector files specifies a list of globs. One collector definition is read from each matching file.
collector_files:
  - "metrics/*.collector.yml"

File metrics/test_metrics.collector.yml:

---
collector_name: jira_metrics
metric_prefix: jira

scripts:
  get projects:
    - name: collect elements
      query:
        url: /rest/api/2/project
        var_name: results

File profiles/jira_profile.yml:

---
jira:
  metric_prefix: "jira"
  scripts:
    init:
      - name: default headers
        set_fact:
          headers:
            - name: "Content-Type"
              value: application/json
            - name: Accept
              value: "application/json"
          scheme: https
          port: 443
          verifySSL: true
          base_url: /api

File targets/jira-cloud.yml:

---
name: jira-cloud
scheme: https
host: xxx.atlassian.net
port: 443
profile: jira
auth_config:
  mode: basic
  user: xxx
  password: xxx
# proxy: ""
# verifySSL: false
# custom constant labels add to all metrics
# labels:
# - name: value
# customs:
#  status_url: /server-status?auto
collectors:
  - ~.*_metrics

What have I missed?

[peekjef72]

Hi,

When you scrap the exporter it is mandatory to mention which target is concerned. The exporter behave like a proxy: the query is i want the exporter collect for target x.

in your sample you should try :

curl -v "http://127.0.0.1:9321/metrics?target=jira-cloud"

but read the README! ;)

exporter metrics access

Parameters to scrape a target:

• target: <locally_defined_target> or <scheme://[user:password@]host:port> (dynamic target)
• auth_key: the shared secret key used to decrypt encrypted password set in authentication config.
• auth_name: the name of authentication config to use to access to a target.
• if target is not defined locally (so it is dynamically defined), you can set the authentication parameters to use for that target using those specified in the auth_name config.
• model: the name of model target to use to build dynamic target. If not specified it looks for target named "default". This parameter is used only at the first call for the dynamic target creation.
• collector: the name or names, if parameter is specified several times, of the collector to collect. May be used to perform a distinct scrapping of the standard configuration, for the target.

examples:

1. /metrics?target=mytarget scrapes the target mytarget without any parameter; It must be fully defined in the exporter configuration files; it has either no authentication or password is not encrypted.
2. /metrics?auth_key=<cipherkey>&target=mytarget2 scrapes the target mytarget2 that is fully defined in the exporter configuration files, and has a password that is encrypted and can be decrypted with the cipherkey.
3. /metrics?auth_key=<cipherkey>&target=<https://myhost.domain.name:port>&auth_name=<auth_name> define a dynamic target that is reachable at url https://myhost.domain.name:port, using the authentication parameters defined by <auth_name> and "default" model, then scrapes it. This target was not initially defined in the exporter configuration files, and only exists until the exporter is running. <auth_name> has a encrypted password and so requires <cipherkey> to decipher it.
4. /metrics?auth_key=<cipherkey>&target=<https://myhost.domain.name:port>&auth_name=<auth_name>&model=mytarget same than previous example but the dynamic target creation use "mytarget" model instead of default.

[peekjef72]

it seeams to me that you have not defined anything in the metric file metrics/test_metrics.collector.yml
you have to "parse" the result and do something with it:

            - name: generate metrics
              metrics:
                - metric_name: status
                  help: backup agent status 0 Unknown / 1 Online / 2 Offline
                  type: gauge
                  key_labels:
                    label1: $resuls.path.to_an_attribute_used_as_label
                  values: 
                     _: $results.path.subpath.to.value

[mateuszdrab]

@peekjef72 if target is required, is definition of a default target needed in the configuration when a named target exists?

[peekjef72]

@peekjef72 if target is required, is definition of a default target needed in the configuration when a named target exists?

Hi,
In practice, no, because the exporter will define a default template named 'default' which will be almost empty.
The 'default' target or any target with the host set to 'template' define the templates;
The 'template' targets are mainly used for accessing dynamic targets in practice.

Put this way, it might not be immediately clear what this is for, but you should see that the exporter can manage multiple profiles (Veeam, Apache, etc.) at the same time, and not all targets are defined at setup time...
In short, sometimes this can be useful.