Ceilometer is OpenStack's telemetry service, designed as a comprehensive data collection platform for cloud infrastructure monitoring. The project functions as a centralized system that gathers event and metering data by monitoring notifications emitted from various OpenStack services. This collected data is then published to multiple targets, including data stores and message queues, enabling downstream systems to consume and analyze infrastructure metrics.
The repository serves as a mirror of code maintained at opendev.org and is written primarily in Python. It operates under the Apache License, Version 2.0, making it freely available for use and modification within the terms of that license. The project is part of the OpenStack governance structure, as indicated by its official governance badge.
Ceilometer's core functionality centers on passive data collection through notification monitoring rather than active polling of services. This event-driven approach allows it to capture telemetry data as OpenStack components generate notifications about resource changes, service operations, and system events. The flexibility to publish to various targets makes Ceilometer adaptable to different deployment architectures and data pipeline requirements, whether organizations need to store metrics in databases, stream them through message brokers, or feed them into analytics platforms.
The project maintains comprehensive documentation resources for both operators and developers. Release notes are published through the OpenStack release notes portal, while detailed developer documentation is available through the official OpenStack documentation site. This documentation infrastructure supports users across different versions and deployment scenarios.
Community engagement for Ceilometer occurs through multiple channels. The project maintains an IRC channel at #openstack-telemetry on OFTC for real-time discussion and support. Bug tracking and issue management are handled through Launchpad, with a dedicated project space for reporting and tracking issues. The project also uses the openstack-discuss mailing list for broader community communication, with contributors encouraged to tag messages with [Ceilometer] for visibility.
The GitGenius classification data reveals that Ceilometer is recognized across a broad spectrum of telemetry and monitoring domains, including performance analysis, metrics collection, event logging, event management, and resource utilization tracking. This multi-faceted classification reflects the service's role as a foundational component in OpenStack's observability infrastructure. The project's categorization under data collection, notifications, and event-driven systems highlights its position as a critical piece of the telemetry pipeline that enables infrastructure monitoring, performance analysis, and resource usage tracking across OpenStack deployments.
The repository's focus on collecting and distributing telemetry data makes it essential for operators who need visibility into their cloud infrastructure's behavior and performance characteristics. By centralizing data collection from multiple OpenStack services, Ceilometer eliminates the need for individual services to implement their own monitoring and reporting mechanisms, creating a unified telemetry architecture for OpenStack clouds.
