This is a .NET library for instrumenting your applications and exporting metrics to Prometheus.
The library targets .NET Standard 2.0 which supports the following runtimes (and newer):
- .NET Framework 4.6.1
- .NET Core 2.0
- Mono 5.4
The ASP.NET Core specific functionality requires ASP.NET Core 2.1 or newer. The .NET Core specific functionality requires .NET Core 2.1 or newer.
This library allows you to instrument your code with custom metrics and provides some built-in metric collection integrations for ASP.NET Core.
The documentation here is only a minimal quick start. For detailed guidance on using Prometheus in your solutions, refer to the prometheus-users discussion group. You are also expected to be familiar with the Prometheus user guide.
Four types of metrics are available: Counter, Gauge, Summary and Histogram. See the documentation on metric types and instrumentation best practices to learn what each is good for.
The Metrics class is the main entry point to the API of this library. The most common practice in C# code is to have a static readonly field for each metric that you wish to export from a given class.
More complex patterns may also be used (e.g. combining with dependency injection). The library is quite tolerant of different usage models - if the API allows it, it will generally work fine and provide satisfactory performance. The library is thread-safe.
Nuget package for general use and metrics export via HttpListener or to Pushgateway: prometheus-net
Install-Package prometheus-net
Nuget package for ASP.NET Core middleware and stand-alone Kestrel metrics server: prometheus-net.AspNetCore
Install-Package prometheus-net.AspNetCore
After installing the library, you should:
- Initialize some metrics and start updating their values.
- Publish the collected metrics over HTTP.
- Configure the Prometheus server to poll your app for metrics on regular intervals.
The chapters below describe the various ways you can initialize or update metrics and the ways in which they can be published.
The following is a minimal implementation that simply increments a counter once a second, publishing the metrics on http://localhost:1234/metrics
using Prometheus;
using System;
using System.Threading;
class Program
{
private static readonly Counter TickTock =
Metrics.CreateCounter("sampleapp_ticks_total", "Just keeps on ticking");
static void Main()
{
var server = new MetricServer(hostname: "localhost", port: 1234);
server.Start();
while (true)
{
TickTock.Inc();
Thread.Sleep(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1));
}
}
}Counters only increase in value and reset to zero when the process restarts.
private static readonly Counter ProcessedJobCount = Metrics
.CreateCounter("myapp_jobs_processed_total", "Number of processed jobs.");
...
ProcessJob();
ProcessedJobCount.Inc();Gauges can have any numeric value and change arbitrarily.
private static readonly Gauge JobsInQueue = Metrics
.CreateGauge("myapp_jobs_queued", "Number of jobs waiting for processing in the queue.");
...
jobQueue.Enqueue(job);
JobsInQueue.Inc();
...
var job = jobQueue.Dequeue();
JobsInQueue.Dec();Summaries track the trends in events over time (10 minutes by default).
private static readonly Summary RequestSizeSummary = Metrics
.CreateSummary("myapp_request_size_bytes", "Summary of request sizes (in bytes) over last 10 minutes.");
...
RequestSizeSummary.Observe(request.Length);By default, only the sum and total count are reported. You may also specify quantiles to measure:
private static readonly Summary RequestSizeSummary = Metrics
.CreateSummary("myapp_request_size_bytes", "Summary of request sizes (in bytes) over last 10 minutes.",
new SummaryConfiguration
{
Objectives = new[]
{
new QuantileEpsilonPair(0.5, 0.05),
new QuantileEpsilonPair(0.9, 0.05),
new QuantileEpsilonPair(0.95, 0.01),
new QuantileEpsilonPair(0.99, 0.005),
}
});The epsilon indicates the absolute error allowed in measurements. For more information, refer to the Prometheus documentation on summaries and histograms.
Histograms track the size and number of events in buckets. This allows for aggregatable calculation of quantiles.
private static readonly Histogram OrderValueHistogram = Metrics
.CreateHistogram("myapp_order_value_usd", "Histogram of received order values (in USD).",
new HistogramConfiguration
{
// We divide measurements in 10 buckets of $100 each, up to $1000.
Buckets = Histogram.LinearBuckets(start: 100, width: 100, count: 10)
});
...
