collectd_hostapd

A python plugin for collectd to monitor Hostapd activity.

This plugin is using the Netlink API with the nl80211 driver to collect basic metrics from the Kernel about a wireless interface acting as an Access Point with Hostapd.

Currently, the following metrics are collected :

• Number of clients connected
• RX packets
• TX packets
• RX bytes
• TX bytes
• TX failed
• Signal attenuation

It is possible to collect metrics from only a few clients by using the client key in the configuration with the MAC address of clients of interest.

Note : even though this plugin was written with Hostapd in mind, it should be possible to use it on any Linux station connected to an access point.

Installation

Requirements

This plugin heavily depends on the libnl module to query a netlink socket. You can install it with :

pip install libnl

The Collectd python plugin should also be enabled.

Plugin setup

Copy the python script to the plugin directory, for example /usr/lib/collectd/.

In the configuration, add the block contained in file collectd_hostapd.conf :

<Plugin python>
	LogTraces false
	Interactive false
	ModulePath "/usr/lib/collectd/"
	Import "collectd_hostapd"
	<Module collectd_hostapd>
		interface wlan0
		client "xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx"
		client "yy:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy"
    </Module>
</Plugin>

This configuration would monitor the wlan0 wireless interface, and collect detailed metrics for clients identified by the MAC addresses xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xxand yy:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy.

Metrics name

The following metric names are used :

• stations-count
• rx-bytes-[MAC address]
• tx-bytes-[MAC address]
• rx-packets-[MAC address]
• tx-packets-[MAC address]
• tx-failure-[MAC address]
• signal-[MAC address]