Monitoring [former Advanced Monitoring] extension in Plesk

[AYamshanov]

Hi everyone!

I am very excited to tell you that the first version of Advanced Monitoring has been released! To be honest, we have released two new extensions: Grafana and Advanced Monitoring.

I create this topic to have a place in Plesk Forum where we can talk only about Advanced Monitoring. If you have any feedback, please share it.

---

Currently, these extensions published in the Beta category and any feedback and bug reports are very appreciated! Report bugs, missing features, and any other problems with the extension to [email protected].

What does it mean if the extension in the Beta category? This means the following:

• The extension is provided on the "as is" basis for evaluation and testing purposes only. We do not recommend using it in production.
• The extension may crash, lack certain features or polish, and is expected to have bugs.
• Plesk disclaims any form of guarantee or liability in relation to its use or engineering.
• No technical support.

 

[AYamshanov]

Grafana
The extension offers integration with Grafana, the leading open source software for time series analytics. Grafana displays data in numerous types of graphs and dashboards, which are highly customizable and visually appealing.

You can use Grafana in two ways:

• Use Grafana with the data collected from default sources, which were integrated for you by the Plesk team.
  Currently, the default source is the Advanced Monitoring extension, which collects server health metrics.
• If you an experienced Grafana user, you can harvest data from any source that you can integrate with Grafana.
  To integrate other data sources with Grafana, grant the Grafana administrator the write permission.

To grant the Grafana administrator the write permission:

1. Add the following lines to the "panel.ini" file:
   

   [ext-grafana]
   allowSuperAdmin = true

2. Go to Grafana, hover over the administrator name, and then click Sign out.
   You will be signed out and at once automatically signed in. You can now integrate Grafana with data sources of your choice.

​

 

[AYamshanov]

Advanced Monitoring
This extension replaces the Server Health Monitor component. Advanced Monitoring works in tandem with the Grafana extension to display your server metrics as visually appealing graphs and dashboards.

With Advanced Monitoring, you can:

• See detailed reports on the server health.
• See how server health parameters change with time.
• Change the displayed time period.
• Keep track of the system resources' usage on the server.
• Configure email notifications to inform when one or more resources' usage reaches a pre-defined threshold (this feature is on its way).

​

 

[AYamshanov]

Hi,
We have updated the extensions, it is a bug-fix release.

Advanced Monitoring v1.0.1 (22 July 2019):

• If the grafana-server service was not running, users can now start it clicking a button on the Advanced Monitoring page.
• [-] If the Grafana extension was disabled, the Advanced Monitoring page now shows a clear error message that suggests enabling Grafana. (EXTPLESK-1001)
• [-] Megabytes and kilobytes are now used as units of measurement. (EXTPLESK-1005)
• [-] Installed Advanced Monitoring no longer prevents Plesk from logging out after inactivity time-out. (EXTPLESK-1014)
• [-] Advanced Monitoring now displays data in Plesk on DigitalOcean and Lightsail. (EXTPLESK-1007)
• [-] In Plesk on DigitalOcean and Lightsail, Advanced Monitoring no longer shows the 500 Internal Server Error on certain charts (for example, CPU). (EXTPLESK-1008)
• [-] When selected, "Advanced Monitoring" is now highlighted in the left navigation pane. (EXTPLESK-1008)
• [-] Advanced Monitoring now works correctly in Plesk that has the Plesk Premium Antivirus component installed. (EXTPLESK-754)

Grafana v1.0.1 (22 July 2019):

• Improved stability during import of datasources and dashboards of other extensions to Grafana.
• [-] Grafana now works correctly in Plesk that has the Plesk Premium Antivirus component installed. (EXTPLESK-754)

Currently, these extensions published in the Beta category and any feedback and bug reports are very appreciated! Report bugs, missing features, and any other problems with the extension to [email protected].

 

[urbanstudio]

As you had written today in the Plesk Obsidian thread, I tried what you had mentioned.

I removed grafana and advanced monitoring and installed advanced monitoring again.
I see a well working "Advanced Monitoring", but E-Mail-Service is not working as I told today.

So I tried on another Server...
I installed "Advanced Monitoring" an set up the first E-Mail-address on that server.

