Collectd Theshold plugin not warnings to rsyslog - collectd

Question

I am attempting to properly configure the collectd (5.4.2 ) plugins installed in FreeBSD 10.1. I expect based on my configuration included below to
see warning events in my /var/log/messages file which is managed by rsyslog
which writes this file for any facility reporting at warning level and above.
I do not receive any threshold warnings. I have used tools like "stress -c "
to force down the idle "jiffies".
I appear to be successfully collecting information based on using rrdtool lastupdate to display
/var/db/collectd/rrd/localhost/cpu-average/cpu-idle.rrd
/var/db/collectd/rrd/localhost/tail-messages/counter-os.rrd
I suspect this is something I am not quite getting right in the configuration declarations of tail, aggregate, Chain or threshold with respect to plugin,type and instance keywords.
In tail where I am looking for problems from various facilities I
think GaugeInc would be the more appropriate DSType but that is not
supported with my current collectd revision.
Appreciate any insights on what is likely a setup matter.
cat /usr/local/etc/collectd.conf
Hostname "localhost"
FQDNLookup true
BaseDir "/var/db/collectd"
PIDFile "/var/run/collectd.pid"
TypesDB "/usr/local/share/collectd/types.db"
#ReadThreads 5
#WriteThreads 5
#https://collectd.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
#https://collectd.org/wiki/index.php/Naming_schema
#A value is identified by a unique name, which we usually call The "identifier" consists of five parts, two of which are optional:
#host
#plugin
#plugin instance (optional)
#type
#type instance (optional)
# e.g. host "/" plugin ["-" plugin instance] "/" type ["-" type instance]
# localhost/cpu-0/cpu-idle
LoadPlugin syslog
<plugin syslog>
LogLevel warning
NotifyLevel "OKAY"
</plugin>
LoadPlugin cpu
LoadPlugin aggregation
<LoadPlugin df >
Interval 300
</LoadPlugin>
LoadPlugin interface
LoadPlugin load
LoadPlugin memory
LoadPlugin match_regex
LoadPlugin rrdtool
LoadPlugin threshold
<LoadPlugin tail >
Interval 60
</LoadPlugin>
<plugin "df">
FSType zfs
MountPoint "/"
#ReportInodes false
ValuesPercentage true
</plugin>
<plugin rrdtool>
DataDir "/var/db/collectd/rrd"
CacheTimeout 120
CacheFlush 900
</plugin>
<plugin aggregation>
<Aggregation>
Plugin "cpu"
Type "cpu"
SetPlugin "cpu"
SetPluginInstance "%{aggregation}"
GroupBy "Host"
GroupBy "TypeInstance"
CalculateAverage true
</Aggregation>
</plugin>
<Chain "PostCache">
<Rule> # send cpu values for aggregation
<Match regex>
Plugin "^cpu$"
PluginInstance "[0-9]+$"
</Match>
<Target write>
Plugin "aggregation"
</Target>
Target stop
</Rule>
<Target write> # Write everything else via rrdtool.
Plugin "rrdtool"
</Target>
</Chain>
<plugin "tail">
<File "/var/log/messages">
Instance "messages"
<Match>
# localhost/tail-messages/counter-ace
Regex "local1.(err|warn|alert|crit)"
DSType "CounterInc"
Type "counter"
Instance "ace"
</Match>
<Match>
Regex "local0.(err|warn|alert|crit)"
ExcludeRegex "smdr:"
DSType "CounterInc"
Type "counter"
Instance "postgres"
</Match>
<Match>
Regex "local4.(err|warn|alert|crit)"
DSType "CounterInc"
Type "counter"
Instance "mec"
</Match>
<Match>
Regex "local5.(err|warn|alert|crit)"
DSType "CounterInc"
Type "counter"
Instance "web"
</Match>
<Match>
Regex "(local6|local7).(err|warn|alert|crit)"
DSType "CounterInc"
Type "counter"
Instance "apache"
</Match>
<Match>
Regex "^.*$"
ExcludeRegex " local[0-7] "
DSType "CounterInc"
Type "counter"
Instance "os"
</Match>
</File>
</plugin>
#https://collectd.org/documentation/manpages/collectd-threshold.5.shtml
<Plugin "threshold">
<Plugin "interface">
Instance "eth0"
<Type "if_octets">
FailureMax 10000000
DataSource "rx"
</Type>
</Plugin>
<plugin "df">
<type "df">
Instance "/zroot/ROOT/default"
WarningMax 75
</type>
</plugin>
<Host "Hostname">
<plugin "aggregation">
<type "cpu-average">
Instance "idle"
WarningMin 17000
FailureMin 15000
Hits 1
</type>
</plugin>
<Plugin "memory">
<Type "memory">
Instance "free"
WarningMin 10000000
</Type>
</Plugin>
<plugin "load">
<type "load">
DataSource "midterm"
FailureMax 4
Hits 3
Hysteresis 3
</type>
</plugin>
<Plugin "tail">
Instance "messages"
<type "counter">
Instance "os"
WarningMax .001
</type>
<type"counter">
Instance "ace"
WarningMax .001
</type>
</Plugin>
</Host>
</Plugin>

Answer 1

The most common error with thresholds is to have a too restrictive filter. Try removing sections like Host, Instance etc. until you can see the notifications. Also you can use the unixsock plugin to PUTVAL fake values instead of trying to burn your system.