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The Tinyproxy Exporter chart deploys a Prometheus exporter for Tinyproxy, a lightweight HTTP/HTTPS proxy daemon, enabling monitoring of proxy connections, requests, and performance.

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What It Monitors

This exporter collects metrics from Tinyproxy including:
  • Active connections
  • Connection states
  • Request counts
  • Proxy performance metrics
  • Client statistics

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Installation

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Prerequisites

You need a running Tinyproxy instance with stats enabled.

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Basic Installation

helm repo add douban https://douban.github.io/charts
helm install tinyproxy-exporter douban/tinyproxy-exporter \
  --set tinyproxy.address="tinyproxy:8888"

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Configuration

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tinyproxy.address
string
default:"10.1.136.37:8881"
required
The address of the Tinyproxy stats endpoint (host:port format)
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image.repository
string
default:"ghcr.io/leoquote/tinyproxy_exporter"
Container image repository
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image.tag
string
default:"master"
Container image tag
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service.port
number
default:"9240"
Port to expose exporter metrics on

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Tinyproxy Configuration

Ensure Tinyproxy is configured to expose statistics. In your tinyproxy.conf: 
# Enable statistics
StatHost "tinyproxy.stats"
StatFile "/usr/share/tinyproxy/stats.html"
The exporter connects to Tinyproxy’s stats page to collect metrics.

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ServiceMonitor Configuration

To enable automatic Prometheus scraping via the Prometheus Operator: 
serviceMonitor:
  enabled: true
  interval: 30s
  labels:
    prometheus: kube-prometheus
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serviceMonitor.enabled
boolean
default:"false"
Enable ServiceMonitor resource creation
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serviceMonitor.interval
string
default:"30s"
How frequently Prometheus should scrape
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serviceMonitor.timeout
string
default:"10s"
Scrape timeout duration

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Manual Prometheus Configuration

If not using the Prometheus Operator, add this scrape config: 
scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'tinyproxy-exporter'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['tinyproxy-exporter:9240']
    scrape_interval: 30s

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Prometheus Rules

Example alerting rules: 
prometheusRule:
  enabled: true
  rules:
    - alert: TinyproxyDown
      expr: tinyproxy_up == 0
      for: 2m
      labels:
        severity: critical
      annotations:
        summary: Tinyproxy is down
        description: "Tinyproxy instance {{ $labels.instance }} is unreachable"
    
    - alert: TinyproxyHighConnections
      expr: tinyproxy_connections_open > 100
      for: 5m
      labels:
        severity: warning
      annotations:
        summary: High number of proxy connections
        description: "Tinyproxy has {{ $value }} open connections"
    
    - alert: TinyproxyNoConnections
      expr: tinyproxy_connections_open == 0
      for: 10m
      labels:
        severity: info
      annotations:
        summary: No proxy connections
        description: "Tinyproxy has no active connections for 10 minutes"

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Example Values

replicaCount: 1

tinyproxy:
  address: "tinyproxy.default.svc.cluster.local:8888"

image:
  repository: ghcr.io/leoquote/tinyproxy_exporter
  tag: "master"
  pullPolicy: IfNotPresent

service:
  type: ClusterIP
  port: 9240

serviceMonitor:
  enabled: true
  interval: 30s
  labels:
    release: prometheus

resources:
  limits:
    cpu: 50m
    memory: 64Mi
  requests:
    cpu: 25m
    memory: 32Mi

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Metrics Exposed

Key metrics available at the /metrics endpoint:
  • tinyproxy_up - Whether Tinyproxy is reachable (1 = up, 0 = down)
  • tinyproxy_connections_open - Current number of open connections
  • tinyproxy_connections_refused - Total refused connections
  • tinyproxy_requests_total - Total proxy requests handled
  • tinyproxy_denied_total - Total denied requests

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Use Cases

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Connection Monitoring

Monitor proxy connection patterns: 
# Current open connections
tinyproxy_connections_open

# Connection rate
rate(tinyproxy_requests_total[5m])

# Refused connections rate
rate(tinyproxy_connections_refused[5m])

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Performance Analysis

Analyze proxy performance: 
# Average connections over time
avg_over_time(tinyproxy_connections_open[1h])

# Peak connections
max_over_time(tinyproxy_connections_open[1d])

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Security Monitoring

Monitor for unusual activity: 
# Denied requests (potential security issues)
rate(tinyproxy_denied_total[5m])

# Sudden spike in connections
rate(tinyproxy_connections_open[5m]) > 10

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Deployment Patterns

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Sidecar Pattern

Deploy the exporter as a sidecar to Tinyproxy: 
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: tinyproxy-with-exporter
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: tinyproxy
          image: monokal/tinyproxy:latest
          ports:
            - containerPort: 8888
        - name: exporter
          image: ghcr.io/leoquote/tinyproxy_exporter:master
          args:
            - "--tinyproxy.address=localhost:8888"
          ports:
            - containerPort: 9240

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Separate Deployment

Deploy the exporter separately when monitoring multiple Tinyproxy instances.

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Troubleshooting

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Exporter Cannot Connect

If the exporter shows tinyproxy_up 0:
  1. Verify Tinyproxy is running: curl http://tinyproxy:8888/
  2. Check Tinyproxy stats are enabled in config
  3. Verify network connectivity between exporter and Tinyproxy
  4. Check firewall rules and network policies

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No Metrics Appearing

  1. Check exporter logs: kubectl logs deployment/tinyproxy-exporter
  2. Verify ServiceMonitor labels match Prometheus selector
  3. Check Prometheus targets page for scrape errors

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Resources

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