Metrics proxy¶

Overview ¶

The Metrics Proxy exposes a Prometheus-compatible HTTP API that lets you query F5 Insight metrics data directly from your own dashboards, scripts, or any Prometheus-compatible tool. The proxy authenticates requests with HTTP Basic Auth and proxied to F5 Insight’s internal time-series database (VictoriaMetrics).

How it works ¶

Your Dashboard / Script / Tool
      |
      |  HTTPS + HTTP Basic Auth
      v
F5 Insight Backend  (/api/metrics_proxy/api/v1/*)
      |
      |  Strips /api/metrics_proxy prefix
      |  Removes Authorization header
      v
VictoriaMetrics  (/api/v1/*)

Requests are authenticated with HTTP Basic Auth (F5 Insight username and password).
The proxy strips the /api/metrics_proxy path prefix before forwarding to the TSDB (Time Series Database).
The Authorization header is never forwarded to VictoriaMetrics.
The proxy adds CORS headers to all responses, so browser-based tools can query directly.

Base URL ¶

https://<f5-insight-host>/api/metrics_proxy/api/v1

Important

HTTPS required. Plain HTTP requests receive a 301 Moved Permanently redirect. Always use https://.

Example

https://<f5-insight-host>/api/metrics_proxy/api/v1

Authentication ¶

All endpoints require HTTP Basic Authentication using your F5 Insight login credentials.

Authorization: Basic <base64(username:password)>

curl handles this automatically with the -u flag:

curl -u "admin:<password>" \
  "https://<f5-insight-host>/api/metrics_proxy/api/v1/labels"

If the server uses a self-signed certificate, add -k to skip TLS verification:

curl -k -u "admin:<password>" \
  "https://<f5-insight-host>/api/metrics_proxy/api/v1/labels"

Failure response

HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized
WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm="F5 Insights Metrics Proxy"
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "status": "error",
  "error": "Invalid username or password"
}

Available endpoints ¶

All endpoints follow the standard Prometheus HTTP API v1 interface.

Instant query ¶

Query the current value of a metric (or at a specific point in time).

Method	Path
`GET` / `POST`	`/query`

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`query`	string	Yes	PromQL expression
`time`	RFC3339 or Unix timestamp	No	Evaluation time (defaults to now)
`timeout`	duration string (for example, `30s`)	No	Evaluation timeout

# GET
curl -u "admin:pass" \
  "https://<f5-insight-host>/api/metrics_proxy/api/v1/query?query=up"

# POST
curl -u "admin:pass" -X POST \
  "https://<f5-insight-host>/api/metrics_proxy/api/v1/query" \
  --data-urlencode "query=up" \
  --data-urlencode "time=2024-01-01T00:00:00Z"

Range query ¶

Query a metric over a time range. Use this to power time-series charts in your own dashboard.

Method	Path
`GET` / `POST`	`/query_range`

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`query`	string	Yes	PromQL expression
`start`	RFC3339 or Unix timestamp	Yes	Start of range
`end`	RFC3339 or Unix timestamp	Yes	End of range
`step`	duration or float (seconds)	Yes	Resolution step
`timeout`	duration string	No	Evaluation timeout

curl -u "admin:pass" \
  "https://<f5-insight-host>/api/metrics_proxy/api/v1/query_range" \
  --get \
  --data-urlencode "query=rate(http_requests_total[5m])" \
  --data-urlencode "start=2024-01-01T00:00:00Z" \
  --data-urlencode "end=2024-01-01T01:00:00Z" \
  --data-urlencode "step=60s"

Series metadata ¶

Discover what time series are available.

Method	Path
`GET` / `POST` / `DELETE`	`/series`

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`match[]`	series selector	Yes	One or more selector strings
`start`	timestamp	No	Start time
`end`	timestamp	No	End time

curl -u "admin:pass" \
  "https://<f5-insight-host>/api/metrics_proxy/api/v1/series?match[]=up"

Labels ¶

Discover available label names and their values. Useful for building dynamic filters in your dashboard.

Method	Path	Description
`GET` / `POST`	`/labels`	List all label names
`GET`	`/label/{name}/values`	List all values for a label

# All label names
curl -u "admin:pass" \
  "https://<f5-insight-host>/api/metrics_proxy/api/v1/labels"

# Values for a specific label
curl -u "admin:pass" \
  "https://<f5-insight-host>/api/metrics_proxy/api/v1/label/job/values"

Metadata and targets ¶

Method	Path	Description
`GET`	`/metadata`	Metric metadata (type, help text)
`GET`	`/targets`	Current scrape targets and their state
`GET`	`/targets/metadata`	Metadata per scrape target

Rules and alerts ¶

Method	Path	Description
`GET`	`/rules`	Loaded alerting and recording rules
`GET`	`/alerts`	Currently firing alerts
`GET`	`/alertmanagers`	Discovered Alertmanager instances

Status ¶

Method	Path	Description
`GET`	`/status/config`	Active TSDB configuration
`GET`	`/status/flags`	Runtime command-line flags
`GET`	`/status/runtimeinfo`	Runtime information
`GET`	`/status/buildinfo`	Build version info
`GET`	`/status/tsdb`	TSDB storage statistics

Query examples ¶

The following PromQL expressions work with the /query and /query_range endpoints.

Check which devices are reporting ¶

up

CPU utilization across all BIG-IP devices ¶

avg by (device) (bigip_cpu_utilization_5s)

HTTP request rate (last 5 minutes)¶

rate(http_requests_total[5m])

Memory usage for a specific device ¶

bigip_memory_used_bytes{device="my-bigip-01"}

Discover all available metric names ¶

curl -u "admin:pass" \
  "https://<f5-insight-host>/api/metrics_proxy/api/v1/label/__name__/values"

Error responses ¶

Scenario	HTTP status	Response body
Using `http://` instead of `https://`	`301`	`Moved Permanently` – Switch to `https://`
Missing `Authorization` header	`401`	`{"status":"error","error":"Missing Authorization header"}`
Wrong credentials	`401`	`{"status":"error","error":"Invalid username or password"}`
TSDB backend unreachable	`502`	`{"status":"error","error":"Failed to connect to metrics backend","errorType":"proxy_error"}`

Configuration reference ¶

The TSDB backend URL can be overridden using environment variables.

Environment variable	Description	Default
`PROMETHEUS_URL`	TSDB backend URL (K8s/Helm deployments)	Not set
`BACKEND_PORT`	F5 Insight backend listen port	`6003`

Connecting external Grafana ¶

Note

If you have your own dashboard or tooling, the sections above are all you need. This section covers the specific steps to connect a Grafana instance using the proxy as a Prometheus data source.

Open Grafana and navigate to Connections ‣ Data Sources ‣ Add data source.
Select Prometheus.
Set URL to:
```
https://<f5-insight-host>/api/metrics_proxy
```
Note

Do not include /api/v1 in the URL. Grafana appends the versioned path automatically.
Under Auth, enable Basic auth.
Enter your F5 Insight username and password.
Select Save & Test. You should see the message: “Successfully queried the Prometheus API”.

Grafana data source config (provisioning YAML)¶

apiVersion: 1
datasources:
  - name: F5 Insight Metrics
    type: prometheus
    url: https://f5-insight.example.com/api/metrics_proxy
    basicAuth: true
    basicAuthUser: <username>
    secureJsonData:
      basicAuthPassword: <password>
    isDefault: true

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