Monitor infrastructure

Grafana integrations

Integrations reference

Apache ActiveMQ

Grafana Cloud

Apache ActiveMQ integration for Grafana Cloud

Apache ActiveMQ is an open-source message broker software that facilitates the communication between different applications or components using messaging patterns. Message brokers like ActiveMQ play a crucial role in distributed systems by enabling asynchronous communication and decoupling producers and consumers of messages. They serve as intermediaries that receive, store, and route messages between different components, applications, or services. The integration with Grafana Cloud enables users to oversee an ActiveMQ environment using five distinct dashboards. These dashboards display metrics and logs for ActiveMQ clusters, instances, topics, and queue components.

This integration supports Apache ActiveMQ version 5.x+
This integration supports the JMX exporter 0.17.0+

This integration includes 4 useful alerts and 5 pre-built dashboards to help monitor and visualize Apache ActiveMQ metrics and logs.

Grafana Alloy configuration

Before you begin

In order for the integration to properly work, you must set up the JMX Exporter for Prometheus on each instance in your cluster.

Setup JMX Exporter

To expose the JMX remotely, it needs to be enabled for the instances being monitored. A configuration option enables JMX, which exists in a env file located in the <apache-activemq-installation-dir>/bin/env directory. Within the env file, the following lines should be added:

ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START="$ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=11099"
ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START="$ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false"
ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START="$ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false"
ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START="$ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote"

Change the jmxremote.port on the first command above for each instance you run, then save the configuration files. For more details, refer to the official documentation.

Connect JMX to the Prometheus Exporter

In order to connect JMX to the Prometheus Exporter, a collector is configured in a config file. This config.yaml file can be placed anywhere and named anything. The contents of this file will be the following

lowercaseOutputLabelNames: true
lowercaseOutputName: true
rules:
  - pattern: org.apache.activemq<type=Broker, brokerName=(\S*), destinationType=Queue, destinationName=(\S*)><>(\w+)
    name: activemq_queue_$3
    attrNameSnakeCase: true
    labels:
      destination: $2

  - pattern: org.apache.activemq<type=Broker, brokerName=(\S*), destinationType=Topic, destinationName=(\S*)><>(\w+)
    name: activemq_topic_$3
    attrNameSnakeCase: true
    labels:
      destination: $2

  - pattern: org.apache.activemq<type=Broker, brokerName=(\S*)><>CurrentConnectionsCount
    name: activemq_connections
    type: GAUGE

  - pattern: org.apache.activemq<type=Broker, brokerName=(\S*)><>Total(.*)Count
    name: activemq_$2_total
    type: COUNTER

  - pattern: org.apache.activemq<type=Broker, brokerName=(\S*)><>(.*)PercentUsage
    name: activemq_$2_usage_ratio
    type: GAUGE
    valueFactor: 0.01

  - pattern: 'java.lang<name=([^>]+), type=GarbageCollector><LastGcInfo>duration: (\d+)'
    name: jvm_gc_duration_seconds
    value: $2
    labels:
      name: $1
    type: GAUGE
    # Convert ms to s
    valueFactor: 0.001

  - pattern: 'java.lang<name=([^>]+), type=GarbageCollector><>CollectionCount: (\d+)'
    name: jvm_gc_collection_count
    value: $2
    labels:
      name: $1
    type: GAUGE

Run the Prometheus Exporter

To run the JMX to Prometheus Exporter, the Java agent is used. The command requires two arguments: a <CONFIG>.yaml file that was created above, and the <JMX_EXPORTER_PORT> that exposes the metrics.

The following command runs the JMX to Prometheus Exporter as a Java agent:

java -javaagent:./jmx_prometheus_javaagent-0.19.0.jar=<JMX_EXPORTER_PORT>:/path/to/config/<CONFIG>.yaml -jar yourJar.jar

To validate that the JMX Exporter is setup correctly, the Prometheus metrics should be available locally via curl:

curl http://localhost:<JMX_EXPORTER_PORT>/metrics

Install Apache ActiveMQ integration for Grafana Cloud

In your Grafana Cloud stack, click Connections in the left-hand menu.
Find Apache ActiveMQ and click its tile to open the integration.
Review the prerequisites in the Configuration Details tab and set up Grafana Agent to send Apache ActiveMQ metrics and logs to your Grafana Cloud instance.
Click Install to add this integration’s pre-built dashboards and alerts to your Grafana Cloud instance, and you can start monitoring your Apache ActiveMQ setup.