I tried to send E-Mail from that server and tried to send E-Mail to that server.
Both is not working, I always get following Error:

--- Antivirus report ---
Detailed report:
The filter fails to pass object to the DrWEB daemon

But this happens also after I deactivate and uninstall grafana and advanced monitoring...

So I think its an issue to "Premium Antivirus".

BTW Great extension the "Adcvanced Monitoring" Thanks for this!

 

[daniiii_e]

Hi i have Problem with my
Advanced Monitoring
the Idle CPU Usage is very High.
https://i.imgur.com/nkuyM6z.png
Is this a Bug?

 

[andyxyz]

anyone figured out how to setup email notifications yet?

 

[AYamshanov]

Hi daniiii_e,

Yes, currently a threshold limit applies to all available metrics on the graph. With the next Advanced Monitoring release, it can be possible to choose only one metric on the graphs for monitoring, e.g.: "Alarm when a 'CPU idle' metric less than 20%".

 

[AYamshanov]

Hi andyxyz,

Email notifications will be added in the next Advanced Monitoring release.

 

[Gorgo126]

Hi,

I try to export some graph on an another web page (but under the same domaine name).
I use iFrame export... the graph appear but he is not refresh...

any idea why ?

Thanks !

 

[AYamshanov]

Hi Gorgo126,

Could you please share your final idea and goal? What case do you want to solve and why?

---
Looks like it is a logic inside the Grafana because I have found the same question in another forum: Auto-refresh embedded graphs?.

Maybe it would be better ask the same question in Grafana forum.

 

[Gorgo126]

Hi Ayamshanov

I would like create another website page under the same domaine name of my Plesk.
Under my plesk, I select my graph and choose the export iframe option.
On my new webpage I put this iframe code, the graph appear correctly but he is not refreshed.

Why ?

(I ask on Grafana forum but nobody answer at this time...)

 

[AYamshanov]

Let me rephrase my question. I understood how do you try to do it but I want to understand what is the reason why you want to do it

Is it required for your internal monitoring purposes (to be able to check metrics without login to Plesk)? Or do you want to create a public status page of your hosting/server(s) for customers?

 

[Gorgo126]

Ho sorry...

For 2 reason :

1) Effectively to be able to check metrics without login to Plesk. by facility for me...
2) Offer the possibility to my collegues to check the monitoring too (becaus this collegues have no access to Plesk)

 

[evolutionlab]

Hello,
i'm testing the new "advanced monitoring" system with Grafana.
My plesk is configured in Italian and the advanced monitor miss some translations, showing placeholders instead of english text, for eample:

 

[mahmut ozdemir]

Hi everyone!

I am very excited to tell you that the first version of Advanced Monitoring has been released! To be honest, we have released two new extensions: Grafana and Advanced Monitoring.

I create this topic to have a place in Plesk Forum where we can talk only about Advanced Monitoring. If you have any feedback, please share it.

---

Currently, these extensions published in the Beta category and any feedback and bug reports are very appreciated! Report bugs, missing features, and any other problems with the extension to [email protected].

What does it mean if the extension in the Beta category? This means the following:

• The extension is provided on the "as is" basis for evaluation and testing purposes only. We do not recommend using it in production.
• The extension may crash, lack certain features or polish, and is expected to have bugs.
• Plesk disclaims any form of guarantee or liability in relation to its use or engineering.
• No technical support.

Hello

Grafana can also bring server overhead in some cases
Had to remove over 300 virtual servers

plain and plain that was better than the old




it's empty

 

[AYamshanov]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your feedback! We have released a new version of the extensions and fixed some bugs. Let me show changelog for the last two releases:

• Advanced Monitoring

1.3.0 (10 March 2020)

