To set up system monitoring for a Linux VPS using Node Exporter, Prometheus, and Grafana Cloud Dashboard, follow these steps:
1. Install and Configure Node Exporter
Node Exporter collects system metrics from the Linux VPS.
- Download Node Exporter:
wget https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases/download/v1.9.0/node_exporter-1.9.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
- Extract and Move the Binary:
tar -xvf node_exporter-1.9.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo mv node_exporter-1.9.0.linux-amd64/node_exporter /usr/local/bin/
- Create a System User:
sudo useradd --system --no-create-home --shell /bin/false node_exporter
-
Set Up Node Exporter as a Service:
Create the service file
/etc/systemd/system/node_exporter.service:
sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/node_exporter.service
Add the following content:
[Unit]
Description=Node Exporter
Documentation=https://prometheus.io/docs/guides/node-exporter/
After=network.target
Wants=network-online.target
[Service]
User=node_exporter
Group=node_exporter
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/node_exporter
# Security Setting
ProtectHome=true
NoNewPrivileges=true
ProtectSystem=strict
PrivateTmp=true
PrivateDevices=true
ProtectKernelTunables=true
ProtectKernelModules=true
ProtectControlGroups=true
RestrictNamespaces=true
RestrictRealtime=true
RestrictSUIDSGID=true
# Resource limits
CPUQuota=10%
MemoryLimit=50M
LimitNOFILE=4096
LimitNPROC=4096
LimitCORE=100M
# Restart configuration
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
- Start and Enable Node Exporter:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start node_exporter
sudo systemctl enable node_exporter
sudo systemctl status node_exporter
-
Verify Node Exporter:
Ensure it is running on port
9100:
ss -aplnt | grep 9100
Ensure it is exporting metrices:
curl http://localhost:9100/metrics
2. Install and Configure Prometheus
Prometheus scrapes metrics from Node Exporter.
- Download Prometheus:
wget https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releases/download/v3.2.0/prometheus-3.2.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
- Extract and Move Files:
# Extract
tar -xvf prometheus-3.2.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
# Move Prometheus Binaries to System Path
sudo mv prometheus-3.2.0.linux-amd64/prometheus /usr/local/bin/
sudo mv prometheus-3.2.0.linux-amd64/promtool /usr/local/bin/
# Create Configuration and Data Directories
sudo mkdir -p /etc/prometheus /var/lib/prometheus
sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/prometheus/data
sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/prometheus/query_log
# Move Configuration File
sudo mv prometheus-3.2.0.linux-amd64/prometheus.yml /etc/prometheus/
-
Edit the Configuration File (
/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml): Run the command below to open the file:
sudo vim /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
Add the Node Exporter's target:
scrape_configs:
- job_name: 'node_exporter'
static_configs:
- targets: ['localhost:9100']
scrape_interval: 5s
scrape_timeout: 5s
- Set Up Prometheus as a Service: Create a system user:
sudo useradd -rs /bin/false prometheus
Set required file permission:
sudo chown prometheus:prometheus /etc/prometheus
sudo chown prometheus:prometheus /var/lib/prometheus
sudo chown prometheus:prometheus /usr/local/bin/prometheus
sudo chown prometheus:prometheus /usr/local/bin/promtool
sudo chown prometheus:prometheus /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
sudo chown -R prometheus:prometheus /var/lib/prometheus
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/lib/prometheus
Create /etc/systemd/system/prometheus.service:
sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/prometheus.service
Add this content:
[Unit]
Description=Prometheus Monitoring System
Documentation=https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/installation/
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target
[Service]
Type=simple
User=prometheus
Group=prometheus
WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/prometheus
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/prometheus \
--config.file=/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml \
--storage.tsdb.path=/var/lib/prometheus/data \
--web.console.templates=/etc/prometheus/consoles \
--web.console.libraries=/etc/prometheus/console_libraries \
--query.lookback-delta=5m \
--enable-feature=memory-snapshot-on-shutdown
# Security Settings
ProtectHome=true
NoNewPrivileges=true
ProtectSystem=false
PrivateTmp=true
PrivateDevices=true
ProtectKernelTunables=true
ProtectKernelModules=true
ProtectControlGroups=true
RestrictNamespaces=true
RestrictRealtime=true
RestrictSUIDSGID=true
# Resource Limits
CPUQuota=10%
MemoryLimit=500M
LimitNOFILE=65535
LimitNPROC=4096
LimitCORE=infinity
# Restart Configuration
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
- Start and Enable Prometheus:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start prometheus
sudo systemctl enable prometheus
sudo systemctl status prometheus
- Verify Prometheus:
Run the command below to verify its running :
ss -aplnt | grep 9090
curl localhost:9090/metrics
3. Set Up Grafana Cloud Dashboard
Grafana visualizes metrics collected by Prometheus.
-
Sign Up for Grafana Cloud:
- Create an account on Grafana Cloud (if you don’t already have one).
- Obtain your organization’s unique Prometheus remote write URL and API key.
-
Configure Prometheus for Remote Write:
Edit
/etc/prometheus/prometheus.ymlto include the remote write configuration:
remote_write:
- url: "https://prometheus-blocks-prod-us-central1.grafana.net/api/v1/write"
basic_auth:
username: "<your-grafana-cloud-instance-id>"
password: "<your-api-key>"
- Restart Prometheus: Apply the changes by restarting Prometheus:
sudo systemctl restart prometheus
-
Import Dashboards in Grafana Cloud:
- Log in to your Grafana Cloud instance.
- Add Prometheus as a data source using your remote write URL if its not available in data source.
- Import pre-built dashboards for Node Exporter (https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards/1860-node-exporter-full/).
4. Verify Setup
- Access Grafana Cloud at
https://<your-grafana-instance>.grafana.net. - View metrics such as CPU usage, memory consumption, disk I/O, etc., in real-time on your imported dashboards.
This setup provides comprehensive monitoring for your Linux VPS with minimal manual intervention123.
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