[Filebeat] udp input metrics - indicate when system_packet_drops is unavailable
- Dominant language
- Go
- Stars
- 12.7k
- Forks
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- Avg merge
- 2d 1h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 370
Description
**Describe the enhancement:**
For the [UDP input metrics](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/master/filebeat-input-udp.html#_metrics_15), make it clear when the data is invalid. The availability of these two metrics depends on the host:
- `system_packet_drops`
- `receive_queue_length`
My suggestion is to report the values as `-1` at initialization or after any error.
**Describe a specific use case for the enhancement or feature:**
A `system_packet_drops` value of `0` is a indicator of health, but if zero is being reported because of a collection failure (or because we are on Windows), then we have a false sense of the current state. When troubleshooting I need to know if the metric is valid.
References
- https://github.com/elastic/beats/blob/c70d2d8ce0c990de16528fcfae812a44a23ba435/filebeat/input/netmetrics/udp.go#L69C1-L70C67
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start in filebeat/input/netmetrics/udp.go at the referenced lines and trace how system_packet_drops and receive_queue_length are initialized and updated. Confirm the existing UDP metrics behavior, then ensure unavailable or failed collection is distinguishable from a valid zero by reporting -1 as proposed.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- go
- Domain
- observability-sre
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 64/100