--- title: NGINX OpenTelemetry metrics and attributes reference source: https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/opentelemetry/integrations/nginx/nginx-otel-metrics-reference --- This reference covers all metrics and attributes collected by the OpenTelemetry NGINX receiver, applicable to both on-host and Kubernetes deployments. ## Core NGINX metrics [#core-metrics] The OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib's [nginxreceiver](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/receiver/nginxreceiver) collects the following metrics from the NGINX stub status module: | Metric | Description | Type | | ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---- | | `nginx.connections_accepted` | The total number of accepted client connections. Use this to track connection acceptance rates over time. | Sum | | `nginx.connections_handled` | The total number of handled connections. Generally, the parameter value is the same as nginx.connections_accepted unless some resource limits have been reached (for example, the worker_connections limit). A gap between accepted and handled suggests resource constraints. | Sum | | `nginx.connections_current` | The current number of nginx connections by state. States include: active (total active connections), reading (reading request headers), writing (writing responses), waiting (keep-alive connections waiting for next request). | Sum | | `nginx.requests` | Total number of requests made to the server since it started. Use rate calculations to derive requests per second for performance monitoring. | Sum | **Capacity planning tips:** - High `waiting` connections may indicate keep-alive tuning opportunities - Gap between `accepted` and `handled` connections suggests resource constraints - Request-to-connection ratios help optimize worker configurations ## Resource attributes [#resource-attributes] Resource attributes provide context about your NGINX deployment and vary depending on whether you're using on-host or Kubernetes deployment. ### Common attributes [#common-attributes] | Attribute | Description | Example Values | | ----------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | | `state` | The state of a connection (applicable to `nginx.connections_current` metric) | `active`, `reading`, `writing`, `waiting` | | `nginx.server.endpoint` | The NGINX stub status endpoint URL | `http://localhost:8080/stub_status` | ### On-host deployment attributes [#on-host-attributes] | Attribute | Description | Example Values | | ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | | `nginx.deployment.name` | A unique name to identify this NGINX deployment | `production-web-01`, `staging-api` | | `nginx.display.name` | A display-friendly name combining "server" prefix with deployment name | `server:production-web-01` | | `host.name` | The hostname of the system where NGINX is running | `web-server-01.example.com` | | `host.id` | The unique identifier of the host system | `i-1234567890abcdef0` | | `logtype` | The type of log being collected (applicable to logs only). Used by New Relic's built-in [parsing rules](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/logs/ui-data/built-log-parsing-rules/#nginx). This attribute is only available when log forwarding is enabled. | `nginx` (for access logs), `nginx-error` (for error logs) | ### Kubernetes deployment attributes [#kubernetes-attributes] | Attribute | Description | Example Values | | ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `k8s.cluster.name` | The name of the Kubernetes cluster | `nginx-cluster`, `production-k8s` | | `k8s.namespace.name` | The Kubernetes namespace where the NGINX pod is running | `default`, `web-services`, `production` | | `k8s.pod.name` | The name of the Kubernetes pod running NGINX | `nginx-deployment-7d4b8c6f9-x5z8w` | | `nginx.deployment.name` | Set to the pod name for Kubernetes deployments | `nginx-deployment-7d4b8c6f9-x5z8w` | | `nginx.display.name` | A comprehensive display name including cluster, namespace, and pod information | `server:k8s:nginx-cluster:default:pod:nginx-deployment-7d4b8c6f9-x5z8w:nginx:8080` | ## Metric collection details [#collection-details] ### Collection frequency - **Default interval**: 30 seconds - **Configurable**: Can be adjusted in the OpenTelemetry Collector configuration ### Data source All metrics are collected from the NGINX [stub_status module](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_stub_status_module.html), which must be enabled and configured to expose an HTTP endpoint. ### Metric types - **Sum metrics**: Cumulative values that represent totals over time - **Rate calculations**: Use New Relic's `rate()` function to convert cumulative metrics to per-second rates for monitoring ## Related documentation [#related-docs] **Setup guides:** - [Monitor NGINX on self-hosted environments](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/opentelemetry/integrations/nginx/nginx-otel-host/) - Complete setup for on-host deployments - [Monitor NGINX on Kubernetes](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/opentelemetry/integrations/nginx/nginx-otel-kubernetes/) - Complete setup for Kubernetes deployments **Data usage:** - [Find and query your NGINX data](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/opentelemetry/integrations/nginx/find-and-query-your-data/) - Dashboards, NRQL queries, and alerts **Technical reference:** - [NGINX receiver documentation](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/blob/main/receiver/nginxreceiver/documentation.md) - OpenTelemetry technical details