Telemetry Devices#

You probably want to gain additional insights from a race. Therefore, we have added telemetry devices to Rally.

Warning

Keep in mind that each telemetry device may incur a runtime overhead which can skew results.

If you invoke esrally list telemetry, it will show which telemetry devices are available:

$ esrally list telemetry

    ____        ____
   / __ \____ _/ / /_  __
  / /_/ / __ `/ / / / / /
 / _, _/ /_/ / / / /_/ /
/_/ |_|\__,_/_/_/\__, /
                /____/


Available telemetry devices:

Command                     Name                        Description
--------------------------  --------------------------  --------------------------------------------------------------------
jit                         JIT Compiler Profiler       Enables JIT compiler logs.
gc                          GC log                      Enables GC logs.
jfr                         Flight Recorder             Enables Java Flight Recorder (requires an Oracle JDK or OpenJDK 11+)
heapdump                    Heap Dump                   Captures a heap dump.
node-stats                  Node Stats                  Regularly samples node stats
recovery-stats              Recovery Stats              Regularly samples shard recovery stats
ccr-stats                   CCR Stats                   Regularly samples Cross Cluster Replication (CCR) related stats
segment-stats               Segment Stats               Determines segment stats at the end of the benchmark.
transform-stats             Transform Stats             Regularly samples transform stats
searchable-snapshots-stats  Searchable Snapshots Stats  Regularly samples searchable snapshots stats
shard-stats                 Shard Stats                 Regularly samples nodes stats at shard level
data-stream-stats           Data Stream Stats           Regularly samples data stream stats
ingest-pipeline-stats       Ingest Pipeline Stats       Reports Ingest Pipeline stats at the end of the benchmark.
disk-usage-stats            Disk usage of each field    Runs the indices disk usage API after benchmarking
geoip-stats                 GeoIp Stats                 Writes geo ip stats to the metrics store at the end of the benchmark.

Keep in mind that each telemetry device may incur a runtime overhead which can skew results.

All telemetry devices with a -stats suffix can be used even with a cluster that hasn’t been provisioned by Rally (i.e. using --pipeline=benchmark-only). They are collectively referred to as runtime level telemetry devices. The remaining telemetry devices i.e. jit, gc, jfr and heapdump can only be used when Rally provisions the cluster itself (i.e. won’t work with --pipeline=benchmark-only) and are setup level telemetry devices.

Note

If you are using the experimental cluster management commands, setup level telemetry devices (and their parameters) should only be specified via the start subcommand and not via the race subcommand. For more details check esrally start --help.

jfr#

The jfr telemetry device enables the Java Flight Recorder on the benchmark candidate. Up to JDK 11, Java flight recorder ships only with Oracle JDK, so Rally assumes that Oracle JDK is used for benchmarking. If you run benchmarks on JDK 11 or later, Java flight recorder is also available on OpenJDK.

To enable jfr, invoke Rally with esrally race --track=pmc --telemetry jfr. jfr will then write a flight recording file which can be opened in Java Mission Control. Rally prints the location of the flight recording file on the command line.

Sample Java Flight Recording

Supported telemetry parameters:

  • recording-template: The name of a custom flight recording template. It is up to you to correctly install these recording templates on each target machine. If none is specified, the default recording template of Java flight recorder is used.

  • jfr-delay: (Optional) Length of time to wait before starting to record (INTEGER followed by ‘s’ for seconds ‘m’ for minutes or ‘h’ for hours. The default value is ‘0s’ which means there is no delay.). It is up to you to correctly pass in the value.

  • jfr-duration: (Optional) Length of time to record (INTEGER followed by ‘s’ for seconds ‘m’ for minutes or ‘h’ for hours. The default value is ‘0s’. Note that 0s in this case means forever.). It is up to you to correctly pass in the value.

Note

Up to JDK 11 Java flight recorder ship only with Oracle JDK and the licensing terms do not allow you to run it in production environments without a valid license (for details, refer to the Oracle Java SE Advanced & Suite Products page). However, running in a QA environment is fine.

jit#

The jit telemetry device enables JIT compiler logs for the benchmark candidate. If the HotSpot disassembler library is available, the logs will also contain the disassembled JIT compiler output which can be used for low-level analysis. We recommend to use JITWatch for analysis.

hsdis can be built for JDK 8 on Linux with (based on a description by Alex Blewitt):

curl -O -O -O -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dmlloyd/openjdk/jdk8u/jdk8u/hotspot/src/share/tools/hsdis/{hsdis.c,hsdis.h,Makefile,README}
mkdir -p build/binutils
curl http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/binutils/binutils-2.27.tar.gz | tar --strip-components=1 -C build/binutils -z -x -f -
make BINUTILS=build/binutils ARCH=amd64

After it has been built, the binary needs to be copied to the JDK directory (see README of hsdis for details).

gc#

The gc telemetry device enables GC logs for the benchmark candidate. You can use tools like GCViewer to analyze the GC logs.

