Note: AD Annotations v2 was introduced in Datadog Agent 7.36 to simplify integration configuration. For previous versions of the Datadog Agent, use AD Annotations v1.

To automatically enable Autodiscovery over Docker containers, mount /var/run/docker.sock into the containerized Agent. On Windows, mount \\.\pipe\docker_engine.

Integrations templates can be stored as Docker labels. With Autodiscovery, the Agent detects if it’s running on Docker and automatically searches all labels for integration templates. Autodiscovery expects labels to look like the following examples:

Dockerfile:

LABEL "com.datadoghq.ad.checks"='{"<INTEGRATION_NAME>": {"instances": [<INSTANCE_CONFIG>]}}'

docker-compose.yaml:

labels:
  com.datadoghq.ad.checks: '{"<INTEGRATION_NAME>": {"instances": [<INSTANCE_CONFIG>]}}'

Using docker run, nerdctl run, or podman run commands:

-l com.datadoghq.ad.checks="{\"<INTEGRATION_NAME>\": {\"instances\": [<INSTANCE_CONFIG>]}}"

Note: You can escape JSON while configuring these labels. For example:

docker run --label "com.datadoghq.ad.checks="{\"apache\": {\"instances\": [{\"apache_status_url\":\"http://%%host%%/server-status?auto2\"}]}}"

Docker Swarm:

When using Swarm mode for Docker Cloud, labels must be applied to the image:

version: "1.0"
services:
...
  project:
    image: '<IMAGE_NAME>'
    labels:
      com.datadoghq.ad.checks: '{"<INTEGRATION_NAME>": {"instances": [<INSTANCE_CONFIG>]}}'

Note: When configuring Autodiscovery, Datadog recommends using Docker labels to unify telemetry across your containerized environment. Read the unified service tagging documentation for more information.

To automatically enable Autodiscovery over Docker containers, mount /var/run/docker.sock into the Containerized Agent. On Windows, mount \\.\pipe\docker_engine.

Integrations templates can be stored as Docker labels. With Autodiscovery, the Agent detects if it’s running on Docker and automatically searches all labels for integration templates. Autodiscovery expects labels to look like the following examples:

Dockerfile:

LABEL "com.datadoghq.ad.check_names"='[<INTEGRATION_NAME>]'
LABEL "com.datadoghq.ad.init_configs"='[<INIT_CONFIG>]'
LABEL "com.datadoghq.ad.instances"='[<INSTANCE_CONFIG>]'

docker-compose.yaml:

labels:
  com.datadoghq.ad.check_names: '[<INTEGRATION_NAME>]'
  com.datadoghq.ad.init_configs: '[<INIT_CONFIG>]'
  com.datadoghq.ad.instances: '[<INSTANCE_CONFIG>]'

Using docker run, nerdctl run, or podman run commands:

-l com.datadoghq.ad.check_names='[<INTEGRATION_NAME>]' -l com.datadoghq.ad.init_configs='[<INIT_CONFIG>]' -l com.datadoghq.ad.instances='[<INSTANCE_CONFIG>]'

Note: You can escape JSON while configuring these labels. For example:

docker run --label "com.datadoghq.ad.check_names=[\"redisdb\"]" --label "com.datadoghq.ad.init_configs=[{}]" --label "com.datadoghq.ad.instances=[{\"host\":\"%%host%%\",\"port\":6379}]" --label "com.datadoghq.ad.logs=[{\"source\":\"redis\"}]" --name redis redis

Docker Swarm:

When using Swarm mode for Docker Cloud, labels must be applied to the image:

version: "1.0"
services:
...
  project:
    image: '<IMAGE_NAME>'
    labels:
      com.datadoghq.ad.check_names: '[<INTEGRATION_NAME>]'
      com.datadoghq.ad.init_configs: '[<INIT_CONFIG>]'
      com.datadoghq.ad.instances: '[<INSTANCE_CONFIG>]'

Note: When configuring autodiscovery, Datadog recommends using Docker labels to unify telemetry across your containerized environment. Read the unified service tagging documentation for more information.

Storing templates as local files and mounting them inside the containerized Agent doesn’t require an external service or a specific orchestration platform. The downside is that you need to restart your Agent containers each time you change, add, or remove templates. The Agent looks for Autodiscovery templates in the mounted /conf.d directory.

Since Agent v6.2.0 (and v5.24.0), the default templates use the default port for the monitored software, instead of auto-detecting it. If you need to use a different port, provide a custom Autodiscovery template in the Docker container labels

These integration templates are meant for basic cases. If you need a custom Datadog integration configuration to enable extra options, use different container identifiers—or use template variables indexing and write your own auto-configuration file:

1. Create a conf.d/<INTEGRATION_NAME>.d/conf.yaml file on your host and add your custom auto-configuration.
2. Mount your host conf.d/ folder to the containerized Agent’s conf.d folder.

Example auto-configuration file:

ad_identifiers:
  <INTEGRATION_AUTODISCOVERY_IDENTIFIER>

init_config:
  <INIT_CONFIG>

instances:
  <INSTANCES_CONFIG>

See the Autodiscovery Container Identifiers documentation for information on the <INTEGRATION_AUTODISCOVERY_IDENTIFIER>.

Note: You don’t need to set up the <INTEGRATIONS_NAME> since the Agent infers it from the file name directly.

Autodiscovery can use Consul, Etcd, and Zookeeper as integration template sources. To use a key-value store, configure it in the Agent datadog.yaml configuration file and mount this file inside the containerized Agent. Alternatively, pass your key-value store as environment variables to the containerized Agent.