Configuration snippets for Grafana Alloy

Advanced mode

The following snippets provide examples to guide you through the configuration process.

To instruct Grafana Alloy to scrape your Apache ActiveMQ instances, manually copy and append the snippets to your alloy configuration file, then follow subsequent instructions.

Advanced metrics snippets

prometheus.scrape "metrics_integrations_integrations_apache_activemq" {
	targets = [{
		__address__      = "<instance-name>:<instance-port>",
		activemq_cluster = "<activemq-cluster-name>",
	}]
	forward_to = [prometheus.remote_write.metrics_service.receiver]
	job_name   = "integrations/apache-activemq"
}

To monitor your Apache ActiveMQ instance, you must use a discovery.relabel component to discover your Apache ActiveMQ Prometheus endpoint and apply appropriate labels, followed by a prometheus.scrape component to scrape it.

Configure the following properties within each discovery.relabel component:

__address__: The address to your Apache ActiveMQ Prometheus metrics endpoint.
instance label: constants.hostname sets the instance label to your Grafana Alloy server hostname. If that is not suitable, change it to a value uniquely identifies this Apache ActiveMQ instance. Make sure this label value is the same for all telemetry data collected for this instance.
activemq_cluster: The activemq_cluster label to group your ActiveMQ instances within a cluster. Set the same value for all nodes within your cluster.

If you have multiple Apache ActiveMQ servers to scrape, configure one discovery.relabel for each and scrape them by including each under targets within the prometheus.scrape component.

Advanced logs snippets

darwin

local.file_match "logs_integrations_integrations_apache_activemq" {
	path_targets = [{
		__address__      = "localhost",
		__path__         = "<activemq_install_dir>/data/activemq.log",
		activemq_cluster = "<activemq-cluster-name>",
		instance         = "<instance-name>:<instance-port>",
		job              = "integrations/apache-activemq",
	}]
}

loki.process "logs_integrations_integrations_apache_activemq" {
	forward_to = [loki.write.grafana_cloud_loki.receiver]

	stage.multiline {
		firstline     = "(TRACE|DEBUG|INFO|WARN|ERROR|FATAL)"
		max_lines     = 0
		max_wait_time = "3s"
	}

	stage.regex {
		expression = "(?P<level>TRACE|DEBUG|INFO|WARN|ERROR|FATAL)\\s*[\\|:]\\s*(?P<message>.+)"
	}

	stage.labels {
		values = {
			level = null,
		}
	}
}

loki.source.file "logs_integrations_integrations_apache_activemq" {
	targets    = local.file_match.logs_integrations_integrations_apache_activemq.targets
	forward_to = [loki.process.logs_integrations_integrations_apache_activemq.receiver]
}

To monitor your Apache ActiveMQ instance logs, you will use a combination of the following components:

local.file_match defines where to find the log file to be scraped. Change the following properties according to your environment:
- __address__: The Apache ActiveMQ instance address
- __path__: The path to the log file, which is typically in the data file within the Apache ActiveMQ installation directory. An example log location looks like /apache-activemq-5.18.2/data/activemq.log on Unix based systems and like C:\apache-activemq-x.x.x\data\activemq.log on Windows.
- instance label: constants.hostname sets the instance label to your Grafana Alloy server hostname. If that is not suitable, change it to a value uniquely identifies this Apache ActiveMQ instance. Make sure this label value is the same for all telemetry data collected for this instance.
- activemq_cluster: The activemq_cluster label to group your ActiveMQ instances within a cluster. Set the same value for all nodes within your cluster.
loki.process defines how to process logs before sending it to Loki.
loki.source.file sends logs to Loki.

