Telemetry Collector Configuration - MDT Dial-Out (alternate API method)

  • Updated on Sep 25, 2025
  • Published on May 27, 2025
  • 8 minute(s) read
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This article explains the API method for configuring a Telemetry Collector that connects to the router using MDT Dial Out - this is an alternative to using the user interface method.

Every Telemetry Collector must have its runtime configuration defined in Provider Connectivity Assurance. This will be pushed down to the Telemetry Collector when it first connects and "phones home".

Configuring the Telemetry Collector via API call

The following API call can be used to create a Telemetry Collector configuration which includes the appropriate configuration for the default telemetry objects:

Agent API call

Notes
  • The {{ your Data Collector IP }} placeholder must be replaced with the IP address of the Data Collector instance that your Telemetry Collector will connect to.
  • The dataCollection field contains the Telemetry configuration TOML that tells the Telemetry Collector how to ingest and transform the telemetry data. If you were using this Telemetry Collector to ingest something other than the default supported Cisco telemetry objects (i.e. for a POC or exploratory activity) you could replace the contents of that field with your own Telemetry configuration (after base 64 encoding it). However, to use the agent “out of the box” with the default service assurance objects, leave this as-is.
  • ❗The response to the Create Agent Configuration API call includes the agentId that was created for your new Telemetry Collector. Keep this as you will need it later. here

Deploying the Telemetry Collector

Setting up Your Telemetry Collector Working Directory

Create a working directory for your Telemetry Collector to operate from.

In that directory, you will create a docker-compose.yml file that resembles the following:

services:
  telemetry-collector:
    container_name: "telemetry-collector"
    image: "gcr.io/sky-agents/agent-telemetry-amd64:r24.09"  
    environment:
      AGENT_MANAGEMENT_PROXY: "{{ sensorcollector-ip }}"
      AGENT_MANAGEMENT_PROXY_PORT: 55777
    ports:
      - "57000:57000"
    volumes:
      - ./secrets/secrets.yaml:/run/secrets/secrets.yaml
Notes:
  • AGENTMANAGEMENTPROXY corresponds to your local Sensor Collector. The {{ sensorcollector-ip }} placeholder should be replaced with the IP of your deployed Sensor Collector.
  • AGENTMANAGEMENTPROXY_PORT corresponds to the Agent Proxy port you chose when creating your Sensor Collector configuration. 55777 is the default value. However, if you choose something else, then this must match.
  • You will notice we created a volume mount which references a file on the host called ./secrets/secrets.yaml. Don’t worry—we’ll create that file in the next step.

Retrieve Your Telemetry Collector Secrets

Your Telemetry Collector still needs one thing before we can successfully start it: the secrets.yaml file containing its agent identifier, and an initial Java Web Token (JWT) for its handshake when connecting to the Management web socket in Sensor Collector.

API Method for retrieving secrets

These are both retrieved by the same API call to the Provider Connectivity Assurance deployment (this is where you need the Telemetry Collector ID you saved earlier):

POST /api/orchestrate/v3/agents/{agent-id}/secrets

Your result will look similar to the following:

agentConfig:
    identification:
        agentId: 879eaa3e-a9b7-4486-9d25-184b3a82e651
        authenticationToken: eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJhY2NlZGlhbi5jb20iLCJzdWIiOiJhZG1pbkBkYXRhaHViLmNvbSIsImV4cCI6MTY5MjczNDYyOSwiYXVkIjoiIiwidG9rZW5JRCI6MTEzLCJ0ZW5hbnRJRCI6IjE1MDM1NGRmLTQ3ZjctNGYxNy1hM2JhLTkzMzU3OWQ4OGZiMyJ9.oL2B_VprfUFmy5SecBlUbSwclKoaBj1lBRPc_YbaJic

In your Telemetry Collector's working directory, create a subdirectory called Telemetry Collector and create a YAML file in that directory named secrets.yaml.

Starting the Telemetry Collector

You are now ready to start your Telemetry Collector:

❯ docker compose up -d

If all went as expected, you should see Telemetry Collector logs indicating that your Telemetry Collector has started and connected both its Management and Data links to your Sensor Collector.

