Usage Monitoring

Tier: Pro, Enterprise

Stirling-PDF provides robust usage monitoring capabilities through its API, allowing you to track application usage patterns and performance metrics.

Non-Persistent Usage Monitoring API

The following API endpoints are available to all users to monitor usage statistics. These endpoints provide non-persistent usage data that can be queried on demand.

Endpoint	Description
GET /api/v1/info/status	Application status and version information
GET /api/v1/info/requests	Total count of POST requests for a specific endpoint (optional query parameter: endpoint)
GET /api/v1/info/requests/unique	Count of unique users for POST requests for a specific endpoint
GET /api/v1/info/requests/all	POST requests count for all endpoints
GET /api/v1/info/requests/all/unique	Unique users count for POST requests for all endpoints
GET /api/v1/info/load	Total count of GET requests for a specific endpoint (optional query parameter: endpoint)
GET /api/v1/info/load/unique	Count of unique users for GET requests for a specific endpoint
GET /api/v1/info/load/all	GET requests count for all endpoints
GET /api/v1/info/load/all/unique	Unique users count for GET requests for all endpoints

All endpoints return a JSON response with the requested statistics.

Enterprise Usage Monitoring

⚠️ Enterprise Feature

The /usage endpoint with graphical displays and the Prometheus integration are enterprise-only features. These features require both an enterprise license (enterpriseEnabled: true) and must be explicitly enabled in your configuration.

Usage Dashboard

Enterprise license holders can access the enhanced usage monitoring dashboard at:

/usage

This dashboard provides graphical representations and detailed tables of the usage data, similar to the Endpoint Statistics interface shown in the documentation.

Prometheus Monitoring Configuration

Stirling-PDF supports application metrics monitoring using Prometheus. This feature allows you to track application performance, usage patterns, and health metrics.

Prerequisites

1. A valid Stirling-PDF enterprise license
2. Enterprise mode enabled in your configuration
3. Running with Security jar / DOCKER_ENABLE_SECURITY flag

Settings

Stirling-PDF can be configured to use Prometheus monitoring by setting the JAVA_CUSTOM_OPTS environment variable. The application uses this variable to add custom Java options at runtime.

Set the following environment variable in your deployment environment:

JAVA_CUSTOM_OPTS="-Dmanagement.endpoints.web.exposure.include=prometheus,health,info -Dmanagement.endpoint.health.show-details=always -Dmanagement.metrics.export.prometheus.enabled=true -Denterprisemanagement.metrics.enabled=true"

This configures:

• Prometheus metrics endpoint exposure
• Health and info endpoints for basic monitoring
• Detailed health information
• Prometheus metrics export
• Enterprise metrics collection

Configuration in custom_settings.yml

Alternatively, you can configure these settings in your /configs/custom_settings.yml file:

management:
  endpoints:
    web:
      exposure:
        include: prometheus,health,info
  endpoint:
    health:
      show-details: always
  metrics:
    export:
      prometheus:
        enabled: true
enterprisemanagement:
  metrics:
    enabled: true

Accessing Metrics

Once configured, Prometheus metrics are available at the following endpoint:

https://your-stirling-pdf-instance/actuator/prometheus

This endpoint provides metrics in a format that can be scraped by a Prometheus server.

Configuring Prometheus Server

Add the following job configuration to your Prometheus server's configuration file (prometheus.yml):

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'stirling-pdf'
    metrics_path: '/actuator/prometheus'
    scrape_interval: 15s
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['your-stirling-pdf-host:port']

Available Metrics

With Prometheus integration enabled, Stirling-PDF exposes the following types of metrics:

• JVM metrics: Memory usage, garbage collection, thread utilization
• System metrics: CPU usage, file descriptors
• Application metrics: Request rates, processing times
• PDF processing metrics: Document operations, conversion statistics