linux

local.file_match "logs_integrations_integrations_apache_activemq" {
	path_targets = [{
		__address__      = "localhost",
		__path__         = "<activemq_install_dir>/data/activemq.log",
		activemq_cluster = "<activemq-cluster-name>",
		instance         = "<instance-name>:<instance-port>",
		job              = "integrations/apache-activemq",
	}]
}

loki.process "logs_integrations_integrations_apache_activemq" {
	forward_to = [loki.write.grafana_cloud_loki.receiver]

	stage.multiline {
		firstline     = "(TRACE|DEBUG|INFO|WARN|ERROR|FATAL)"
		max_lines     = 0
		max_wait_time = "3s"
	}

	stage.regex {
		expression = "(?P<level>TRACE|DEBUG|INFO|WARN|ERROR|FATAL)\\s*[\\|:]\\s*(?P<message>.+)"
	}

	stage.labels {
		values = {
			level = null,
		}
	}
}

loki.source.file "logs_integrations_integrations_apache_activemq" {
	targets    = local.file_match.logs_integrations_integrations_apache_activemq.targets
	forward_to = [loki.process.logs_integrations_integrations_apache_activemq.receiver]
}

To monitor your Apache ActiveMQ instance logs, you will use a combination of the following components:

local.file_match defines where to find the log file to be scraped. Change the following properties according to your environment:
- __address__: The Apache ActiveMQ instance address
- __path__: The path to the log file, which is typically in the data file within the Apache ActiveMQ installation directory. An example log location looks like /apache-activemq-5.18.2/data/activemq.log on Unix based systems and like C:\apache-activemq-x.x.x\data\activemq.log on Windows.
- instance label: constants.hostname sets the instance label to your Grafana Alloy server hostname. If that is not suitable, change it to a value uniquely identifies this Apache ActiveMQ instance. Make sure this label value is the same for all telemetry data collected for this instance.
- activemq_cluster: The activemq_cluster label to group your ActiveMQ instances within a cluster. Set the same value for all nodes within your cluster.
loki.process defines how to process logs before sending it to Loki.
loki.source.file sends logs to Loki.

windows

local.file_match "logs_integrations_integrations_apache_activemq" {
	path_targets = [{
		__address__      = "localhost",
		__path__         = "<activemq_install_dir>/data/activemq.log",
		activemq_cluster = "<activemq-cluster-name>",
		instance         = "<instance-name>:<instance-port>",
		job              = "integrations/apache-activemq",
	}]
}

loki.process "logs_integrations_integrations_apache_activemq" {
	forward_to = [loki.write.grafana_cloud_loki.receiver]

	stage.multiline {
		firstline     = "(TRACE|DEBUG|INFO|WARN|ERROR|FATAL)"
		max_lines     = 0
		max_wait_time = "3s"
	}

	stage.regex {
		expression = "(?P<level>TRACE|DEBUG|INFO|WARN|ERROR|FATAL)\\s*[\\|:]\\s*(?P<message>.+)"
	}

	stage.labels {
		values = {
			level = null,
		}
	}
}

loki.source.file "logs_integrations_integrations_apache_activemq" {
	targets    = local.file_match.logs_integrations_integrations_apache_activemq.targets
	forward_to = [loki.process.logs_integrations_integrations_apache_activemq.receiver]
}

To monitor your Apache ActiveMQ instance logs, you will use a combination of the following components:

local.file_match defines where to find the log file to be scraped. Change the following properties according to your environment:
- __address__: The Apache ActiveMQ instance address
- __path__: The path to the log file, which is typically in the data file within the Apache ActiveMQ installation directory. An example log location looks like /apache-activemq-5.18.2/data/activemq.log on Unix based systems and like C:\apache-activemq-x.x.x\data\activemq.log on Windows.
- instance label: constants.hostname sets the instance label to your Grafana Alloy server hostname. If that is not suitable, change it to a value uniquely identifies this Apache ActiveMQ instance. Make sure this label value is the same for all telemetry data collected for this instance.
- activemq_cluster: The activemq_cluster label to group your ActiveMQ instances within a cluster. Set the same value for all nodes within your cluster.
loki.process defines how to process logs before sending it to Loki.
loki.source.file sends logs to Loki.

