# Metrics

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> [!NOTE]
> This plugin can be enabled and configured with the [ServicePlatform Connector plugin](/platform/connecting.md).

> [!NOTE]
> Starting with version 8, NServiceBus supports [OpenTelemetry](https://opentelemetry.io/) as an alternative to the `NServiceBus.Metrics` package. See the [NServiceBus OpenTelemetry documentation](/nservicebus/operations/opentelemetry.md) for further information.

The Metrics plugin collects metric data about the performance of running endpoints. This data can be forwarded to a ServiceControl monitoring instance and viewed in ServicePulse.

To see performance monitoring in action, try the [standalone demo](/tutorials/monitoring-demo/index.md).

For a full list of the performance metrics captured and their formal definitions, see [Metric definitions](definitions.md).

```mermaid
graph LR

subgraph Endpoint
  Metrics[Metrics<br>Plugin] -- Metric Data --> MetricsSC[Metrics<br>ServiceControl<br>Plugin]
end

MetricsSC -- Metric Data --> MQ

MQ[Monitoring Queue] -- Metric Data --> Monitoring[ServiceControl<br>Monitoring<br>Instance]

Monitoring -- Endpoint<br>performance<br>data --> ServicePulse
```

## Set up metrics

To enable collecting metrics in an environment:

1. [Install a ServiceControl monitoring instance](/servicecontrol/monitoring-instances/index.md)
2. [Install and configure the ServiceControl Metrics plugin in each endpoint](install-plugin.md)
3. (**MSMQ Transport only**) [Install the MSMQ queue length reporter in each endpoint](msmq-queue-length.md)
4. [View the performance data collected for endpoints in ServicePulse](in-servicepulse.md)

> [!NOTE]
> [NServiceBus monitoring setup tutorial](/tutorials/monitoring-setup/index.md) is an in-depth, step-by-step tutorial about installing and configuring everything to get the most out of performance monitoring. The metrics feature can't be used on send-only endpoints.


## Performance impact on system resources

A ServiceControl monitoring instance is more lightweight than a regular ServiceControl instance. However, hosting a monitoring instance and production endpoint instances on the same machine is not recommended.

### Wire usage

Each endpoint instance collects performance metrics, which are buffered and then sent. A single metrics message contains a batch of values written in a compact binary format, making reporting very lightweight.

### Storage usage

A Service Control Monitoring instance processes metrics. Metrics data is stored in RAM only, for at most one hour. Logfiles are still written to disk. A 100MB process can hold metrics data for at least 100 endpoint instances.

### CPU usage

The metrics service is only performing simple summing aggregation logic. The CPU usage is low.


## Reporting metric data to other places

- Metrics can be reported to [Windows Performance Counters](performance-counters.md).
- [Observing raw metric data allows reporting to any 3rd party metric database](raw.md).