If the runtime JDK is Java 9 or higher, the following telemetry parameters can be specified:

  • gc-log-config (default: gc*=info,safepoint=info,age*=trace): The GC logging configuration consisting of a list of tags and levels. Run java -Xlog:help to see the list of available levels and tags.

Note

Use a JSON file for telemetry-params as the simple parameter format is not supported for the GC log configuration string. See the command line reference for details.

heapdump#

The heapdump telemetry device will capture a heap dump after a benchmark has finished and right before the node is shutdown.

node-stats#

Warning

With Elasticsearch < 7.2.0, using this telemetry device will skew your results because the node-stats API triggers additional refreshes. Additionally a lot of metrics get recorded impacting the measurement results even further.

The node-stats telemetry device regularly calls the cluster node-stats API and records metrics from the following sections:

  • Index stats (key indices in the node-stats API)

  • Thread pool stats (key thread_pool in the node-stats API)

  • JVM buffer pool stats (key jvm.buffer_pools in the node-stats API)

  • JVM gc stats (key jvm.gc in the node-stats API)

  • OS mem stats (key os.mem in the node-stats API)

  • OS cgroup stats (key os.cgroup in the node-stats API)

  • JVM mem stats (key jvm.mem in the node-stats API)

  • Circuit breaker stats (key breakers in the node-stats API)

  • Network-related stats (key transport in the node-stats API)

  • Process cpu stats (key process.cpu in the node-stats API)

  • Filesystem stats (key fs in the node-stats API)

Supported telemetry parameters:

  • node-stats-sample-interval (default: 1): A positive number greater than zero denoting the sampling interval in seconds.

  • node-stats-include-indices (default: false): A boolean indicating whether index stats should be included.

  • node-stats-include-indices-metrics (default: docs,store,indexing,search,merges,query_cache,fielddata,segments,translog,request_cache): A comma-separated string specifying the Index stats metrics to include. This is useful, for example, to restrict the collected Index stats metrics. Specifying this parameter implicitly enables collection of Index stats, so you don’t also need to specify node-stats-include-indices: true.

    Example: --telemetry-params="node-stats-include-indices-metrics:'docs'" will only collect the docs metrics from Index stats. If you want to use multiple fields, pass a JSON file to telemetry-params (see the command line reference for details).

  • node-stats-include-thread-pools (default: true): A boolean indicating whether thread pool stats should be included.

  • node-stats-include-buffer-pools (default: true): A boolean indicating whether buffer pool stats should be included.

  • node-stats-include-breakers (default: true): A boolean indicating whether circuit breaker stats should be included.

  • node-stats-include-gc (default: true): A boolean indicating whether JVM gc stats should be included.

  • node-stats-include-mem (default: true): A boolean indicating whether both JVM heap, and OS mem stats should be included.

  • node-stats-include-cgroup (default: true): A boolean to include operating system cgroup stats. Memory stats are omitted since Elasticsearch emits them as string values. Use os_mem_* fields instead.

  • node-stats-include-network (default: true): A boolean indicating whether network-related stats should be included.

  • node-stats-include-process (default: true): A boolean indicating whether process cpu stats should be included.

  • node-stats-include-indexing-pressure (default: true): A boolean indicating whether indexing pressure stats should be included.

  • node-stats-include-fs (default: true): A boolean indicating whether overall filesystem stats should be included. Per-device filesystem metrics are not included.

recovery-stats#

The recovery-stats telemetry device regularly calls the indices recovery API and records one metrics document per shard.

Supported telemetry parameters:

  • recovery-stats-indices (default: all indices): An index pattern for which recovery stats should be checked.

  • recovery-stats-sample-interval (default 1): A positive number greater than zero denoting the sampling interval in seconds.

ccr-stats#

The ccr-stats telemetry device regularly calls the cross-cluster replication stats API and records one metrics document per shard.

Supported telemetry parameters:

  • ccr-stats-indices (default: all indices): An index pattern for which ccr stats should be checked.

  • ccr-stats-sample-interval (default 1): A positive number greater than zero denoting the sampling interval in seconds.

transform-stats#

The transform-stats telemetry device regularly calls the transform stats API and records one metrics document per transform.

Supported telemetry parameters:

  • transform-stats-transforms (default: all transforms): A list of transforms per cluster for which transform stats should be checked.

  • transform-stats-sample-interval (default 1): A positive number greater than zero denoting the sampling interval in seconds.

searchable-snapshots-stats#

The searchable-snapshots-stats telemetry device regularly calls the low level searchable snapshots stats API and records one metrics document per file extension.

