Files
windows_exporter/docs/runbooks/windowscollectortimeout.md
T
Jan-Otto Kröpke ae5d0cca2a mixin: group alerts by collector area and add tier 1 alerts
The alerts of the mixin now come in one rule group per collector area
(windows-exporter, windows-cpu, windows-memory, windows-disk,
windows-network, windows-service, windows-system, windows-active-directory,
windows-time). Every alert names the collectors it reads and is generated
only when _config.collectors enables them, the same switch the dashboard
uses; enableActiveDirectory and enableTime set collectors.ad and
collectors.time. _config.alerts switches single alerts off by name, and an
unknown name fails the build.

New alerts for the default collectors: WindowsCollectorTimeout,
WindowsScrapeQueueTimeout, WindowsCPUSaturation (processor queue per core),
WindowsMemoryPagingHigh, WindowsNetworkUtilizationHigh,
WindowsNetworkInterfaceFlapping, WindowsServiceNotRunning (automatic
services without triggers), WindowsServiceCrashLooping (processes per
service in 15 minutes) and WindowsHostRebooted (info, fires once per
reboot). WindowsNetworkErrors and WindowsNetworkDiscards compare the error
and discard rates with the packet rate (networkErrorRatioThreshold and
networkDiscardRatioThreshold, in percent) instead of an absolute packet
rate. Threshold alerts set keep_firing_for from keepFiringFor (5m); the new
infoSeverity and serviceSelector knobs follow the existing ones.

New recordings: windows:cpu_queue_per_core:ratio,
windows:net_received_packets:rate and windows:net_sent_packets:rate.

Each new alert has a runbook, a README row and a unit test;
tests/alerts.test.jsonnet checks the collector gating, the alert switches
and the group layout. The runbook check renders the alerts of every
collector. contrib/mixin/AGENTS.md documents the checklist for new alerts.

Signed-off-by: Jan-Otto Kröpke <mail@jkroepke.de>
2026-10-16 23:06:59 +00:00

47 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown

---
title: WindowsCollectorTimeout
---
## Meaning
The collector identified by the `collector` label has reported
`windows_exporter_collector_timeout == 1` for ten minutes. The collector did
not finish within the scrape timeout, or its call from an earlier scrape is
still running and later scrapes skip it until it returns.
## Impact
The metrics of this collector are missing or stale on every scrape that times
out, so dashboards show gaps and alerts on those metrics stop evaluating. A
collector that never returns can hold a scrape slot and delay the other
collectors of the host.
## Diagnosis
1. Find the collector and compare how long it usually takes:
```promql
windows_exporter_collector_timeout{job="windows_exporter"} == 1
windows_exporter_collector_duration_seconds{job="windows_exporter"}
```
2. Compare the duration with the scrape timeout of the job. The exporter
subtracts `--scrape.timeout-margin` from the `scrape_timeout` that
Prometheus sends.
3. Check the exporter log for the collector. WMI and Management Infrastructure
queries, the Task Scheduler and Windows Update are slow on hosts with many
objects or a busy WMI provider; the collector's documentation lists the
expensive options.
4. Check whether the host was under CPU, disk or memory pressure at the same
time, and whether a Windows service the collector depends on hangs, for
example `Winmgmt` for WMI-based collectors.
## Mitigation
Raise the `scrape_timeout` of the job within its `scrape_interval`, narrow the
collector with its include and exclude flags, or move the collector to a
separate job with a longer timeout. Restart a hanging provider service when the
log identifies it. Disable the collector on hosts where its data is not needed.
Confirm `windows_exporter_collector_timeout` returns to `0` and the collector's
metrics are published again.