Configure in datadog.yaml:

In the datadog.yaml file, set the <KEY_VALUE_STORE_IP> address and <KEY_VALUE_STORE_PORT> of your key-value store:

config_providers:
  - name: etcd
    polling: true
    template_dir: /datadog/check_configs
    template_url: '<KV_STORE_IP>:<KV_STORE_PORT>'
    username:
    password:

  - name: consul
    polling: true
    template_dir: datadog/check_configs
    template_url: '<KV_STORE_IP>:<KV_STORE_PORT>'
    ca_file:
    ca_path:
    cert_file:
    key_file:
    username:
    password:
    token:

  - name: zookeeper
    polling: true
    template_dir: /datadog/check_configs
    template_url: '<KV_STORE_IP>:<KV_STORE_PORT>'
    username:
    password:

Then restart the Agent to apply the configuration change.

Configure in environment variables:

With the key-value store enabled as a template source, the Agent looks for templates under the key /datadog/check_configs. Autodiscovery expects a key-value hierarchy like this:

/datadog/
  check_configs/
    <CONTAINER_IDENTIFIER>/
      - check_names: ["<INTEGRATION_NAME>"]
      - init_configs: ["<INIT_CONFIG>"]
      - instances: ["<INSTANCE_CONFIG>"]
    ...

Note: To apply a specific configuration to a given container, Autodiscovery identifies containers by image when using the key-value stores by trying to match <CONTAINER_IDENTIFIER> to .spec.containers[0].image.

The following docker-compose.yml file applies the correct Redis integration template with a custom password parameter:

labels:
  com.datadoghq.ad.check_names: '["redisdb"]'
  com.datadoghq.ad.init_configs: '[{}]'
  com.datadoghq.ad.instances: '[{"host": "%%host%%","port":"6379","password":"%%env_REDIS_PASSWORD%%"}]'

Redis is one of the default Autodiscovery templates packaged with the Agent, so you don’t need to mount this file. The following Redis template is packaged with the Agent:

ad_identifiers:
  - redis

init_config:

instances:

  - host: "%%host%%"
    port: "6379"

This looks like a minimal Redis integration configuration, but notice the ad_identifiers option. This required option lets you provide container identifiers. Autodiscovery applies this template to any container on the same host that run a redis image. See the dedicated Autodiscovery Identifier documentation to learn more.

If your Redis requires an additional password when accessing its stats endpoint:

1. Create the folders conf.d/ and conf.d/redisdb.d on your host.
2. Add the custom auto-configuration below to conf.d/redisdb.d/conf.yaml on your host.
3. Mount the host conf.d/ folder to the containerized Agent conf.d/ folder.

ad_identifiers:
  - redis

init_config:

instances:

  - host: "%%host%%"
    port: "6379"
    password: "%%env_REDIS_PASSWORD%%"

Note: The "%%env_<ENV_VAR>%%" template variable logic is used to avoid storing the password in plain text, hence the REDIS_PASSWORD environment variable must be passed to the Agent. See the Autodiscovery template variable documentation.

The following etcd commands create a Redis integration template with a custom password parameter:

etcdctl mkdir /datadog/check_configs/redis
etcdctl set /datadog/check_configs/redis/check_names '["redisdb"]'
etcdctl set /datadog/check_configs/redis/init_configs '[{}]'
etcdctl set /datadog/check_configs/redis/instances '[{"host": "%%host%%","port":"6379","password":"%%env_REDIS_PASSWORD%%"}]'

Notice that each of the three values is a list. Autodiscovery assembles list items into the integration configurations based on shared list indexes. In this case, it composes the first (and only) check configuration from check_names[0], init_configs[0] and instances[0].

Note: The "%%env_<ENV_VAR>%%" template variable logic is used to avoid storing the password in plain text, hence the REDIS_PASSWORD environment variable must be passed to the Agent. See the Autodiscovery template variable documentation.

Unlike auto-conf files, key-value stores may use the short OR long image name as container identifiers, for example: redis OR redis:latest.

• Create the folders conf.d/ and conf.d/apache.d on your host.
• Add the custom auto-configuration below to conf.d/apache.d/conf.yaml on your host.

ad_identifiers:
  - httpd

init_config:

instances:
  - apache_status_url: http://%%host%%/server-status?auto

Note: It looks like a minimal Apache check configuration, but notice the ad_identifiers option. This required option lets you provide container identifiers. Autodiscovery applies this template to any containers on the same host that run an httpd image. See the dedicated Autodiscovery Identifier documentation to learn more.

• Next, create the folder conf.d/http_check.d on your host.
• Add the custom auto-configuration below to conf.d/http_check.d/conf.yaml on your host.

ad_identifiers:
  - httpd

init_config:

instances:
  - name: "<WEBSITE_1>"
    url: "http://%%host%%/website_1"
    timeout: 1

  - name: "<WEBSITE_2>"
    url: "http://%%host%%/website_2"
    timeout: 1

• Finally, mount the host conf.d/ folder to the containerized Agent conf.d/ folder.

etcdctl set /datadog/check_configs/httpd/check_names '["apache", "http_check"]'
etcdctl set /datadog/check_configs/httpd/init_configs '[{}, {}]'
etcdctl set /datadog/check_configs/httpd/instances '[[{"apache_status_url": "http://%%host%%/server-status?auto"}],[{"name": "<WEBSITE_1>", "url": "http://%%host%%/website_1", timeout: 1},{"name": "<WEBSITE_2>", "url": "http://%%host%%/website_2", timeout: 1}]]'

Note: The order of each list matters. The Agent can only generate the HTTP check configuration correctly if all parts of its configuration have the same index across the three lists.