• [+] It is now possible to select the graphs you want to be displayed on the extension's tabs. To do so, go to Advanced Monitoring and then click Settings > Customize.
• [+] It is now possible to configure the extension via the CLI (run plesk ext monitoring --help to see the CLI commands).
• Useless "OK" notifications are no longer shown after Plesk or Advanced Monitoring are installed.
• [-] Resolved compatibility issues with Plesk Obsidian 18.0.25. (EXTPLESK-1670)
• [-] Fixed the Grafana bug about the missing datepicker. (EXTPLESK-1616)
• [-] Made the Advanced Monitoring notifications less noisy: they are now automatically hidden after a few seconds. You no longer need to close each notification manually. To read the notifications that you have hidden, click the bell icon in the upper right corner of the screen. (EXTPLESK-1575)
• [-] The "Check server health" button (shown on Advanced Monitoring warning notifications) now redirects to the exact tab with the resource usage graph whose threshold was exceeded. (EXTPLESK-1484)

1.2.0 (13 December 2019)

• [+] Added buttons and menu items inviting Advanced Monitoring users to fill out a survey about their experience with the extension. Doing so helps us better understand what kind of monitoring for servers and websites our customers need.
• [+] Advanced Monitoring can now send notifications via email as well as show them in the Plesk interface.
• [+] Changes made to thresholds can now be reverted with a click thanks to the "Restore Defaults" button.
• "Overview" is now the first tab you see when you open Advanced Monitoring. It contains an overview of most important information about the server, such as CPU and memory usage.
• On Plesk for Linux servers, stacked the graphs showing memory and swap usage on the "Memory" tab.
• Disk time access and IOPS metrics are now shown on the "Disk" tab.
• We made a number of improvements to the extension's UI and UX.
• [-] On Plesk for Windows servers, all activity tracked by the extension in now correctly reported via the graphs. (EXTPLESK-1386)
• [-] On Plesk for Windows servers, the "Network" tab now shows accurate data for "writeBytes". (EXTPLESK-1393)
• [-] Graphs for periods of time a week ago or older are no longer blank. (EXTPLESK-1404)
• [-] All tabs now display the proper graphs instead of the "Dashboard not found" error in the French locale. (EXTPLESK-1447)
• [-] On Plesk for Windows servers, the graphs on the main monitoring page are no longer empty if during the Plesk installation a directory outside of the Plesk installation directory was chosen for storing the user data. (EXTPLESK-1492)

• Grafana

1.1.4 (10 March 2020)

• [+] It is now possible to configure the extension via the CLI (run plesk ext grafana --help to see the CLI commands).
• [-] Resolved compatibility issues with Plesk Obsidian 18.0.25. (EXTPLESK-1670)
• [-] The extension can now be opened in Plesk Mobile App for iOS and Android. (EXTPLESK-1384)

1.1.3 (13 December 2019)

• [-] Resolved a compatibility issue with the upcoming Plesk Obsidian 18.0.22. (EXTPLESK-1427)
• [-] On Plesk for Windows servers, Grafana can now be installed if during the Plesk installation a directory outside of the Plesk installation directory was chosen for storing the user data. (EXTPLESK-1489)

 

[AYamshanov]

@daniiii_e, a fix for CPU monitoring (that allows monitoring only one metric, e.g. "CPU Idle") is available since v1.1.1

@andyxyz, email notifications are available since v1.2.0

@evolutionlab, we have added missed locales in v1.3.0 but we still have a bug with some non-translated words, I hope we fix it soon. English text inside Grafana's graphs is expected behavior because Grafana does not support translations.

@mahmut ozdemir, server health widget is in our backlog for Advanced Monitoring. It means it should be installed on the server.
@mahmut ozdemir, could you please explain in detail what overhead Grafana brings to your server? It should not be much higher than on Plesk Onyx because it uses the same subsystem for collecting data and uses a web-browser for graphs drawing.


Thanks again for your feedback!

 

[jpveen]

Great to have Grafana/AdvMonitoring integrated in Plesk. I am not an expert, but like the way Grafana provides quick realtime and historic information on several metrics!

One very important thing for me is to have disk-responsetimes visible. The disk tab now only shows capacity utilization, is there a simple way to add disk reponsetimes? (My Plesk is running on Centos7 by the way, and my Plesk version is 18.0.26.)

Thanks, Jan-Pieter

 

[AYamshanov]

Hi jpveen,

Have you checked "Advanced Monitoring => Settings => Customize"? I think at the bottom you should find out inactive graphs for disk performance, something like this: