docs: Update aggregator and processor docs (influxdata#15343)

docs/AGGREGATORS_AND_PROCESSORS.md

@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
-# Telegraf Aggregator & Processor Plugins
+# Aggregator & Processor Plugins
 
-As of release 1.1.0, Telegraf has the concept of Aggregator and Processor Plugins.
-
-These plugins sit in-between Input & Output plugins, aggregating and processing
-metrics as they pass through Telegraf:
+Telegraf has the concept of aggregator and processor plugins, which sit between
+inputs and outputs. These plugins allow a user to do additional processing or
+aggregation to collected metrics.
 
 ```text
 ┌───────────┐
@@ -37,19 +36,37 @@ metrics as they pass through Telegraf:
 └───────────┘
 ```
 
-Both Aggregators and Processors analyze metrics as they pass through Telegraf.
+## Ordering
+
+Processors are run first, then aggregators, then processors a second time.
+
+Allowing processors to run again after aggregators gives users the opportunity
+to run a processor on any aggregated metrics. This behavior can be a bit
+surprising to new users and may cause weird behavior in metrics. For example,
+if the user scales data, it could get scaled twice!
+
+To disable this behavior set the `skip_processors_after_aggregators` agent
+configuration setting to true. Another option is to use metric filtering as
+described below.
+
+## Metric Filtering
+
+Use [metric filtering][] to control which metrics are passed through a processor
+or aggregator.  If a metric is filtered out the metric bypasses the plugin and
+is passed downstream to the next plugin.
 
-Use [measurement filtering](CONFIGURATION.md#measurement-filtering)
-to control which metrics are passed through a processor or aggregator.  If a
-metric is filtered out the metric bypasses the plugin and is passed downstream
-to the next plugin.
+[metric filtering]: CONFIGURATION.md#measurement-filtering
 
 ## Processor
 
 Processor plugins process metrics as they pass through and immediately emit
 results based on the values they process. For example, this could be printing
 all metrics or adding a tag to all metrics that pass through.
 
+See the [processors][] for a full list of processor plugins available.
+
+[processors]: https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/tree/master/plugins/processors
+
 ## Aggregator
 
 Aggregator plugins, on the other hand, are a bit more complicated. Aggregators
@@ -58,12 +75,19 @@ minimum, maximum, or standard deviation. For this reason, all _aggregator_
 plugins are configured with a `period`. The `period` is the size of the window
 of metrics that each _aggregate_ represents. In other words, the emitted
 _aggregate_ metric will be the aggregated value of the past `period` seconds.
-Since many users will only care about their aggregates and not every single metric
-gathered, there is also a `drop_original` argument, which tells Telegraf to only
-emit the aggregates and not the original metrics.
 
-Since aggregates are created for each measurement, field, and unique tag combination
-the plugin receives, you can make use of `taginclude` to group
+Since many users will only care about their aggregates and not every single
+metric gathered, there is also a `drop_original` argument, which tells Telegraf
+to only emit the aggregates and not the original metrics.
+
+Since aggregates are created for each measurement, field, and unique tag
+combination the plugin receives, you can make use of `taginclude` to group
 aggregates by specific tags only.
 
-**Note:** Aggregator plugins only aggregate metrics within their periods (`now() - period`). Data with a timestamp earlier than `now() - period` cannot be included.
+See the [aggregators][] for a full list of aggregator plugins available.
+
+**Note:** Aggregator plugins only aggregate metrics within their periods
+(i.e. `now() - period`). Data with a timestamp earlier than `now() - period`
+cannot be included.
+
+[aggregators]: https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/tree/master/plugins/aggregators

docs/CONFIGURATION.md

@@ -348,6 +348,10 @@ The agent table configures Telegraf and the defaults used across all plugins.
   tag-filtering   via `taginclude` or `tagexclude`. This removes the need to
   specify those tags twice.
 
+- **skip_processors_after_aggregators**:
+  By default, processors are run a second time after aggregators. Changing
+  this setting to true will skip the second run of processors.
+
 ## Plugins
 
 Telegraf plugins are divided into 4 types: [inputs][], [outputs][],