> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://services.validexis.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://services.validexis.com/monitoring/node-exporter-+-prometheus-+-grafana.md).

# 📊  Node-exporter + Prometheus + Grafana

In this guide, we’ll set up a monitoring system to collect metrics from all servers and visualize them in Grafana.

We will use a dedicated server to host **Prometheus**, **Grafana**, and **Node Exporter**, while only **Node Exporter** will be installed on other servers.

* **Prometheus** is an open-source time-series database written in Go. It pulls metrics from defined services, eliminating data queue bottlenecks and ensuring reliable monitoring.
* **Node Exporter** exports server metrics in a format compatible with Prometheus. While Prometheus supports many exporters, Node Exporter is ideal for server monitoring.
* **Grafana** is a web-based tool for visualizing time-series data from Prometheus and other databases. Although Prometheus has its own web interface, Grafana is recommended for advanced visualization.

The setup flow is as follows: **Node Exporter** collects server metrics → **Prometheus** stores the data → **Grafana** visualizes it in dashboards.

## *Node Exporter*

#### ***Install and Set Up Node Exporter***

```bash
# Download and extract Node Exporter
cd $HOME && \
wget https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases/download/v1.8.2/node_exporter-1.8.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz && \
tar xvf node_exporter-1.8.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz && \
rm node_exporter-1.8.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz && \
sudo mv node_exporter-1.8.2.linux-amd64 node_exporter && \
chmod +x $HOME/node_exporter/node_exporter && \
sudo mv $HOME/node_exporter/node_exporter /usr/local/bin && \
rm -Rvf $HOME/node_exporter/

# Create a system user with restricted permissions for Node Exporter
sudo useradd --no-create-home --shell /bin/false node_exporter
```

#### ***Create and Enable the\*\*\*\* ****`exporterd`**** \*\*\*\*Service***

```bash
# Create the systemd service file
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/node_exporterd.service > /dev/null <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=Node Exporter
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=node_exporter
Group=node_exporter
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/node_exporter
Restart=always
RestartSec=3
LimitNOFILE=65535

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
EOF

# Reload systemd, enable, and start the service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable node_exporterd
sudo systemctl restart node_exporterd

sudo systemctl status node_exporterd
```

<figure><img src="/files/nZHwAcgl5Bx42Nvouqxm" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### ***Verify Logs***

```bash
sudo journalctl -u node_exporterd -f
```

#### ***Access Node Exporter Metrics***

Open a web browser and navigate to:\
**`http://<server_IP>:9100/`**

Replace `<server_IP>` with the actual IP address of your server running `node_exporter`.

## *Prometheus*

#### ***Update Repositories and Upgrade Packages***

```bash
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
```

#### ***Install Necessary Utilities***

```bash
sudo apt install -y curl iptables build-essential git wget jq make gcc nano tmux htop nvme-cli pkg-config libssl-dev libleveldb-dev tar clang bsdmainutils ncdu unzip python3-pip
pip install yq
```

```bash
# Create a Prometheus User
sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash prometheus
sudo groupadd --system prometheus
sudo usermod -aG prometheus prometheus
```

#### ***Download and Install Prometheus***

```bash
# Create Necessary Directories
sudo mkdir /var/lib/prometheus
for i in rules rules.d files_sd; do sudo mkdir -p /etc/prometheus/${i}; done
mkdir -p /tmp/prometheus && cd /tmp/prometheus
```

```bash
#Download Prometheus
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/prometheus/prometheus/releases/latest | grep browser_download_url | grep linux-amd64 | cut -d '"' -f 4 | xargs wget
```

```bash
# Extract and Move Prometheus Binaries
tar xvf prometheus*.tar.gz
cd prometheus*/
sudo mv prometheus promtool /usr/local/bin/
```

```bash
# Check Installed Versions
prometheus --version
promtool --version
```

```bash
# Move Configuration Files
sudo mv prometheus.yml /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
sudo mv consoles/ console_libraries/ /etc/prometheus/
```

#### ***Create the Prometheus Service File***

```bash
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/prometheus.service > /dev/null <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=Prometheus
Documentation=https://prometheus.io/docs/introduction/overview/
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=prometheus
Group=prometheus
ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP \$MAINPID
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/prometheus \
--config.file=/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml \
--storage.tsdb.path=/var/lib/prometheus \
--web.console.templates=/etc/prometheus/consoles \
--web.console.libraries=/etc/prometheus/console_libraries \
--web.listen-address=0.0.0.0:9090 \
--web.external-url=

SyslogIdentifier=prometheus
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
```

> *You can replace the port `9090` with a custom port if needed (e.g., `8080`).*

#### ***Set Permissions***

```bash
for i in rules rules.d files_sd; do sudo chown -R prometheus:prometheus /etc/prometheus/${i}; done
for i in rules rules.d files_sd; do sudo chmod -R 775 /etc/prometheus/${i}; done
sudo chown -R prometheus:prometheus /var/lib/prometheus/
```

#### ***Start and Enable the Prometheus Service***

```bash
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable prometheus
sudo systemctl start prometheus
sudo systemctl status prometheus
```

<figure><img src="/files/qqvfYnFxZpKpptW78fQh" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### ***Access Prometheus***

Open a web browser and navigate to:\
**`http://<server_IP>:9090/`**\
Replace `<server_IP>` with the IP address of the server running Prometheus.