As the API is currently undocumented, there are no guarantees about future compatibility or completeness of metrics captured.

Supported telemetry parameters:

  • searchable-snapshots-stats-indices (default: None): A string with the index/index pattern, or list of indices/index patterns that searchable snapshots stats should additionally be collected from. If unset, only cluster level stats will be collected.

  • searchable-snapshots-stats-sample-interval (default 1): A positive number greater than zero denoting the sampling interval in seconds.

shard-stats#

The shard-stats telemetry device regularly calls the cluster nodes-stats API with level=shard parameter and records one metrics document per shard.

Example of a recorded document:

{
  "name": "shard-stats",
  "shard-id": "0",
  "index": "geonames",
  "primary": true,
  "docs": 1000,
  "store": 212027,
  "segments-count": 8,
  "node": "rally0"
}

Supported telemetry parameters:

  • shard-stats-sample-interval (default 60): A positive number greater than zero denoting the sampling interval in seconds.

data-stream-stats#

The data-stream-stats telemetry device regularly calls the data stream stats API and records one metrics document for cluster level stats (_all), and one metrics document per data stream.

Example of recorded documents given two data streams in the cluster:

{
  "data_stream": "_all",
  "name": "data-stream-stats",
  "shards": {
    "total": 4,
    "successful_shards": 2,
    "failed_shards": 0
  },
  "data_stream_count": 2,
  "backing_indices": 2,
  "total_store_size_bytes": 878336
},
{
  "name": "data-stream-stats",
  "data_stream": "my-data-stream-1",
  "backing_indices": 1,
  "store_size_bytes": 439137,
  "maximum_timestamp": 1579936446448
},
{
  "name": "data-stream-stats",
  "data_stream": "my-data-stream-2",
  "backing_indices": 1,
  "store_size_bytes": 439199,
  "maximum_timestamp": 1579936446448
}

Supported telemetry parameters:

  • data-stream-stats-sample-interval (default 10): A positive number greater than zero denoting the sampling interval in seconds.

ingest-pipeline-stats#

The ingest-pipeline-stats telemetry device makes a call at the beginning and end of the benchmark to the node stats API (_nodes/stats/ingest) and records the deltas in the form of:

  • Three results documents for each cluster: ingest_pipeline_cluster_count, ingest_pipeline_cluster_time, ingest_pipeline_cluster_failed

  • One metrics document for each node’s respective stats: ingest_pipeline_node_count, ingest_pipeline_node_time, ingest_pipeline_node_failed

  • One metrics document for each pipeline’s respective stats: ingest_pipeline_pipeline_count, ingest_pipeline_pipeline_time, ingest_pipeline_pipeline_failed

  • One metrics document for each pipeline processor’s respective stats: ingest_pipeline_processor_count, ingest_pipeline_processor_time, ingest_pipeline_processor_failed

Example of recorded documents given a single cluster, single node, single pipeline, single processor:

{
    "name": "ingest_pipeline_cluster_count",
    "value": 1001,
    "meta": {
      "cluster_name": "docker-cluster"
    }
},
{
    "name": "ingest_pipeline_node_count",
    "value": 1001,
    "meta": {
      "cluster_name": "docker-cluster",
      "node_name": "node-001"
    }
},
{
    "name": "ingest_pipeline_pipeline_count",
    "value": 1001,
    "meta": {
      "cluster_name": "docker-cluster",
      "node_name": "node-001",
      "ingest_pipeline": "test-pipeline-1"
    }
},
{
    "name": "ingest_pipeline_processor_count",
    "value": 1001,
    "meta": {
      "cluster_name": "docker-cluster",
      "node_name": "node-001",
      "ingest_pipeline": "test-pipeline-1",
      "processor_name": "uppercase_1",
      "type": "uppercase"
    }
}

disk-usage-stats#

The disk-usage-stats telemetry device runs the _disk_usage API after the track has completed and adds the disk used of each field to the report.

Supported telemetry parameters:

  • disk-usage-stats-indices (default all indices in the track): Comma separated list of indices who’s disk usage to fetch.

