metrics-exporter-scope

An oscilloscope for the Rust metrics ecosystem.

Introduction

metrics-exporter-scope is an exporter for metrics which is designed to output frequently changed metrics as snapshots. The functionality pretty is similar to a classic oscilloscope and use cases are similar as well: the crate is developed to sample metrics with high (1Hz+) frequencies and is mostly used to display real-time data from embedded systems, industrial automation controllers, robotics, network devices, etc.

metrics-exporter-scope is a part of the RoboPLC project.

Usage

Setup

Installing the exporter with the default settings (binds to 0.0.0.0:5001):

metrics_exporter_scope::ScopeBuilder::new().install().unwrap();

Defining metrics

The exporter works with Gauge metrics only.

The crate is designed as a secondary metrics exporter, all scope-metrics, must be prefixed with ~ char. Metrics without the prefix are either ignored or exported by the primary program exporter.

use metrics::gauge;

gauge!("~my_metric").set(42.0);

Metric labels

Metrics can have additional labels, some are used by the client program to configure plots using plot label key.

use metrics::gauge;

gauge!("~my_metric", "plot" => "plot1").set(42.0);
gauge!("~my_metric2", "plot" => "plot1").set(42.0);

The above example groups two metrics into the same plot.

Metric colors

color label key is used as a hint for the client program to set the color of a plot line the metric is associated with.

use metrics::gauge;

gauge!("~my_metric", "color" => "blue").set(42.0);
gauge!("~my_metric2", "color" => "#99ccff").set(42.0);

Colors, supported by the client program are: red, green, blue, yellow, cyan, magenta, orange, white, black. A color also can be set as a RGB, using either #RRGGBB or #RGB format.

Falling back to the primary exporter

If a metric is not prefixed with ~, it is processed by the primary exporter.

let primary_recorder = SomePrimaryMetricsRecorder::new().build();

metrics_exporter_scope::ScopeBuilder::new()
    .with_fallback(Box::new(primary_recorder))
    .install()
    .unwrap();

A fall-back example can be found in examples/with-fallback.rs.

Client installation

The repository contains a client implementation for the oscilloscope, which is available for all major desktop platforms:

cargo install metrics-scope

Client features:

• Real-time data visualization

• Multiple metrics support

• Simple moving averages

• Triggers

Navigation:

• L - toggle chart legends

• F5 - reset chart views and clear active trigger events

• P - pause/resume chart updates

• Mouse click + drag - move chart view (X-axis is moved for all charts)

• Ctrl + mouse wheel - zoom charts in/out

• Mouse double click - reset chart view

Real-time safety

The exporter does not contain any locks and is safe to be used in real-time programs. It is recommended to install the server in a dedicated thread.

MSRV

By default, the crate supports the latest metrics version, follow the metrics README for the actual minimum supported Rust version details.

The crate also can be built to support MSRV 1.68.0, by disabling the default features and enabling the msrv feature:

[dependencies]
metrics-exporter-scope = { version = "0.1", default-features = false, features = ["msrv"] }

If set, metrics version 0.22 is used.