What is Openstack Ceilometer ?

Ceilometer is an open-source project that is part of the OpenStack ecosystem. It is designed to provide metering and data collection services in a cloud computing environment. The primary goal of Ceilometer is to collect and store data related to resource utilization, performance, and other metrics in a cloud infrastructure. This information can be used for various purposes, such as billing, capacity planning, and performance optimization.

Here are some key components and features of Ceilometer:

  1. Metering: Ceilometer collects metering data from various OpenStack services and infrastructure components, such as compute instances, storage, networking, and more. It captures data related to resource usage, such as CPU utilization, memory consumption, network bandwidth, and storage usage. The collected data is stored in a database for further analysis and reporting.
  2. Polling: Ceilometer uses a polling mechanism to retrieve resource utilization data from different OpenStack services. It periodically queries the services and collects relevant metrics. For example, it may query the Nova service to collect information about instances, or the Cinder service to gather storage-related data.
  3. Event-based notifications: In addition to polling, Ceilometer also supports event-based notifications. OpenStack services emit notifications when certain events occur, such as the creation or deletion of instances. Ceilometer can subscribe to these notifications and capture relevant data in real-time.
  4. Data storage: Ceilometer stores collected metering data in a database. By default, it uses an SQL-based database like MySQL or PostgreSQL. The collected data can be queried and retrieved for analysis or used for generating reports. Ceilometer also supports data storage in other systems, such as Hadoop-based solutions or MongoDB.
  5. Alarming: Ceilometer provides an alarming feature that allows users to define threshold-based rules for specific metrics. If a metric exceeds or falls below the defined threshold, an alarm is triggered. Alarms can be used to send notifications, trigger actions, or integrate with other systems for automated reactions.
  6. Integration: Ceilometer integrates with various OpenStack services, including Nova, Neutron, Cinder, and Swift, to collect metering data. It can also integrate with other OpenStack projects like Heat (orchestration service) and Horizon (dashboard) for a unified view and management of cloud resources.
  7. Telemetry services: Ceilometer is part of the larger OpenStack Telemetry project, which aims to provide comprehensive monitoring and telemetry capabilities for OpenStack clouds. Ceilometer works together with other Telemetry components, such as Aodh (alarms), Panko (event storage), and Gnocchi (metric storage), to offer a complete monitoring solution.

Components of Openstack Ceilometer:-

Overall, Ceilometer plays a crucial role in collecting and processing metering data in an OpenStack cloud environment. It enables cloud operators and administrators to gain insights into resource utilization, monitor performance, and make informed decisions regarding resource allocation, optimization, and billing.

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