docs: Update external plugin docs (#15370)
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Joshua Powers
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# External Plugins
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[External plugins](/EXTERNAL_PLUGINS.md) are external programs that are built outside
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of Telegraf that can run through an `execd` plugin. These external plugins allow for
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more flexibility compared to internal Telegraf plugins.
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[External plugins](/EXTERNAL_PLUGINS.md) are external programs that are built
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outside of Telegraf that can run through an `execd` plugin. These external
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plugins allow for more flexibility compared to internal Telegraf plugins.
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- External plugins can be written in any language (internal Telegraf plugins can only written in Go)
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- External plugins can be written in any language (internal Telegraf plugins can
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only be written in Go)
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- External plugins can access to libraries not written in Go
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- Utilize licensed software that isn't available to the open source community
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- Utilize licensed software that is not available to the open source community
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- Can include large dependencies that would otherwise bloat Telegraf
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- You don't need to wait on the Telegraf team to publish your plugin and start working with it.
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- using the [shim](/plugins/common/shim) you can easily convert plugins between internal and external use
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- You do not need to wait on the Telegraf team to publish the plugin and start
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working with it.
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- Using the [shim](/plugins/common/shim) you can easily convert plugins between
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internal and external use
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- Using 3rd-party libraries requiring CGO support
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## External Plugin Guidelines
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The guidelines of writing external plugins would follow those for our general [input](/docs/INPUTS.md),
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[output](/docs/OUTPUTS.md), [processor](/docs/PROCESSORS.md), and [aggregator](/docs/AGGREGATORS.md) plugins.
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Please reference the documentation on how to create these plugins written in Go.
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The guidelines of writing external plugins would follow those for our general
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[input](/docs/INPUTS.md), [output](/docs/OUTPUTS.md),
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[processor](/docs/PROCESSORS.md), and [aggregator](/docs/AGGREGATORS.md)
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plugins. Please reference the documentation on how to create these plugins
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written in Go.
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_For listed [external plugins](/EXTERNAL_PLUGINS.md), the author of the external plugin is also responsible for the maintenance
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and feature development of external plugins. Expect to have users open plugin issues on its respective GitHub repository._
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_For listed [external plugins](/EXTERNAL_PLUGINS.md), the author of the external
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plugin is also responsible for the maintenance and feature development of
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external plugins. Expect to have users open plugin issues on its respective
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GitHub repository._
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### Execd Go Shim
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For Go plugins, there is a [Execd Go Shim](/plugins/common/shim/) that will make it trivial to extract an internal input, processor, or output plugin from the main Telegraf repo out to a stand-alone repo. This shim allows anyone to build and run it as a separate app using one of the `execd`plugins:
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For Go plugins, there is a [Execd Go Shim](/plugins/common/shim/) that will make
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it trivial to extract an internal input, processor, or output plugin from the
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main Telegraf repo out to a stand-alone repo. This shim allows anyone to build
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and run it as a separate app using one of the `execd` plugins:
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- [inputs.execd](/plugins/inputs/execd)
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- [processors.execd](/plugins/processors/execd)
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- [outputs.execd](/plugins/outputs/execd)
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Follow the [Steps to externalize a plugin](/plugins/common/shim#steps-to-externalize-a-plugin) and [Steps to build and run your plugin](/plugins/common/shim#steps-to-build-and-run-your-plugin) to properly with the Execd Go Shim
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Follow the [Steps to externalize a plugin][] and
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[Steps to build and run your plugin][] to properly with the Execd Go Shim.
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### Step-by-Step guidelines
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[Steps to externalize a plugin]: /plugins/common/shim#steps-to-externalize-a-plugin
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[Steps to build and run your plugin]: /plugins/common/shim#steps-to-build-and-run-your-plugin
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This is a guide to help you set up your plugin to use it with `execd`:
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## Step-by-Step guidelines
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1. Write your Telegraf plugin. Depending on the plugin, follow the guidelines on how to create the plugin itself using InfluxData's best practices:
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This is a guide to help you set up a plugin to use it with `execd`:
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1. Write a Telegraf plugin. Depending on the plugin, follow the guidelines on
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how to create the plugin itself using InfluxData's best practices:
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- [Input Plugins](/docs/INPUTS.md)
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- [Processor Plugins](/docs/PROCESSORS.md)
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- [Aggregator Plugins](/docs/AGGREGATORS.md)
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- [Output Plugins](/docs/OUTPUTS.md)
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2. If your plugin is written in Go, include the steps for the [Execd Go Shim](/plugins/common/shim#steps-to-build-and-run-your-plugin)
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- Move the project to an external repo, it's recommended to preserve the path
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structure, (but not strictly necessary). eg if your plugin was at
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`plugins/inputs/cpu`, it's recommended that it also be under `plugins/inputs/cpu`
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in the new repo. For a further example of what this might look like, take a
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look at [ssoroka/rand](https://github.com/ssoroka/rand) or
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[danielnelson/telegraf-execd-openvpn](https://github.com/danielnelson//telegraf-execd-openvpn)
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- Copy [main.go](/plugins/common/shim/example/cmd/main.go) into your project under the `cmd` folder.