Example:

esrally race --track noaa \
  --telemetry disk-usage-stats --telemetry-params disk-usage-stats-indices:weather-data-2016
...
| weather-data-2016 station.location doc values |   256.8 | MB |
|     weather-data-2016 station.location points | 108.488 | MB |
|      weather-data-2016 station.location total | 365.289 | MB |
|          weather-data-2016 _id inverted index | 210.878 | MB |
|           weather-data-2016 _id stored fields |  311.63 | MB |
|                   weather-data-2016 _id total | 522.508 | MB |
|       weather-data-2016 _source stored fields | 3.36536 | GB |
|               weather-data-2016 _source total | 3.36536 | GB |

It also works with esrally compare:

| weather-data-2016 station.location points | 108.488 | 108.076 | -0.41203 | MB | -0.38% |
|  weather-data-2016 station.location total | 365.289 | 364.877 | -0.41153 | MB | -0.11% |
|      weather-data-2016 _id inverted index | 210.878 | 211.052 |  0.17399 | MB | +0.08% |
|       weather-data-2016 _id stored fields |  311.63 | 311.363 | -0.26625 | MB | -0.09% |
|               weather-data-2016 _id total | 522.508 | 522.416 | -0.09225 | MB | -0.02% |
|   weather-data-2016 _source stored fields | 3.36536 |  3.3652 | -0.00016 | GB | -0.00% |
|           weather-data-2016 _source total | 3.36536 |  3.3652 | -0.00016 | GB | -0.00% |

Note

This telemetry device has no runtime overhead. It does all of it’s work after the race is complete.

blob-store-stats#

The blob-store-stats telemetry device regularly calls the blob store stats API and records one metrics document for cluster level stats (_all), and one metrics document per node.

Supported telemetry parameters:

  • blob-store-stats-sample-interval (default 1): A positive number greater than zero denoting the sampling interval in seconds.

Example of recorded documents given two nodes in the target cluster:

{
  "name": "blob-store-stats",
  "node": "_all",
  "meta": {
    "cluster": "es",
    "_nodes": {
      "total": 2,
      "successful": 2,
      "failed": 0
    }
  },
  "object_store_request_counts_ListObjects": 20,
  "object_store_request_counts_PutMultipartObject": 20,
  "object_store_request_counts_DeleteObjects": 20,
  "object_store_request_counts_AbortMultipartObject": 20,
  "object_store_request_counts_PutObject": 20,
  "object_store_request_counts_GetObject": 20,
  "operational_backup_request_counts_ListObjects": 22,
  "operational_backup_request_counts_PutMultipartObject": 22,
  "operational_backup_request_counts_DeleteObjects": 22,
  "operational_backup_request_counts_AbortMultipartObject": 22,
  "operational_backup_request_counts_PutObject": 22,
  "operational_backup_request_counts_GetObject": 22
},
{
  "name": "blob-store-stats",
  "node": "OkuSgfZWSq2fprKXD6CNOw",
  "meta": {
    "cluster": "es",
    "_nodes": {
      "total": 2,
      "successful": 2,
      "failed": 0
    }
  },
  "object_store_request_counts_ListObjects": 10,
  "object_store_request_counts_PutMultipartObject": 10,
  "object_store_request_counts_DeleteObjects": 10,
  "object_store_request_counts_AbortMultipartObject": 10,
  "object_store_request_counts_PutObject": 10,
  "object_store_request_counts_GetObject": 10,
  "operational_backup_request_counts_ListObjects": 22,
  "operational_backup_request_counts_PutMultipartObject": 22,
  "operational_backup_request_counts_DeleteObjects": 22,
  "operational_backup_request_counts_AbortMultipartObject": 22,
  "operational_backup_request_counts_PutObject": 22,
  "operational_backup_request_counts_GetObject": 22
},
{
  "name": "blob-store-stats",
  "node": "ufg1tLOiTIiHkmgGiztW9Q",
  "meta": {
    "cluster": "es",
    "_nodes": {
      "total": 2,
      "successful": 2,
      "failed": 0
    },
  "object_store_request_counts_ListObjects": 10,
  "object_store_request_counts_PutMultipartObject": 10,
  "object_store_request_counts_DeleteObjects": 10,
  "object_store_request_counts_AbortMultipartObject": 10,
  "object_store_request_counts_PutObject": 10,
  "object_store_request_counts_GetObject": 10
  }
}

Note

This telemetry device is only applicable to Elastic Serverless and requires elevated privleges only available to Elastic developers.

geoip-stats#

The geoip-stats telemetry device fetches data from the GeoIP Stats API at the end of the run, and stores geoip cache stats as metrics for the run. This is available only in Elasticsearch 8.14.0 and higher. Stored metrics include:

  • geoip_cache_count: The number of items in the cache.

  • geoip_cache_hits: The number of times an IP address was found in the cache.

  • geoip_cache_misses: The number of times an IP address was not found in the cache.

  • geoip_cache_evictions: The number of times an entry was evicted from the cache because the max cache size had been reached.

  • geoip_cache_hits_time_in_millis: The total amount of time spent fetching data from the cache, for cache hits only.

  • geoip_cache_misses_time_in_millis: The total amount of time spent fetching data from the cache, for cache misses only. This includes time spent fetching data from the geoip database.