Grafana Agent configuration

Before you begin

In order for the integration to properly work, you must set up the JMX Exporter for Prometheus on each instance in your cluster.

Setup JMX Exporter

ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START="$ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=11099"
ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START="$ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false"
ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START="$ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false"
ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START="$ACTIVEMQ_SUNJMX_START -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote"

Change the jmxremote.port on the first command above for each instance you run, then save the configuration files. For more details, refer to the official documentation.

Connect JMX to the Prometheus Exporter

lowercaseOutputLabelNames: true
lowercaseOutputName: true
rules:
  - pattern: org.apache.activemq<type=Broker, brokerName=(\S*), destinationType=Queue, destinationName=(\S*)><>(\w+)
    name: activemq_queue_$3
    attrNameSnakeCase: true
    labels:
      destination: $2

  - pattern: org.apache.activemq<type=Broker, brokerName=(\S*), destinationType=Topic, destinationName=(\S*)><>(\w+)
    name: activemq_topic_$3
    attrNameSnakeCase: true
    labels:
      destination: $2

  - pattern: org.apache.activemq<type=Broker, brokerName=(\S*)><>CurrentConnectionsCount
    name: activemq_connections
    type: GAUGE

  - pattern: org.apache.activemq<type=Broker, brokerName=(\S*)><>Total(.*)Count
    name: activemq_$2_total
    type: COUNTER

  - pattern: org.apache.activemq<type=Broker, brokerName=(\S*)><>(.*)PercentUsage
    name: activemq_$2_usage_ratio
    type: GAUGE
    valueFactor: 0.01

  - pattern: 'java.lang<name=([^>]+), type=GarbageCollector><LastGcInfo>duration: (\d+)'
    name: jvm_gc_duration_seconds
    value: $2
    labels:
      name: $1
    type: GAUGE
    # Convert ms to s
    valueFactor: 0.001

  - pattern: 'java.lang<name=([^>]+), type=GarbageCollector><>CollectionCount: (\d+)'
    name: jvm_gc_collection_count
    value: $2
    labels:
      name: $1
    type: GAUGE

Run the Prometheus Exporter

The following command runs the JMX to Prometheus Exporter as a Java agent:

java -javaagent:./jmx_prometheus_javaagent-0.19.0.jar=<JMX_EXPORTER_PORT>:/path/to/config/<CONFIG>.yaml -jar yourJar.jar

To validate that the JMX Exporter is setup correctly, the Prometheus metrics should be available locally via curl:

curl http://localhost:<JMX_EXPORTER_PORT>/metrics

Install Apache ActiveMQ integration for Grafana Cloud

In your Grafana Cloud stack, click Connections in the left-hand menu.
Find Apache ActiveMQ and click its tile to open the integration.
Review the prerequisites in the Configuration Details tab and set up Grafana Agent to send Apache ActiveMQ metrics and logs to your Grafana Cloud instance.
Click Install to add this integration’s pre-built dashboards and alerts to your Grafana Cloud instance, and you can start monitoring your Apache ActiveMQ setup.

Post-install configuration for the Apache ActiveMQ integration

After enabling the metrics generation, instruct the Grafana Agent to scrape the ActiveMQ’s metrics that have been created by the JMX exporter. The Grafana Agent config is stored in /etc/grafana-agent.yaml.

Enable the integration by adding the suggested snippets to your agent configuration file.

If you want to show logs and metrics signals correlated in your dashboards as a single pane of glass, ensure the following:

job and instance label values must match for the Apache ActiveMQ integration and logs scrape config in your agent configuration file.
job must be set to integrations/active-activemq (already configured in the snippets).
instance must be set to a value that uniquely identifies your ActiveMQ instance.
activemq_cluster must be the value that identifies the ActiveMQ cluster this instance belongs to.
__path__ is the log location, which is typically in the data file within the Apache ActiveMQ installation directory. An example log location looks like /apache-activemq-5.18.2/data/activemq.log on Unix based systems and like C:\apache-activemq-x.x.x\data\activemq.log on Windows.

