Collector net don't show nic name as expected

[SupraOva]

Current Behavior

I was trying the new version of windows_exporter (0.30.0), and I noticed that the 'net' collector was not returning the correct information.

0.28.1

TYPE windows_net_bytes_sent_total counter

windows_net_bytes_sent_total{nic="vmxnet3_Ethernet_Adapter"} 2.532306e+06
windows_net_bytes_sent_total{nic="vmxnet3_Ethernet_Adapter__2"} 3.2228776e+09

0.30.0

TYPE windows_net_bytes_sent_total counter

windows_net_bytes_sent_total{nic="vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter"} 1.8390094e+07
windows_net_bytes_sent_total{nic="vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter _2"} 1.5852902351e+10

NIC names are spelled differently between 0.28.1 and 0.30.0

and also a different spelling in the metrics windows_net_nic_address_info

TYPE windows_net_nic_address_info gauge

windows_net_nic_address_info{address="x.x.x.x",family="ipv4",friendly_name="xxx",nic="vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter"} 1
windows_net_nic_address_info{address="x.x.x.x",family="ipv4",friendly_name="xxx",nic="vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter #2"} 1

Expected Behavior

is it possible to normalize all this and also it would be interesting to have the “friendly_name” in all metrics containing “nic=”

Steps To Reproduce

install version 0.30.0 and enable the "net" collector

Environment

• windows_exporter Version: 0.30.0
• Windows Server Version: Windows Server 2022

windows_exporter logs

time=2025-01-16T09:15:06.409Z level=DEBUG source=main.go:196 msg="logging has Started"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:06.409Z level=DEBUG source=main.go:337 msg="setting process priority to normal"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:06.426Z level=INFO source=update.go:107 msg="update collector is in an experimental state! The configuration and metrics may change in future. Please report any issues." collector=update
time=2025-01-16T09:15:06.435Z level=WARN source=os.go:108 msg="The os collect holds a number of deprecated metrics and will be removed mid 2025. See https://github.com/prometheus-community/windows_exporter/pull/1596 for more information." collector=os
time=2025-01-16T09:15:07.759Z level=DEBUG source=update.go:288 msg="search for updates took 1.2939364s" collector=update
time=2025-01-16T09:15:07.881Z level=DEBUG source=terminal_services.go:159 msg="host is not a connection broker skipping Connection Broker performance metrics."
time=2025-01-16T09:15:07.893Z level=INFO source=main.go:311 msg="Running as NT AUTHORITY\\SYSTEM"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:07.893Z level=INFO source=main.go:228 msg="Enabled collectors: cpu, cpu_info, logical_disk, diskdrive, net, os, service, system, tcp, udp, memory, logon, process, terminal_services, license, time, update, smb"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:07.893Z level=INFO source=main.go:246 msg="starting windows_exporter in 1.4864495s" version=0.30.0 branch=HEAD revision=86e6d12518d2fa7f8f2f632634ade3aaa34fba22 goversion=go1.23.4 builddate=20250114-22:51:51 maxprocs=4
time=2025-01-16T09:15:07.895Z level=INFO source=tls_config.go:347 msg="Listening on" address=[::]:9182
time=2025-01-16T09:15:07.895Z level=INFO source=tls_config.go:350 msg="TLS is disabled." http2=false address=[::]:9182
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.542Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector system succeeded after 2.3617ms, resulting in 8 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.546Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector update succeeded after 6.4178ms, resulting in 2 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.546Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector smb succeeded after 6.4178ms, resulting in 40 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.550Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector license succeeded after 10.4985ms, resulting in 5 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.550Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector time succeeded after 11.1404ms, resulting in 8 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.550Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector logon succeeded after 11.1404ms, resulting in 43 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.554Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector cpu succeeded after 14.5472ms, resulting in 77 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.555Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector cpu_info succeeded after 15.6599ms, resulting in 14 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.555Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector diskdrive succeeded after 16.0784ms, resulting in 108 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.558Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector terminal_services succeeded after 18.9452ms, resulting in 25 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.560Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector os succeeded after 20.9849ms, resulting in 11 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.563Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector memory succeeded after 23.9979ms, resulting in 35 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.564Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector logical_disk succeeded after 25.23ms, resulting in 85 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.566Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector udp succeeded after 26.6908ms, resulting in 8 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.566Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector tcp succeeded after 26.6908ms, resulting in 22 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.582Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector net succeeded after 42.4184ms, resulting in 29 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.603Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector service succeeded after 63.7695ms, resulting in 3205 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:24.619Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector process succeeded after 79.2974ms, resulting in 4246 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.541Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector os succeeded after 4.9393ms, resulting in 11 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.541Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector cpu succeeded after 6.2755ms, resulting in 77 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.542Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector time succeeded after 6.2963ms, resulting in 8 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.542Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector update succeeded after 6.1058ms, resulting in 2 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.542Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector smb succeeded after 6.1058ms, resulting in 40 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.547Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector terminal_services succeeded after 11.995ms, resulting in 25 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.547Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector license succeeded after 11.4629ms, resulting in 5 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.547Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector tcp succeeded after 11.3762ms, resulting in 22 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.547Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector system succeeded after 11.4629ms, resulting in 8 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.547Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector net succeeded after 11.3762ms, resulting in 29 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.547Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector logon succeeded after 11.2724ms, resulting in 43 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.549Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector logical_disk succeeded after 14.6054ms, resulting in 85 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.551Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector udp succeeded after 15.1539ms, resulting in 8 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.551Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector memory succeeded after 15.0672ms, resulting in 35 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.561Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector diskdrive succeeded after 26.07ms, resulting in 108 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.581Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector cpu_info succeeded after 46.2482ms, resulting in 14 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.588Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector service succeeded after 52.5374ms, resulting in 3205 metrics"
time=2025-01-16T09:15:54.618Z level=DEBUG source=collect.go:220 msg="collector process succeeded after 82.7243ms, resulting in 4268 metrics"

