How to Monitor Nginx with Telegraf, InfluxDB, and Grafana: A Step‑by‑Step Guide

After building an Nginx cluster, daily monitoring is essential.

Nginx monitoring can be done via the nginx-status endpoint. Integrating the data with existing monitoring systems is conveniently achieved with the stack Nginx + Telegraf + InfluxDB + Grafana, where Telegraf periodically collects the status, stores it in InfluxDB, and Grafana visualizes it.

Nginx enable nginx‑status module

If Nginx is compiled from source, add the stub status module during configuration: ./configure --with-http_stub_status_module Use ./configure --help to list available modules, then compile and install.

If Nginx is installed via apt-get install, check module support with: nginx -V Look for --with-http_stub_status_module in the output.

Modify the Nginx configuration to add a location for the status endpoint:

location /nginx-status {
    allow 127.0.0.1; // allowed IP
    deny all;
    stub_status on;
    access_log off;
}

Reload Nginx and request /nginx-status to see output such as active connections, accepts, handled, requests, reading, writing, waiting, etc.

Telegraf installation and Nginx monitoring configuration

Download and install Telegraf (example for RPM‑based systems):

wget https://dl.influxdata.com/telegraf/releases/telegraf-1.4.3-1.x86_64.rpm
sudo yum localinstall telegraf-1.4.3-1.x86_64.rpm

Edit telegraf.conf to enable the InfluxDB output and add the nginx input plugin, then restart the Telegraf service.

Grafana integration for Nginx monitoring

In Grafana, add InfluxDB as a data source, then create a dashboard with queries such as:

Data source: InfluxDB

FROM: nginx

SELECT: field(accepts)

The resulting panels display real‑time Nginx metrics.

By combining Nginx, Telegraf, InfluxDB, and Grafana, you obtain a convenient and powerful monitoring solution for Nginx.