---
name: "prometheus-bird-exporter"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "prometheus-bird-exporter"
version: "1.4.2+ds-2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/prometheus-bird-exporter"
---

# prometheus-bird-exporter(1)

A protocol state exporter for the BIRD routing daemon to use with Prometheus

## NAME

bird\_exporter - A protocol state exporter for the BIRD routing daemon to use with Prometheus

## SYNOPSIS

**bird\_exporter** \[**OPTIONS**\]

## DESCRIPTION

**bird\_exporter** is a metric exporter for the BIRD routing daemon to use with Prometheus. Since **bird\_exporter** uses the BIRD Unix socket(s), BIRD needs to be installed on the same machine as bird\_exporter. The user executing bird\_exporter must have read/write permission to access the BIRD Unix sockets.

## OPTIONS

**-bird.ipv4** Get protocols from bird (not compatible with **-bird.v2**)

**-bird.ipv6** Get protocols from bird6 (not compatible with **-bird.v2**)

**-bird.socket** */path/to/socket* Socket to communicate with bird routing daemon

**-bird.socket6** */path/to/socket* Socket to communicate with bird6 routing daemon (not compatible with **-bird.v2**)

**-bird.v2** BIRD major version \>= 2.0 (multi channel protocols)

**-format.new** New metric format (more convenient / generic)

**-proto.bgp** Enables metrics for protocol BGP

**-proto.direct** Enables metrics for protocol Direct

**-proto.kernel** Enables metrics for protocol Kernel

**-proto.ospf** Enables metrics for protocol OSPF

**-proto.static** Enables metrics for protocol Static

**-proto.babel** Enables metrics for protocol Babel

**-version** Print version information

**-web.listen-address** *\[address\]:port* Address on which to expose metrics and web interface

**-web.telemetry-path** *path* Path under which to expose metrics (default “/metrics”)

Version 2.0 of BIRD supports both IPv4 and IPv6 in a single daemon. Since version 1.1 of **bird\_exporter**, it can be used with BIRD 2.0+ using the **-bird.v2** option. When using this option, **bird\_exporter** queries the same socket for both IPv4 and IPv6. In this mode the IP protocol is determined by the channel information, and options **-bird.ipv4**, **-bird.ipv6** and **-bird.socket6** are ignored.

## BIRD CONFIGURATION

To get meaningful uptime information, BIRD needs to be configured to use ISO-format timestamps:

-

  ```
  timeformat protocol iso long;
  ```

## METRIC FORMATS

In version 1.0, a new metric format was introduced. To avoid backwards incompatibility, the new format is optional and can be enabled by using the **-format.new** option. The new format handles protocols more generically and allows for a better query structure. It also adheres more to the Prometheus metric naming best practices. In both formats protocol specific metrics are prefixed with the protocol name (e.g. OSPF running metric).

### OLD METRIC FORMAT EXAMPLE

-

  ```
  bgp4_session_prefix_count_import{name="bgp1"} 600000
  bgp6_session_prefix_count_import{name="bgp1"} 50000
  ospfv3_running{name="ospf1"} 1
  ```

### NEW METRIC FORMAT EXAMPLE

-

  ```
  bird_protocol_prefix_import_count{name="bgp1",proto="BGP",ip_version="4"} 600000
  bird_protocol_prefix_import_count{name="bgp1",proto="BGP",ip_version="6"} 50000
  bird_ospfv3_running{name="ospf1"} 1
  ```

## AUTHOR

Daniel Czerwonk ⟨daniel@dan-nrw.de⟩\\c