<figure><img src="/files/wZtYHjkmBzo06saxLH85" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="/files/0EEX5iVT0xVoNJPSdC1r" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### ***Add Additional Servers to Prometheus Configuration***

To monitor multiple servers, update the `prometheus.yml` configuration file with the relevant settings for each server.

#### ***Open the Prometheus Configuration File***

```bash
sudo nano /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
```

#### ***Add a New Job for Monitoring***

Here’s an example configuration for a job named `celestia-consensus` that monitors the target at `localhost:26660`.

<pre class="language-yaml"><code class="lang-yaml"><strong>- job_name: celestia-consensus
</strong>  static_configs:
  - targets: ['localhost:26660']
</code></pre>

<figure><img src="/files/WyMnEe5uOLclDNkrUqo0" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

You can replace `localhost:26660` with the IP address and port of the server or service you want to monitor.

For example, if monitoring another server:

```yaml
- job_name: my-second-server
  static_configs:
    - targets: ['192.168.1.100:9100'] 
```

#### ***Restart Prometheus***

Restart the Prometheus service to apply the new configuration:

```bash
sudo systemctl restart prometheus
```

#### ***Verify Prometheus is Running Properly***

Check the service status to ensure Prometheus is running without issues:

```bash
sudo systemctl status prometheus
```

#### ***Access Prometheus***

Navigate to **`http://<server_IP>:9090/targets`** in your web browser to see the list of active targets and ensure that the new job is being monitored.

## *Grafana*

#### ***Install Required Dependencies***

```bash
sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https software-properties-common wget
wget -q -O - https://packages.grafana.com/gpg.key | sudo apt-key add -
```

#### ***Add the Grafana Repository***

```bash
echo "deb https://packages.grafana.com/enterprise/deb stable main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/grafana.list
```

#### ***Create a User for Grafana***

```bash
sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash grafana
sudo groupadd --system grafana
sudo usermod -aG grafana grafana
```

#### ***Install Grafana Enterprise***

```bash
#Install Additional Utilities
sudo apt-get install -y adduser libfontconfig1
```

```bash
#Download and Install Grafana Enterprise
wget https://dl.grafana.com/enterprise/release/grafana-enterprise_9.3.2_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i grafana-enterprise_9.3.2_amd64.deb
```

#### ***Start and Enable the Grafana Server***

```bash
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable grafana-server
sudo systemctl start grafana-server
sudo systemctl status grafana-server
```

<figure><img src="/files/v9VsnZI7bAjoWDbnWU1f" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### &#x20;***Access Grafana***

Open a web browser and navigate to:\
**`http://<server_IP>:3000`**

Replace `<server_IP>` with your server's IP address.

* Default **username**: `admin`
* Default **password**: `admin` (You will be prompted to change it after the first login).

<figure><img src="/files/2iDjRbICuWBZQRsVurqk" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

After changing the password, click "Configuration" and then "Data Sources".

<figure><img src="/files/g3O6tRZGYIdzZWZ8Hbw9" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Now click on Add data source and select the Prometheus data source.

<figure><img src="/files/NUrgpY5CWp5BwQ9JVKYZ" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="/files/Tx5s1MEXDr2KmEmn6cYi" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### ***Access Prometheus***

To access Prometheus, enter the **IP address** followed by port **9090** .

* If you are running **Prometheus and Grafana on the same server**, use:\
  **`http://localhost:9090`**
* If **Prometheus and Grafana are on separate servers**, enter the **IP address of the Prometheus server**, for example:\
  **`http://<Prometheus_IP>:9090`**

Replace `<Prometheus_IP>` with the actual IP address of your Prometheus server.

<figure><img src="/files/5N6lgGMZ3K40cwBmBof3" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Save the settings.

<figure><img src="/files/ESjHcSIkjoGMA44qxDGw" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### ***Download Grafana Dashboard JSON Files***

To set up dashboards in Grafana, you need the **JSON files** of the dashboards. These files can either be:

1. **Downloaded** from a public source like Grafana's [Dashboard Library](https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards/).
2. **Shared** by someone else.
3. **Created** by you directly in Grafana.

* If you’re using Grafana's library, search for the dashboard by its **ID** and download the JSON file.
* Once downloaded, you can **import** the JSON file into Grafana through the **Import Dashboard** option in the Grafana interface.

<figure><img src="/files/NIviW4kooZK1WqAfKQz2" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Now click on Import and then on Upload JSON file.

<figure><img src="/files/rwOpanE9SL61Px14P9ND" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Upload the JSON file you downloaded earlier, then select the Prometheus data source you just configured and click the +Import button.

<figure><img src="/files/1OnZMm4PVX21SDxbp09w" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Now you have a fully functional monitoring system that can scale to include additional servers and services as needed.