Anything else?

No response

[jkroepke]

It seems like the different version of Windows APIs do sanitize name in different ways. While on 0.28.0 space also replaced with an _, this is not longer the case.

However, I agree that the nic label in windows_net_nic_address_info should be equal with the nic label from windows_net_bytes_sent_total. I will add sanitizer that transform a # into a _ as well.

[SupraOva]

It seems like the different version of Windows APIs do sanitize name in different ways. While on 0.28.0 space also replaced with an _, this is not longer the case.

However, I agree that the nic label in windows_net_nic_address_info should be equal with the nic label from windows_net_bytes_sent_total. I will add sanitizer that transform a # into a _ as well.

Thanks! And if it's possible to add the “friendly_name” in all metrics containing “nic=” ? It would help to easily identify a NIC.

[jkroepke]

Due my understanding how prometheus, I can't recommend that. The general idea is to have a info metric (I do the same for process and services, too) and then using promql capabilities to join labels.

Something like this may work:

windows_net_bytes_sent_total * on(instance, nic) group_left(friendly_name) windows_net_nic_address_info

and should result into the expected behavior.

Ref: https://ypereirareis.github.io/blog/2020/02/21/how-to-join-prometheus-metrics-by-label-with-promql/

[SupraOva]

Due my understanding how prometheus, I can't recommend that. The general idea is to have a info metric (I do the same for process and services, too) and then using promql capabilities to join labels.

Something like this may work:

windows_net_bytes_sent_total * on(instance, nic) group_left(friendly_name) windows_net_nic_address_info

and should result into the expected behavior.

Ref: https://ypereirareis.github.io/blog/2020/02/21/how-to-join-prometheus-metrics-by-label-with-promql/

Got it! The PromQL query you provided works. The nic name on all collectors must be the same to match.

[jkroepke]

The nic name on all collectors must be the same to match.

Yeah, that what I mean in my first response.

However, I agree that the nic label in windows_net_nic_address_info should be equal with the nic label from windows_net_bytes_sent_total.