Obtaining req/s or connections/sec sent to a backend-server?

[Alex Flex]

Hello Nginx

I understand that nginx when uses as a reverse proxy does not allow me
to poll for stats regarding the amount of connections/requests sent to
backend servers. Id like to know if there is creative way I can do this
without parsing the logs ? I want to do this almost as a live feed and
parsing the logs would mean a very cpu intenstive job.

Iam sure many of us have been faced with the same dilema...
Perhaps a way to query the kernel network stack efficiently and directly
with the backend ips as keys?

Thanks
Alex