> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://otel.fyi/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Memcached

> OpenTelemetry receiver for Memcached

# Memcached Receiver

![Status](https://img.shields.io/badge/status-beta-yellow)

**Available in:** `contrib`

**Maintainers:** [@jsirianni](https://github.com/jsirianni)

**Source:** [opentelemetry-collector-contrib](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/receiver/memcachedreceiver)

## Supported Telemetry

![Metrics](https://img.shields.io/badge/metrics-beta-green)

## Overview

## Configuration

The following settings are required:

* `endpoint` (default: `localhost:11211`): The hostname/IP address and port or, unix socket file path of the memcached instance
* `transport` (default: no default): Known protocols are "tcp", "tcp4" (IPv4-only), "tcp6"
  (IPv6-only), "udp", "udp4" (IPv4-only), "udp6" (IPv6-only), "ip", "ip4"
  (IPv4-only), "ip6" (IPv6-only), "unix", "unixgram" and "unixpacket".

The following settings are optional:

* `collection_interval` (default = `10s`): This receiver runs on an interval.
  Each time it runs, it queries memcached, creates metrics, and sends them to the
  next consumer. The `collection_interval` configuration option tells this
  receiver the duration between runs. This value must be a string readable by
  Golang's `ParseDuration` function (example: `1h30m`). Valid time units are
  `ns`, `us` (or `µs`), `ms`, `s`, `m`, `h`.
* `initial_delay` (default = `1s`): defines how long this receiver waits before starting.

Example:

```yaml theme={null}
receivers:
  memcached:
    endpoint: "localhost:11211"
    collection_interval: 10s
    transport: tcp
```

The full list of settings exposed for this receiver are documented in [config.go](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/receiver/memcachedreceiver/config.go)
with detailed sample configurations in [testdata/config.yaml](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/receiver/memcachedreceiver/testdata/config.yaml).

## Metrics

Details about the metrics produced by this receiver can be found in [metadata.yaml](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/receiver/memcachedreceiver/metadata.yaml) with further documentation in [documentation.md](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/receiver/memcachedreceiver/documentation.md)

## Metrics

| Metric Name                       | Description                                                                      | Unit           | Type          | Attributes      |
| --------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------- | ------------- | --------------- |
| ✅ `memcached.bytes`               | Current number of bytes used by this server to store items.                      | By             | Gauge         |                 |
| ✅ `memcached.commands`            | Commands executed.                                                               | \{commands}    | Counter       | command         |
| ✅ `memcached.connections.current` | The current number of open connections.                                          | \{connections} | UpDownCounter |                 |
| ✅ `memcached.connections.total`   | Total number of connections opened since the server started running.             | \{connections} | Counter       |                 |
| ✅ `memcached.cpu.usage`           | Accumulated user and system time.                                                | s              | Counter       | state           |
| ✅ `memcached.current_items`       | Number of items currently stored in the cache.                                   | \{items}       | UpDownCounter |                 |
| ✅ `memcached.evictions`           | Cache item evictions.                                                            | \{evictions}   | Counter       |                 |
| ✅ `memcached.network`             | Bytes transferred over the network.                                              | by             | Counter       | direction       |
| ✅ `memcached.operation_hit_ratio` | Hit ratio for operations, expressed as a percentage value between 0.0 and 100.0. | %              | Gauge         | operation       |
| ✅ `memcached.operations`          | Operation counts.                                                                | \{operations}  | Counter       | type, operation |
| ✅ `memcached.threads`             | Number of threads used by the memcached instance.                                | \{threads}     | UpDownCounter |                 |

## Attributes

| Attribute Name | Description              | Type   | Values                          |
| -------------- | ------------------------ | ------ | ------------------------------- |
| `command`      | The type of command.     | string | `get`, `set`, `flush`, `touch`  |
| `direction`    | Direction of data flow.  | string | `sent`, `received`              |
| `operation`    | The type of operation.   | string | `increment`, `decrement`, `get` |
| `state`        | The type of CPU usage.   | string | `system`, `user`                |
| `type`         | Result of cache request. | string | `hit`, `miss`                   |

## Configuration

### Example Configuration

```yaml theme={null}
memcached:
  endpoint: "localhost:11211"
  collection_interval: 10s
```

***

*Last generated: 2026-07-06*