Below are some logs to monitor; these show our blue box app starting (telemetry is our application):

telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:05.918387+00:00    info       telemetry           Blue Box application Telemetry Collector
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:05.923348+00:00    info       monitor             Received signal from ciscomdt, continuing start sequence!
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:05.923435+00:00    info       monitor             Starting Telemetry
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:05.923552+00:00    info       telemetry           Blue Box application starting on agent c390d231-1376-4aae-8a7b-59c0a77ed85e.
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:05.923858+00:00    info       telemetry           Waiting for system
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:05.924103+00:00    info       monitor             Startup sequence completed

These show the Telemetry Collector successfully establishing its management connection with Sensor Collector:

telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:09.515127+00:00    info       management          Connecting to management server: host.docker.internal:55777; Attempt: 1
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:09.632144+00:00    info       management          Connection to management established: Compression is Enabled
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:12.933773+00:00    info       telemetry           ix Subscribe topic service/telemetry/config client telemetry
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:15.740444+00:00    info       agentHealth         Starting CPU monitoring thread
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:16.528192+00:00    info       management          Authenticating to management server: host.docker.internal:55777; Attempt: 1
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:16.532611+00:00    info       management          Sending identification
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:16.532694+00:00    info       management          Waiting for configuration
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:16.980984+00:00    info       management          Authentication successful!

These show the Telemetry Collector sending a configuration request to Provider Connectivity Assurance over the Sensor Collector Management link and getting back its configuration:

telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17.239656+00:00    info       management          Received configuration Update from management: TenantId: 9ca4447b-e32a-4dc2-af71-2a1219cc3373; Revision: 150da539-2ca2-4b9e-90bd-fdeb3da97939
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17.240925+00:00    info       data                Configuration update: Server: 'host.docker.internal'; Port: '55888'; Use SSL: true; Allow Self Signed; Allow Invalid Certs; Allow Expired Certs; Skip Cert Hostname Check;
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17.242900+00:00    info       data                Updated metadata
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Config file modified
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Reloading Telemetry config
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17.949130+00:00    info       telemetry           applying new Telemetry configuration: [[inputs.cisco_telemetry_mdt]]  ## Telemetry transport can be "tcp" or "grpc".  TLS is only supported when  ## using the grpc transport.  transport = "tcp"   ## Address and port to host telemetry listener  service_address = ":57000"   ## Grpc Maximum Message Size, default is 4MB, increase the size.  max_msg_size = 104857600  # 100 MB in bytes   ## Enable TLS; grpc transport only.  # tls_cert = "/etc/Telemetry/cert.pem"  # tls_key = "/etc/Telemetry/key.pem"   ## Enable TLS client authentication and define allowed CA certificates; grpc  ##  transport only.  # tls_allowed_cacerts = ["/etc/Telemetry/clientca.pem"]   ## Define (for certain nested telemetry measurements with embedded tags) which fields are tags  embedded_tags = [   "Cisco-IOS-XR-man-ipsla-oper:ipsla/operation-data/operations/operation/statistics/latest/target/specific-stats/op-type",   "Cisco-IOS-XR-qos-ma-oper:qos/interface-table/interface/input/service-policy-names/service-policy-instance/statistics/class-stats/class-name",   "Cisco-IOS-XR-qos-ma-oper:qos/interface-table/interface/input/service-policy-names/service-policy-instance/statistics/class-stats/child-policy/policy-name",   "Cisco-IOS-XR-qos-ma-oper:qos/interface-table/interface/input/service-policy-names/service-policy-instance/statistics/class-stats/child-policy/class-stats/class-name",   "Cisco-IOS-XR-qos-ma-oper:qos/interface-table/interface/output/service-policy-names/service-policy-instance/statistics/class-stats/class-name",   "Cisco-IOS-XR-qos-ma-oper:qos/interface-table/interface/output/service-policy-names/service-policy-instance/statistics/class-stats/child-policy/policy-name",   "Cisco-IOS-XR-qos-ma-oper:qos/interface-table/interface/output/service-policy-names/service-policy-instance/statistics/class-stats/child-policy/class-stats/class-name", ]  ## Define aliases to map telemetry encoding paths to simple measurement names  [inputs.cisco_telemetry_mdt.aliases]      if_stats = "Cisco-IOS-XR-pfi-im-cmd-oper:interfaces/interface-xr/interface"      policy_out_stats = "Cisco-IOS-XR-qos-ma-oper:qos/interface-table/interface/output/service-policy-names/service-policy-instance/statistics"      policy_in_stats = "Cisco-IOS-XR-qos-ma-oper:qos/interface-table/interface/input/service-policy-names/service-policy-instance/statistics"      sla_stats = "Cisco-IOS-XR-infra-sla-oper:sla/protocols/Cisco-IOS-XR-ethernet-cfm-oper:ethernet/statistics-historicals/statistics-historical"      cpu_util = "Cisco-IOS-XR-wdsysmon-fd-oper:system-monitoring/cpu-utilization"      node_summary = "Cisco-IOS-XR-nto-misc-oper:memory-summary/nodes/node/summary"      channel_stats = "Cisco-IOS-XR-telemetry-model-driven-oper:telemetry-model-driven/channel-statistics"      twamp_lite = "Cisco-IOS-XR-perf-meas-oper:performance-measurement/nodes/node/interfaces/interface-details/interface-detail"      ipsla = "Cisco-IOS-XR-man-ipsla-oper:ipsla/operation-data/operations/operation/statistics/latest/target"   [[processors.template]]   order = 1   namepass = ["if_stats*"]   tag = "sessionName"   template = '{{ .Tag "source" }}_{{ .Tag "interface_name" }}'  [[processors.template]]   order = 2   namepass = ["if_stats*"]   tag = "sessionId"   template = '{{ .Tag "source" }}_{{ .Tag "interface_name" }}'  [[processors.template]]   order = 3   namepass = ["if_stats*"]   tag = "objectType"   template = 'cisco_mdt_interface'   [[processors.template]]   order = 3   namepass = ["if_stats*"]   tag = "direction"   template = "0"  [[processors.starlark]]   order = 4   namepass = ["if_stats*"]  source = ''' def apply(metric):     if metric.fields.get("state") == "im-state-up":         metric.fields["availability_percent"] = 100     else:         metric.fields["availability_percent"] = 0     if metric.fields.get("interface_statistics/stats_type") == "basic":         metric.fields["interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/bytes_received_rate"] = metric.fields.get("interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/bytes_received")         metric.fields["interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/bytes_received_delta"] = metric.fields.get("interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/bytes_received")         metric.fields["interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/bytes_sent_rate"] = metric.fields.get("interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/bytes_sent")         metric.fields["interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/bytes_sent_delta"] = metric.fields.get("interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/bytes_sent")     elif metric.fields.get("interface_statistics/stats_type") == "full":         metric.fields["interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/bytes_received_rate"] = metric.fields.get("interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/bytes_received")         metric.fields["interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/bytes_received_delta"] = metric.fields.get("interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/bytes_received")         metric.fields["interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/bytes_sent_rate"] = metric.fields.get("interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/bytes_sent")         metric.fields["interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/bytes_sent_delta"] = metric.fields.get("interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/bytes_sent")     return metric '''  # Template config pertaining to Environment Objects  # Template for constructing object ID for node environmentals [[processors.template]]   namepass = ["cpu_util*", "node_summary*"]   tag = "sessionName"   template = '{{ .Tag "source" }}_{{ .Tag "node_name" }}' [[processors.template]]   namepass = ["cpu_util*", "node_summary*"]   tag = "sessionId"   template = '{{ .Tag "source" }}_{{ .Tag "node_name" }}'  [[processors.template]]   namepass = ["cpu_util*", "node_summary*"]   tag = "objectType"   template = 'cisco_mdt_environment'  [[processors.template]]   namepass = ["cpu_util*", "node_summary*"]   tag = "direction"   template = '-1'  [[processors.rename]]  order = 5   namepass = ["if_stats"]    [[processors.rename.replace]]     field = "interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/input_errors"     dest = "interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/input_errors"    [[processors.rename.replace]]     field = "interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/output_errors"     dest = "interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/output_errors"    [[processors.rename.replace]]     field =  "interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/packets_received"     dest = "interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/packets_received"    [[processors.rename.replace]]     field =  "interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/packets_sent"     dest = "interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/packets_sent"    [[processors.rename.replace]]     field =  "interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/input_drops"     dest = "interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/input_drops"    [[processors.rename.replace]]     field =  "interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/output_drops"     dest = "interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/output_drops"    [[processors.rename.replace]]     field =  "interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/bytes_received_rate"     dest = "interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/bytes_received_rate"    [[processors.rename.replace]]     field =  "interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/bytes_received_delta"     dest = "interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/bytes_received_delta"    [[processors.rename.replace]]     field =  "interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/bytes_sent"     dest = "interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/bytes_sent"    [[processors.rename.replace]]     field =  "interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/bytes_sent_rate"     dest = "interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/bytes_sent_rate"    [[processors.rename.replace]]     field =  "interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/bytes_sent_delta"     dest = "interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/bytes_sent_delta"    [[processors.rename.replace]]     field =  "interface_statistics/basic_interface_stats/bytes_received"     dest = "interface_statistics/full_interface_stats/bytes_received"   # Restricts the number of tags that can pass through this filter and chooses which tags to preserve when over the limit. [[processors.tag_limit]] order = 6   ## Maximum number of tags to preserve   limit = 4    ## List of tags to preferentially preserve   keep = ["sessionId", "sessionName", "objectType","direction"]
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Config watcher started
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Config watcher started
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Loading config: /etc/Telemetry/Telemetry.conf