OrderValueHistogram.Observe(order.TotalValueUsd);Timers can be used to report the duration of an operation (in seconds) to a Summary, Histogram, Gauge or Counter. Wrap the operation you want to measure in a using block.
private static readonly Histogram LoginDuration = Metrics
.CreateHistogram("myapp_login_duration_seconds", "Histogram of login call processing durations.");
...
using (LoginDuration.NewTimer())
{
IdentityManager.AuthenticateUser(Request.Credentials);
}You can use Gauge.TrackInProgress() to track how many concurrent operations are taking place. Wrap the operation you want to track in a using block.
private static readonly Gauge DocumentImportsInProgress = Metrics
.CreateGauge("myapp_document_imports_in_progress", "Number of import operations ongoing.");
...
using (DocumentImportsInProgress.TrackInProgress())
{
DocumentRepository.ImportDocument(path);
}You can use Counter.CountExceptions() to count the number of exceptions that occur while executing some code.
private static readonly Counter FailedDocumentImports = Metrics
.CreateCounter("myapp_document_imports_failed_total", "Number of import operations that failed.");
...
FailedDocumentImports.CountExceptions(() => DocumentRepository.ImportDocument(path));You can also filter the exception types to observe:
FailedDocumentImports.CountExceptions(() => DocumentRepository.ImportDocument(path), IsImportRelatedException);
bool IsImportRelatedException(Exception ex)
{
// Do not count "access denied" exceptions - those are user error for pointing us to a forbidden file.
if (ex is UnauthorizedAccessException)
return false;
return true;
}All metrics can have labels, allowing grouping of related time series.
See the best practices on naming and labels.
Taking a counter as an example:
private static readonly Counter RequestCountByMethod = Metrics
.CreateCounter("myapp_requests_total", "Number of requests received, by HTTP method.",
new CounterConfiguration
{
// Here you specify only the names of the labels.
LabelNames = new[] { "method" }
});
...
// You can specify the values for the labels later, once you know the right values (e.g in your request handler code).
counter.WithLabels("GET").Inc();NB! Best practices of metric design is to minimize the number of different label values. HTTP request method is good - there are not many values. However, URL would be a bad choice for labeling - it has too many possible values and would lead to significant data processing inefficiency. Try to minimize the possible number of label values in your metric model.
Metrics without labels are published immediately after the Metrics.CreateX() call. Metrics that use labels are published when you provide the label values for the first time.
Sometimes you want to delay publishing a metric until you have loaded some data and have a meaningful value to supply for it. The API allows you to suppress publishing of the initial value until you decide the time is right.
private static readonly Gauge UsersLoggedIn = Metrics
.CreateGauge("myapp_users_logged_in", "Number of active user sessions",
new GaugeConfiguration
{
SuppressInitialValue = true
});
...
// After setting the value for the first time, the metric becomes published.
UsersLoggedIn.Set(LoadSessions().Count);You can also use .Publish() on a metric to mark it as ready to be published without modifying the initial value (e.g. to publish a zero).
For projects built with ASP.NET Core, a middleware plugin is provided.
If you use the default Visual Studio project template, modify Startup.cs as follows:
public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env)
{
// ...
app.UseMetricServer();
app.Run(async (context) =>
{
// ...
});
}Alternatively, if you use a custom project startup cycle, you can add this directly to the WebHostBuilder instance:
WebHost.CreateDefaultBuilder()
.Configure(app => app.UseMetricServer())
.Build()
.Run();The default configuration will publish metrics on the /metrics URL.
This functionality is delivered in the prometheus-net.AspNetCore NuGet package.
The library provides some metrics for ASP.NET Core applications:
- Number of HTTP requests in progress.
- Total number of received HTTP requests.
- Duration of HTTP requests.
These metrics include labels for status code, HTTP method, ASP.NET Core MVC Controller and ASP.NET Core MVC Action. The exception is the "requests in progress" metric, which is not differentiated by any labels due to technical limitations of ASP.NET Core.
You can capture HTTP metrics by adjusting your app's Configure() method as follows:
app.UseHttpMetrics();NB! ASP.NET Core executes middleware in a strictly defined order, based on the app.UseXYZ() calls you make
when setting up the pipeline. You must carefully consider the order in which you configure middleware.
Keep the following in mind when composing the pipeline:
- Any call to
UseMvc()should be afterUseHttpMetrics(). Otherwise, thecontrollerandactionlabels will always have empty values. - Any call to
UseExceptionHandler()orUseDeveloperExceptionPage()should be afterUseHttpMetrics(). Otherwise, the wrong HTTP status code may be reported in metrics when exceptions occur (the middleware will not see that the exception handler changed the status code from 200 to 500). - You should use either
UseExceptionHandler()or a custom exception handler middleware. prometheus-net cannot see what the web host's default exception handler does and may report the wrong HTTP status code for exceptions (e.g. 200 instead of 500).
