telegraf-apt

A Telegraf plugin to check Debian for package updates.

This plugin runs continuously and prints an output in the interval requested by Telegraf. In addition, the output can be triggered externally, e.g. during apt update to get the latest status in almost real time. The Debian wiki is queried to check the LTS status. You can make use of needrestart to check the system for outdated libraries.

Configuration

Install curl. Also needrestart if you like to use it.

To make this plugin useful you need a way to keep your package sources up to date. You can use unattended-upgrades to run apt update on a regular basis.

To trigger the plugin to collect new stats after an apt update, create a Post-Invoke configuration. You can copy 99telegraf to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99telegraf or use it as example.

Telegraf can be configured like this:

[[inputs.execd]]
  command = ["/bin/sh", "/opt/telegraf/telegraf-apt.sh"]
  data_format = "influx"

  interval = "24h"
  signal = "SIGUSR1"

If Telegraf is able to run needrestart with sudo privileges, the corresponding metrics will be collected:

telegraf    ALL = NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/needrestart -b

Output

# sh /opt/telegraf/telegraf-apt.sh
apt debian_release="11.2"
apt debian_codename="Bullseye"
apt debian_support=0
apt updates_regular=0
apt updates_security=1
apt updates_severity=2
apt needrestart_services=6
apt needrestart_severity=1

How to read

debian_release

Returns the release from /etc/debian_version.

debian_codename

Returns a codename like Bullseye, Buster ...

debian_support

Returns the current support status of your system.

0   =  full support with official security fixes
1   =  LTS with limitied security support
2   =  outdated

updates_regular

Returns the number of outstanding regular updates.

updates_security

Returns the number of outstanding security updates.

updates_packages

Returns a list of packages with outstanding updates.

updates_severity

Returns an integer indicator as summary.

0   =  full Debian support, no updates

1   =  full Debian support, one or more regular updates
2   =  full Debian support, one or more security updates
3   =  full Debian support, one or more regular updates and one or more security updates

10  =  LTS, no updates
11  =  LTS, one or more regular updates
12  =  LTS, one or more security updates
13  =  LTS, one or more regular updates and one or more security updates

20  =  outdated, no updates
21  =  outdated, one or more regular updates
22  =  outdated, one or more security updates
23  =  outdated, one or more regular updates and one or more security updates

needrestart_services

Returns the number of services which need to be restarted after library upgrades.

needrestart_severity

Returns an integer indicator as summary.

0   =  latest available kernel is running and no services with outdated libraries
1   =  latest available kernel is running and one or more services with outdated libraries
2   =  latest available kernel is not running and no services with outdated libraries
3   =  latest available kernel is not running and one or more services with outdated libraries