Slingshot

Slingshot is an Elastic data generator and loader. It can generate mock metrics data to be loaded into Elasticsearch for testing pursposes.

Loading data

To generate and load data into Elasticsearch, run:

node slingshot load --config path/to/config.json

The --config argument is a required path to a configuration file specifying the parameters of the data you'd like to generate. Included in this repo are some example config files in the /configs folder.

See the Configuration section for information on how to write a config file.

Optional arguments

Operational

• --purge: Deletes any data previously ingested into Elasticsearch from Slingshot before indexing new data.

Config overrides

You can override values specified in the config file using these arguments:

• --start and --end: A timestamp or a math string relative to now (e.g. now-1h) to start or end generating data.
• --interval: A number in milliseconds specifying how often data should be indexed over the period between start and end.
• --elasticsearch: The URL of your Elasticsearch cluster
• --auth: Auth credentials for your Elasticsearch cluster

Configuration

Slingshot takes a JSON file to specify the data it should generate. Fields include:

elasticsearch

"elasticsearch": {
  "node": "https://localhost:9200",
  "auth": {
    "username": "elastic",
    "password": "changeme"
  },
  "ssl": {
    "rejectUnauthorized": false
  }
}

Specifies the node URL, the auth credentials, and ssl options.

timerange

"timerange": {
  "start": "now-1d/d",
  "end": "now+1d/d",
  "interval": 10000
}

start and end set the boundaries of when to generate data. They can take the form of exact timestamps, or math strings relative to now.

interval specifies, in milliseconds, how often documents should be indexed between this period.

This example JSON will generate documents every 10 seconds, starting 1 day ago and extending to 1 day in the future.

types

This field configures the hosts and/or pods you would like to generate data for, and what values they should report.

"types": {
  "hosts": {
    // Optional
    ...
  },
  "pods": {
    // Optional
    ...
  }
}

Subfields of the hosts or pods records include:

• total (required): The number of hosts or pods to generate
• addCloudData (required): If true, generates a cloudProvider, cloudInstanceId, and cloudRegion for each node.
• normal (required): An array of metrics to generate data for, and what values they should fluctuate between. Takes the form of a record with:
  • name: The Inventory metric name. One of: memory, cpu, load, rx, tx
  • mean: What the mean value of this metric should be
  • stddev: How many standard deviations the value should fluctuate away from the mean
• spike: An array of metrics that should have a spike at some point in the data. Slingshot will randomly insert a spike into the data stream, as specified in these fields. Useful for generating anomalies. Includes the same name, mean, and stddev fields, in addition to:
  • duration: A time string (e.g. 5m) specifying how long the spike should last
• offsetBy: Each node will be named host-n or pod-n, starting with -0. Add an offsetBy to start at a different number. For example, if offsetBy is 1, host names will start at host-1 and increment from there.
• parent (on pods only): Generates a parent for the generated pods
  • total: The number of parent nodes
  • type: What type of nodes the parent nodes should be, e.g. hosts
• cloudProviders: An array of strings to use as cloud providers if addCloudData is true. If not specified, default cloud provider names will be used.
• cloudRegions: Similar to cloudProviders, an array of strings to use as cloud regions in generated cloud data.
• platforms: Similar to cloudProviders, an array of strings to use as platforms in generated cloud data.