Make sure to change targets in the snippet according to your host name and JMX_EXPORTER_PORT.

Configuration snippets for Grafana Agent

Below metrics.configs.scrape_configs, insert the following lines and change the URLs according to your environment:

    - job_name: integrations/apache-activemq
      metrics_path: /metrics
      static_configs:
        - targets: ["<instance-name>:<instance-port>"]
          labels:
            activemq_cluster: '<activemq-cluster-name>'

Below logs.configs.scrape_configs, insert the following lines according to your environment.

    - job_name: integrations/apache-activemq
      static_configs:
        - targets: [localhost]
          labels:
            job: integrations/apache-activemq
            activemq_cluster: '<activemq-cluster-name>'
            instance: '<instance-name>:<instance-port>'
            __path__: <activemq_install_dir>/data/activemq.log
      pipeline_stages:
      - multiline:
          firstline: '(TRACE|DEBUG|INFO|WARN|ERROR|FATAL)'
      - regex:
          expression: '(?P<level>TRACE|DEBUG|INFO|WARN|ERROR|FATAL)\s*[\|:]\s*(?P<message>.+)'
      - labels:
          level:

Full example configuration for Grafana Agent

Refer to the following Grafana Agent configuration for a complete example that contains all the snippets used for the Apache ActiveMQ integration. This example also includes metrics that are sent to monitor your Grafana Agent instance.

integrations:
  prometheus_remote_write:
  - basic_auth:
      password: <your_prom_pass>
      username: <your_prom_user>
    url: <your_prom_url>
  agent:
    enabled: true
    relabel_configs:
    - action: replace
      source_labels:
      - agent_hostname
      target_label: instance
    - action: replace
      target_label: job
      replacement: "integrations/agent-check"
    metric_relabel_configs:
    - action: keep
      regex: (prometheus_target_sync_length_seconds_sum|prometheus_target_scrapes_.*|prometheus_target_interval.*|prometheus_sd_discovered_targets|agent_build.*|agent_wal_samples_appended_total|process_start_time_seconds)
      source_labels:
      - __name__
  # Add here any snippet that belongs to the `integrations` section.
  # For a correct indentation, paste snippets copied from Grafana Cloud at the beginning of the line.
logs:
  configs:
  - clients:
    - basic_auth:
        password: <your_loki_pass>
        username: <your_loki_user>
      url: <your_loki_url>
    name: integrations
    positions:
      filename: /tmp/positions.yaml
    scrape_configs:
      # Add here any snippet that belongs to the `logs.configs.scrape_configs` section.
      # For a correct indentation, paste snippets copied from Grafana Cloud at the beginning of the line.
    - job_name: integrations/apache-activemq
      static_configs:
        - targets: [localhost]
          labels:
            job: integrations/apache-activemq
            activemq_cluster: '<activemq-cluster-name>'
            instance: '<instance-name>:<instance-port>'
            __path__: <activemq_install_dir>/data/activemq.log
      pipeline_stages:
      - multiline:
          firstline: '(TRACE|DEBUG|INFO|WARN|ERROR|FATAL)'
      - regex:
          expression: '(?P<level>TRACE|DEBUG|INFO|WARN|ERROR|FATAL)\s*[\|:]\s*(?P<message>.+)'
      - labels:
          level:
metrics:
  configs:
  - name: integrations
    remote_write:
    - basic_auth:
        password: <your_prom_pass>
        username: <your_prom_user>
      url: <your_prom_url>
    scrape_configs:
      # Add here any snippet that belongs to the `metrics.configs.scrape_configs` section.
      # For a correct indentation, paste snippets copied from Grafana Cloud at the beginning of the line.
    - job_name: integrations/apache-activemq
      metrics_path: /metrics
      static_configs:
        - targets: ["<instance-name>:<instance-port>"]
          labels:
            activemq_cluster: '<activemq-cluster-name>'
  global:
    scrape_interval: 60s
  wal_directory: /tmp/grafana-agent-wal

Dashboards

The Apache ActiveMQ integration installs the following dashboards in your Grafana Cloud instance to help monitor your system.