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This will be the entrypoint to the plugin when run as a stand-alone program, and
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it will call the shim code for you to make that happen. It's recommended to
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have only one plugin per repo, as the shim is not designed to run multiple
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plugins at the same time (it would vastly complicate things).
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- Edit the main.go file to import your plugin. Within Telegraf this would have
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been done in an all.go file, but here we don't split the two apart, and the change
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just goes in the top of main.go. If you skip this step, your plugin will do nothing.
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eg: `_ "github.com/me/my-plugin-telegraf/plugins/inputs/cpu"`
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- Optionally add a [plugin.conf](./example/cmd/plugin.conf) for configuration
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specific to your plugin. Note that this config file **must be separate from the
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rest of the config for Telegraf, and must not be in a shared directory where
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Telegraf is expecting to load all configs**. If Telegraf reads this config file
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it will not know which plugin it relates to. Telegraf instead uses an execd config
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block to look for this plugin.
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- Add usage and development instructions in the homepage of your repository for running
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your plugin with its respective `execd` plugin. Please refer to
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[openvpn](https://github.com/danielnelson/telegraf-execd-openvpn#usage) and [awsalarms](https://github.com/vipinvkmenon/awsalarms#installation)
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for examples. Include the following steps:
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1. How to download the release package for your platform or how to clone the binary for your external plugin
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1. The commands to build your binary
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1. Location to edit your `telegraf.conf`
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1. Configuration to run your external plugin with [inputs.execd](/plugins/inputs/execd),
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[processors.execd](/plugins/processors/execd) or [outputs.execd](/plugins/outputs/execd)
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- Submit your plugin by opening a PR to add your external plugin to the [/EXTERNAL_PLUGINS.md](/EXTERNAL_PLUGINS.md)
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list. Please include the plugin name, link to the plugin repository and a short description of the plugin.
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2. Move the project to an external repo, it is recommended to preserve the
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path structure, but not strictly necessary. For example, if the plugin was
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at `plugins/inputs/cpu`, it is recommended that it also be under
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`plugins/inputs/cpu` in the new repo. For a further example of what this
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might look like, take a look at [ssoroka/rand][] or
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[danielnelson/telegraf-execd-openvpn][].
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3. Copy [main.go](/plugins/common/shim/example/cmd/main.go) into the project
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under the `cmd` folder. This will be the entrypoint to the plugin when run as
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a stand-alone program and it will call the shim code for you to make that
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happen. It is recommended to have only one plugin per repo, as the shim is
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not designed to run multiple plugins at the same time.
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4. Edit the main.go file to import the plugin. Within Telegraf this would have
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been done in an all.go file, but here we do not split the two apart, and the
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change just goes in the top of main.go. If you skip this step, the plugin
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will do nothing.
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> `_ "github.com/me/my-plugin-telegraf/plugins/inputs/cpu"`
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5. Optionally add a [plugin.conf](./example/cmd/plugin.conf) for configuration
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specific to the plugin. Note that this config file **must be separate from
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the rest of the config for Telegraf, and must not be in a shared directory
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where Telegraf is expecting to load all configs**. If Telegraf reads this
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config file it will not know which plugin it relates to. Telegraf instead
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uses an execd config block to look for this plugin.
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6. Add usage and development instructions in the homepage of the repository
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for running the plugin with its respective `execd` plugin. Please refer to
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[openvpn install][] and [awsalarms install][] for examples. Include the
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following steps:
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1. How to download the release package for the platform or how to clone the
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binary for the external plugin
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1. The commands to build the binary
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1. Location to edit the `telegraf.conf`
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1. Configuration to run the external plugin with
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[inputs.execd](/plugins/inputs/execd),
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[processors.execd](/plugins/processors/execd), or
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[outputs.execd](/plugins/outputs/execd)
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7. Submit the plugin by opening a PR to add the external plugin to the
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[/EXTERNAL_PLUGINS.md](/EXTERNAL_PLUGINS.md) list. Please include the
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plugin name, link to the plugin repository and a short description of the
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plugin.
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[ssoroka/rand]: https://github.com/ssoroka/rand
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[danielnelson/telegraf-execd-openvpn]: https://github.com/danielnelson/telegraf-execd-openvpn
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[openvpn install]: https://github.com/danielnelson/telegraf-execd-openvpn#usage
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[awsalarms install]: https://github.com/vipinvkmenon/awsalarms#installation
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