Skip to content
2023 API Summit Hackathon: Experiment with AI for APIs (August 28 - September 27) Learn More →
Kong Logo | Kong Docs Logo
search
  • We're Hiring!
  • Docs
    • Kong Gateway
      Lightweight, fast, and flexible cloud-native API gateway
      Kong Konnect
      Single platform for SaaS end-to-end connectivity
      Kong Mesh
      Enterprise service mesh based on Kuma and Envoy
      decK
      Helps manage Kong’s configuration in a declarative fashion
      Kong Ingress Controller
      Works inside a Kubernetes cluster and configures Kong to proxy traffic
      Insomnia
      Collaborative API development platform
      Kuma
      Open-source distributed control plane with a bundled Envoy Proxy integration
      Docs Contribution Guidelines
      Want to help out, or found an issue in the docs and want to let us know?
  • API Specs
  • Plugin Hub
    • Explore the Plugin Hub
      View all plugins View all plugins View all plugins arrow image
    • Functionality View all View all arrow image
      View all plugins
      Authentication's icon
      Authentication
      Protect your services with an authentication layer
      Security's icon
      Security
      Protect your services with additional security layer
      Traffic Control's icon
      Traffic Control
      Manage, throttle and restrict inbound and outbound API traffic
      Serverless's icon
      Serverless
      Invoke serverless functions in combination with other plugins
      Analytics & Monitoring's icon
      Analytics & Monitoring
      Visualize, inspect and monitor APIs and microservices traffic
      Transformations's icon
      Transformations
      Transform request and responses on the fly on Kong
      Logging's icon
      Logging
      Log request and response data using the best transport for your infrastructure
  • Support
  • Community
  • Kong Academy
Get a Demo Start Free Trial
Kong Gateway
2.6.x
  • Home icon
  • Kong Gateway
  • Vitals Overview
github-edit-pageEdit this page
report-issueReport an issue
  • Kong Gateway
  • Kong Konnect
  • Kong Mesh
  • Plugin Hub
  • decK
  • Kong Ingress Controller
  • Insomnia
  • Kuma

  • Docs contribution guidelines
  • 3.4.x (latest)
  • 3.3.x
  • 3.2.x
  • 3.1.x
  • 3.0.x
  • 2.8.x
  • 2.7.x
  • 2.6.x
  • Archive (pre-2.6)
enterprise-switcher-icon Switch to OSS
On this pageOn this page
  • Prerequisites
  • Guidelines for viewing Vitals
  • Vitals API
  • Viewing Vitals in Kong Manager
  • Overview Dashboard
  • Workspace charts
  • Vitals tab
  • Status Codes
  • Enable or disable Vitals
You are browsing documentation for an outdated version. See the latest documentation here.

Vitals Overview

Use Kong Vitals (Vitals) to monitor Kong Enterprise health and performance, and to understand the microservice API transactions traversing Kong. Vitals uses visual API analytics to see exactly how your APIs and Gateway are performing. Quickly access key statistics, monitor vital signs, and pinpoint anomalies in real time.

  • Use Kong Admin API to access Vitals data via endpoints. Additional visualizations, including dashboarding of Vitals data alongside data from other systems, can be achieved using the Vitals API to integrate with common monitoring systems.

  • Use Kong Manager to view visualizations of Vitals data, including the Workspaces Overview Dashboard, Workspace Charts, Vitals tab, and Status Codes, and to generate CSV Reports.

Vitals Overview

Prerequisites

Vitals is enabled by default in Kong Enterprise and available upon the first login of a Super Admin.

You will need one of the following databases to use Vitals:

  • InfluxDB
  • PostgresSQL 9.5+
  • Cassandra 2.1+

Guidelines for viewing Vitals

When using Vitals, note:

  • Vitals is enabled by default and accessible the first time a Super Admin logs in.
    • To enable or disable Vitals, see Enable or Disable Vitals.
  • Any authorized user can view Vitals for the entire Kong cluster or for a particular Workspace.
    • If a user does not have access to a Workspace, its Vitals are hidden from view.
    • If a user does not have access to Vitals data, charts will not display.

Vitals API

Vitals data is available via endpoints on Kong’s Admin API. Access to these endpoints may be controlled via Admin API RBAC. The Vitals API is described in the OAS (Open API Spec, formerly Swagger) file. See a sample here (downloadable file): vitalsSpec.yaml.