Apache ActiveMQ cluster overview
Apache ActiveMQ instance overview
Apache ActiveMQ logs
Apache ActiveMQ queue overview
Apache ActiveMQ topic overview

Apache ActiveMQ cluster overview

Apache ActiveMQ instance overview

Apache ActiveMQ instance overview (jvm)

Alerts

The Apache ActiveMQ integration includes the following useful alerts:

Alert	Description
ApacheActiveMQHighTopicMemoryUsage	Warning: Topic destination memory usage is high, which may result in a reduction of the rate at which producers send messages.
ApacheActiveMQHighQueueMemoryUsage	Warning: Queue destination memory usage is high, which may result in a reduction of the rate at which producers send messages.
ApacheActiveMQHighStoreMemoryUsage	Warning: Store memory usage is high, which may result in producers unable to send messages.
ApacheActiveMQHighTemporaryMemoryUsage	Warning: Temporary memory usage is high, which may result in saturation of messaging throughput.

Metrics

The most important metrics provided by the Apache ActiveMQ integration, which are used on the pre-built dashboards and Prometheus alerts, are as follows:

activemq_memory_usage_ratio
activemq_message_total
activemq_queue_average_enqueue_time
activemq_queue_average_message_size
activemq_queue_consumer_count
activemq_queue_dequeue_count
activemq_queue_enqueue_count
activemq_queue_expired_count
activemq_queue_memory_percent_usage
activemq_queue_producer_count
activemq_queue_queue_size
activemq_store_usage_ratio
activemq_temp_usage_ratio
activemq_topic_average_enqueue_time
activemq_topic_average_message_size
activemq_topic_consumer_count
activemq_topic_dequeue_count
activemq_topic_enqueue_count
activemq_topic_expired_count
activemq_topic_memory_percent_usage
activemq_topic_producer_count
activemq_topic_queue_size
jvm_gc_collection_count
jvm_gc_duration_seconds
up

Changelog

# 1.0.0 - October 2023

- Initial release

Cost

By connecting your Apache ActiveMQ instance to Grafana Cloud, you might incur charges. To view information on the number of active series that your Grafana Cloud account uses for metrics included in each Cloud tier, see Active series and dpm usage and Cloud tier pricing.

Feedback

Apache ActiveMQ integration for Grafana Cloud

Before you begin

Setup JMX Exporter

Connect JMX to the Prometheus Exporter

Run the Prometheus Exporter

Install Apache ActiveMQ integration for Grafana Cloud

Configuration snippets for Grafana Alloy

Advanced mode

Advanced metrics snippets

Advanced logs snippets

darwin

linux

windows

Before you begin

Setup JMX Exporter

Connect JMX to the Prometheus Exporter

Run the Prometheus Exporter

Install Apache ActiveMQ integration for Grafana Cloud

Post-install configuration for the Apache ActiveMQ integration

Configuration snippets for Grafana Agent

Full example configuration for Grafana Agent

Dashboards

Alerts

Metrics

Changelog

Cost

Was this page helpful?

Related documentation

Feedback

Apache ActiveMQ integration for Grafana Cloud

Before you begin

Setup JMX Exporter

Connect JMX to the Prometheus Exporter

Run the Prometheus Exporter

Install Apache ActiveMQ integration for Grafana Cloud

Configuration snippets for Grafana Alloy

Advanced mode

Advanced metrics snippets

Advanced logs snippets

darwin

linux

windows

Before you begin

Setup JMX Exporter

Connect JMX to the Prometheus Exporter

Run the Prometheus Exporter

Install Apache ActiveMQ integration for Grafana Cloud

Post-install configuration for the Apache ActiveMQ integration

Configuration snippets for Grafana Agent

Full example configuration for Grafana Agent

Dashboards

Alerts

Metrics

Changelog

Cost

Was this page helpful?

Related documentation

Related resources from Grafana Labs