Node.js StatsD client for the AppFirst collector

This Node.js StatsD client includes several AppFirst extensions:

• Metrics are aggregated over 20-second periods before being transmitted to an endpoint in order to minimize overhead and size of data in uploads.
• Data is sent to the local collector via AFTransport (POSIX message queue) instead of over UDP.

If you are looking for an Etsy-standard UDP client, we recommend this client.

Installation

Using npm:

$ npm install afstatsd

OR manually download and place the afstatsd directory in your node_modules path.

Setup

Pull in the AppFirst StatsD Client (probably in your main app):

var Statsd = require('afstatsd');

Usage

The simplest Statsd method is increment. It simply keeps a running tally of how many times each counter name gets incremented during each time period. To keep track of a value like number of concurrent connections and update it periodically, report that using gauge, since a gauge won't be reset after each reporting interval. To report how long something took to execute, use the timing method.

The StatsD variable name can be any string. It is most common to use dot-notation namespaces like shopping.checkout.payment_time or website.pageviews.

Counters:

// increment the counter 'af.example.counter'
Statsd.increment('af.example.counter');
// Decrement the counter
Statsd.decrement('af.example.counter');
// Add an arbitrary value
Statsd.updateStats('af.example.counter', 17);

Gauges:

// set the value of the gauge to 100
Statsd.gauge('af.example.gauge', 100);
// Update the value
Statsd.gauge('af.example.gauge', 50);

Timers: (Time should be reported in milliseconds)

// report that an action took 237 milliseconds
Statsd.timing('ecommerce.checkout', 237);