Viewing Vitals in Kong Manager

View Vitals information in Kong Manager using any of the following:

  • Overview Dashboard, available from the Workspaces page for an overview of your Kong cluster, or an individual Workspace for an overview of the selected Workspace.
  • Workspace charts, which display on the Workspaces page beneath the Overview Dashboard. These charts give a quick overview of the status of an individual Workspace.
  • Vitals tab, which provides detailed information about your Kong cluster, including total requests, latency, and cache information.
  • Status Codes to view cluster-wide status code classes.

Overview Dashboard

When you log in to Kong Manager, the Workspaces page displays by default. The top of the page displays the Vitals Overview Dashboard summarizing your Kong cluster, including the health and performance of your APIs and Gateway, total requests, average error rate, total consumers, and total services. This Vitals Overview Dashboard makes it easy for an Admin to quickly identify any issues that need attention.

Workspace charts

On the Workspaces page, beneath the Overview Dashboard, the Workspaces section displays each Workspace with a chart showing Vitals for the most recently added services, consumers, and plugins for that Workspace. Hover over a coordinate to view the exact number of successes and errors at a given timestamp, or drilldown into the Workspace chart for more details.

Vitals tab

The Vitals tab, or Vitals view, displays metrics about the health and performance of Kong nodes and Kong-proxied APIs. The Vitals View displays total requests, latency, and cache information. You also can generate reports from the Vitals view.

Options to populate the Vitals view, or areas in the chart, include:

Option Description
Timeframe Selector A timeframe selector controls the timeframe of data visualized, which indirectly controls the granularity of the data. For example, the “Last 5 Minutes” selection displays 1-second resolution data, while longer time frames display 1-minute resolution data.
View Select to populate the Vitals chart by Hostname, Hostname + ID, or ID.
Total Requests The Total Requests chart displays a count of all proxy requests received. This includes requests that were rejected due to rate-limiting, failed authentication, and so on.
Cluster and Node Data Metrics are displayed on Vitals charts at both node and cluster level. Controls are available to show cluster-wide metrics and/or node-specific metrics. Clicking on individual nodes will toggle the display of data from those nodes. Nodes are identified by a unique Kong node identifier, by hostname, or by a combination of the two.

Status Codes

The Status Codes view displays visualizations of cluster-wide status code classes (1xx, 2xx, 3xx, 4xx, 5xx). The Status Codes view contains the counts of status code classes graphed over time, as well as the ratio of code classes to total requests. See Status Codes.

Note: The Status Codes view does not include non-standard code classes (6xx, 7xx, etc.). Individual status code data can be viewed in the Consumer, Route, and Service details pages under the Activity tab. Both standard and non-standard status codes are visible in these views.

Enable or disable Vitals

Kong Enterprise ships with Vitals enabled by default. To enable or disable Vitals, edit the configuration file or environment variables.

Using kong.conf
Using environment variables
  1. Edit the configuration file to enable or disable Vitals:
     # via your Kong configuration file; e.g., kong.conf
     $ vitals = on  # vitals is enabled
     $ vitals = off # vitals is disabled
    
  2. Restart Kong.
  1. Use environment variables to enable or disable Vitals:
     # or via environment variables
     $ export KONG_VITALS=on
     $ export KONG_VITALS=off
    
  2. Restart Kong.
Thank you for your feedback.
Was this page useful?
Too much on your plate? close cta icon
More features, less infrastructure with Kong Konnect. 1M requests per month for free.
Try it for Free
  • Kong
    THE CLOUD CONNECTIVITY COMPANY

    Kong powers reliable digital connections across APIs, hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

    • Company
    • Customers
    • Events
    • Investors
    • Careers Hiring!
    • Partners
    • Press
    • Contact
  • Products
    • Kong Konnect
    • Kong Gateway
    • Kong Mesh
    • Get Started
    • Pricing
  • Resources
    • eBooks
    • Webinars
    • Briefs
    • Blog
    • API Gateway
    • Microservices
  • Open Source
    • Install Kong Gateway
    • Kong Community
    • Kubernetes Ingress
    • Kuma
    • Insomnia
  • Solutions
    • Decentralize
    • Secure & Govern
    • Create a Dev Platform
    • API Gateway
    • Kubernetes
    • Service Mesh
Star
  • Terms•Privacy
© Kong Inc. 2023