# Procstat collect num\_fds and io metrics permissions denied

**URL:** <https://community.influxdata.com/t/procstat-collect-num-fds-and-io-metrics-permissions-denied/5226>\
**Category:** Telegraf\
**Tags:** telegraf\
**Created:** [May 18, 2018, 3:54am UTC](https://community.influxdata.com/t/procstat-collect-num-fds-and-io-metrics-permissions-denied/5226 "2018-05-18T03:54:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pytimer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@pytimer](https://community.influxdata.com/u/pytimer)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 3:54am UTC](https://community.influxdata.com/t/procstat-collect-num-fds-and-io-metrics-permissions-denied/5226/1 "2018-05-18T03:54:54Z")

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I use telegraf version 1.6.1 to gather vm processes metrics, when install by rpm, num\_fds and io metrics are missing in the resulting output. i see telegraf github issues [procstat permission denied · Issue #517 · influxdata/telegraf · GitHub](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/issues/517), [Missing fields in procstat output · Issue #2403 · influxdata/telegraf · GitHub](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/issues/2403) , but that running telegraf as root solves the issue, another ansower to solve this issue?

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**Author:** ![prandelicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@prandelicious](https://community.influxdata.com/u/prandelicious)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 10:22am UTC](https://community.influxdata.com/t/procstat-collect-num-fds-and-io-metrics-permissions-denied/5226/2 "2018-12-20T10:22:37Z")

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I tried setting `CAP_SYS_ADMIN` to telegraf using `setcap` but it didn’t work. The only time it worked was when I ran it as root.

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**Author:** ![acebailey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/34f0e0/32.png) [@acebailey](https://community.influxdata.com/u/acebailey)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 6:17pm UTC](https://community.influxdata.com/t/procstat-collect-num-fds-and-io-metrics-permissions-denied/5226/3 "2023-05-04T18:17:32Z")

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Did anyone elver find a fix for this?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jpowers](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex023/user_avatar/community.influxdata.com/jpowers/32/8569_2.png) [@jpowers](https://community.influxdata.com/u/jpowers)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 8:13pm UTC](https://community.influxdata.com/t/procstat-collect-num-fds-and-io-metrics-permissions-denied/5226/4 "2023-05-04T20:13:46Z")

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There is no fix (at least that I am aware of 🙂 ). In Linux, the nubmer of fds comes from the files found under `/proc/$PID/fd`. That directory is read only for root. Here is an example from my system:

```auto
dr-x------ 2 root root 7 May 4 14:08 fd

```

Meaning you must be root to access this data. Telegraf uses [gopsutil](https://github.com/shirou/gopsutil/pull/412/files) to find the number of FDs based on the number of files listed in that directory.

`CAP_SYS_ADMIN` is used to do a number of “admin” operations and is commonly used for namespace operations. Should not apply here.