diff --git a/docs/pages/setup/reference/metrics.mdx b/docs/pages/setup/reference/metrics.mdx
index bf8af9d749b81..786c054ab1552 100644
--- a/docs/pages/setup/reference/metrics.mdx
+++ b/docs/pages/setup/reference/metrics.mdx
@@ -132,10 +132,11 @@ Teleport Cloud does not expose monitoring endpoints for the Auth Service and Pro
 
 | Name | Type | Component | Description |
 | - | - | - | - |
-| `failed_connect_to_node_attempts_total` | counter | Teleport Proxy | Number of times a user failed connecting to a Node. |
+| `failed_connect_to_node_attempts_total` | counter | Teleport Proxy | Number of failed SSH connection attempts to a node. Use with `teleport_connect_to_node_attempts_total` to get the failure rate. |
 | `failed_login_attempts_total` | counter | Teleport Proxy | Number of failed `tsh login` or `tsh ssh` logins. |
 | `proxy_connection_limit_exceeded_total` | counter | Teleport Proxy | Number of connections that exceeded the proxy connection limit. |
 | `proxy_missing_ssh_tunnels` | gauge | Teleport Proxy | Number of missing SSH tunnels. Used to debug if nodes have discovered all proxies. |
+| `teleport_connect_to_node_attempts_total` | counter | Teleport Proxy | Number of SSH connection attempts to a node. Use with `failed_connect_to_node_attempts_total` to get the failure rate. |
 | `teleport_reverse_tunnels_connected` | gauge | Teleport Proxy | Number of reverse SSH tunnels connected to the Teleport Proxy Service by Teleport instances. |
 
 ## Teleport Nodes
diff --git a/lib/srv/regular/proxy.go b/lib/srv/regular/proxy.go
index cf11e7eed69e1..1b854fe7420fa 100644
--- a/lib/srv/regular/proxy.go
+++ b/lib/srv/regular/proxy.go
@@ -55,11 +55,19 @@ var ( // failedConnectingToNode counts failed attempts to connect to a node
 	failedConnectingToNode = prometheus.NewCounter(
 		prometheus.CounterOpts{
 			Name: teleport.MetricFailedConnectToNodeAttempts,
-			Help: "Number of failed attempts to connect to a node",
+			Help: "Number of failed SSH connection attempts to a node. Use with `teleport_connect_to_node_attempts_total` to get the failure rate.",
 		},
 	)
 
-	prometheusCollectors = []prometheus.Collector{proxiedSessions, failedConnectingToNode}
+	connectingToNode = prometheus.NewCounter(
+		prometheus.CounterOpts{
+			Namespace: teleport.MetricNamespace,
+			Name:      teleport.MetricConnectToNodeAttempts,
+			Help:      "Number of SSH connection attempts to a node. Use with `failed_connect_to_node_attempts_total` to get the failure rate.",
+		},
+	)
+
+	prometheusCollectors = []prometheus.Collector{proxiedSessions, failedConnectingToNode, connectingToNode}
 )
 
 // proxySubsys implements an SSH subsystem for proxying listening sockets from
@@ -405,6 +413,7 @@ func (t *proxySubsys) proxyToHost(
 		AddrNetwork: "tcp",
 		Addr:        serverAddr,
 	}
+	connectingToNode.Inc()
 	conn, err := site.Dial(reversetunnel.DialParams{
 		From:         remoteAddr,
 		To:           toAddr,
diff --git a/metrics.go b/metrics.go
index 49ed320c614a5..71e5a8dda0602 100644
--- a/metrics.go
+++ b/metrics.go
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@ const (
 	// MetricFailedLoginAttempts counts failed login attempts
 	MetricFailedLoginAttempts = "failed_login_attempts_total"
 
+	// MetricConnectToNodeAttempts counts ssh attempts
+	MetricConnectToNodeAttempts = "connect_to_node_attempts_total"
+
 	// MetricFailedConnectToNodeAttempts counts failed ssh attempts
 	MetricFailedConnectToNodeAttempts = "failed_connect_to_node_attempts_total"