These show the Telemetry Collector successfully establishing its data connection with Sensor Collector:

telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17.982056+00:00    info       data                Connecting to data broker: host.docker.internal:55888; Attempt: 0
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Loading config: /etc/Telemetry/Telemetry.d/cisco_mdt_dialout.conf
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Starting Telemetry 1.29.4 brought to you by InfluxData the makers of InfluxDB
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Available plugins: 241 inputs, 9 aggregators, 30 processors, 24 parsers, 60 outputs, 6 secret-stores
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Loaded inputs: cisco_telemetry_mdt
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Loaded aggregators:
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Loaded processors: rename starlark tag_limit template (8x)
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Loaded secretstores:
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Loaded outputs: health websocket
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Tags enabled: host=telemetry-agent
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! [agent] Config: Interval:10s, Quiet:false, Hostname:"telemetry-agent", Flush Interval:10s
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! [outputs.health] Listening on http://[::]:57001
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17.998119+00:00    info       telemetry           Received connection request from Telemetry
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17.999413+00:00    info       telemetry           Listener connected to Telemetry instance
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:18.026599+00:00    info       data                Connection to data broker established: Compression is Enabled
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:18.026641+00:00    info       data                Waiting batches: 0
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:24.924867+00:00    info       data                Authenticating data path: Attempt: 1
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:28.034204+00:00    info       data                Broker message chunck size changed to 3000.
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:28.039446+00:00    info       data                Sent authentication request, waiting for confirmation.
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:28.687240+00:00    info       data                Authentication successful!

These show the embedded Telemetry instance successfully starting:

telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Loading config: /etc/Telemetry/Telemetry.conf
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Loading config: /etc/Telemetry/Telemetry.d/cisco_mdt_dialout.conf
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Starting Telemetry 1.29.4 brought to you by InfluxData the makers of InfluxDB
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Available plugins: 241 inputs, 9 aggregators, 30 processors, 24 parsers, 60 outputs, 6 secret-stores
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Loaded inputs: cisco_telemetry_mdt
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Loaded aggregators:
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Loaded processors: rename starlark tag_limit template (8x)
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Loaded secretstores:
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Loaded outputs: health websocket
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! Tags enabled: host=telemetry-agent
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! [agent] Config: Interval:10s, Quiet:false, Hostname:"telemetry-agent", Flush Interval:10s
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17Z I! [outputs.health] Listening on http://[::]:57001
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17.998119+00:00    info       telemetry           Received connection request from Telemetry
telemetry-agent  | 2024-04-12T15:44:17.999413+00:00    info       telemetry           Listener connected to Telemetry instance

At this point, if all went as intended, your Telemetry Collector is running and connected to Provider Connectivity Assurance via the Sensor Collector instance that you have deployed.

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