The metrics reported by the middleware are configurable. If you wish to provide a custom metric instance or disable certain metrics you can configure the it like this:
app.UseHttpMetrics(options =>
{
options.RequestCount.Enabled = false;
options.RequestDuration.Histogram = Metrics.CreateHistogram("myapp_http_request_duration_seconds", "Some help text",
new HistogramConfiguration
{
Buckets = Histogram.LinearBuckets(start: 1, width: 1, count: 64)
Labels = new[] { "code", "method" }
});
});For "requests in progress", the custom metric cannot have labels.
For "request duration" and "total request count", the labels for the custom metric you provide must be a subset of the following:
- "code" - Status Code
- "method" - HTTP method
- "controller" - ASP.NET Core MVC Controller
- "action" - ASP.NET Core MVC Action
Any requests that do not match an ASP.NET Core MVC controller or action will have an empty string as the label value.
You may wish to restrict access to the metrics export URL. This can be accomplished using any ASP.NET Core authentication mechanism, as prometheus-net integrates directly into the composable ASP.NET Core request processing pipeline.
For a simple example we can take BasicAuthMiddleware by Johan Boström which can be integrated by replacing the app.UseMetricServer() line with the following code block:
app.Map("/metrics", metricsApp =>
{
metricsApp.UseMiddleware<BasicAuthMiddleware>("Contoso Corporation");
// We already specified URL prefix in .Map() above, no need to specify it again here.
metricsApp.UseMetricServer("");
});In some situation, you may wish to start a stand-alone metric server using Kestrel (e.g. if your app has no other HTTP-accessible functionality).
var metricServer = new KestrelMetricServer(port: 1234);
metricServer.Start();The default configuration will publish metrics on the /metrics URL.
Metrics can be posted to a Pushgateway server.
var pusher = new MetricPusher(new MetricPusherOptions
{
Endpoint = "https://pushgateway.example.org:9091/metrics",
Job = "some_job"
});
pusher.Start();You can use a custom HttpClient to supply credentials for the Pushgateway.
// Placeholder username and password here - replace with your own data.
var headerValue = Convert.ToBase64String(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("username:password"));
var httpClient = new HttpClient();
httpClient.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Basic", headerValue);
var pusher = new MetricPusher(new MetricPusherOptions
{
Endpoint = "https://pushgateway.example.org:9091/metrics",
Job = "some_job",
HttpClientProvider = () => httpClient
});
pusher.Start();As a fallback option for scenarios where Kestrel or ASP.NET Core hosting is unsuitable, an HttpListener based metrics server implementation is also available.
var metricServer = new MetricServer(port: 1234);
metricServer.Start();The default configuration will publish metrics on the /metrics URL.
MetricServer.Start() may throw an access denied exception on Windows if your user does not have the right to open a web server on the specified port. You can use the netsh command to grant yourself the required permissions:
netsh http add urlacl url=http://+:1234/metrics user=DOMAIN\user
In scenarios where you handle publishing via a custom endpoint, you can export the entire metrics data set as a Prometheus text document.
await Metrics.DefaultRegistry.CollectAndExportAsTextAsync(outputStream);In some scenarios you may want to only collect data when it is requested by Prometheus. To easily implement this scenario prometheus-net enables you to register a callback before every collection occurs. Register your callback using Metrics.DefaultRegistry.AddBeforeCollectCallback().
Note that all callbacks will be called synchronously before each collection. They should not take more than a few milliseconds in order to ensure that the scrape does not time out. Do not read data from remote systems in these callbacks.
The library provides some sample metrics about the current process out of the box, simply to ensure that some output is produced in a default configuration. If these metrics are not desirable you may remove them by calling Metrics.SuppressDefaultMetrics() before registering any of your own metrics.
.NET Core provides the DiagnosticSource mechanism for reporting diagnostic events, used widely by .NET and ASP.NET Core classes. To expose basic data on these events via Prometheus, you can use the DiagnosticSourceAdapter class:
// An optional "options" parameter is available to customize adapter behavior.
var diagnosticSourceRegistration = DiagnosticSourceAdapter.StartListening();
...
// Stops listening for DiagnosticSource events.
diagnosticSourceRegistration.Dispose();Any events that occur are exported as Prometheus metrics, indicating the name of the event source and the name of the event:
diagnostic_events_total{source="Microsoft.AspNetCore",event="Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.AfterAction"} 4
diagnostic_events_total{source="HttpHandlerDiagnosticListener",event="System.Net.Http.Request"} 8
The level of detail obtained from this is rather low - only the total count for each event is exported. For more fine-grained analytics, you need to listen to DiagnosticSource events on your own and create custom metrics that can understand the meaning of each particular type of event that is of interest to you.
- prometheus-net.DotNetRuntime instruments .NET Core 2.2 apps to export metrics on .NET Core performance.
- prometheus-net Grafana dashboards provides example dashboards for visualizing prometheus-net metrics in Grafana.