Obsidian/05.02 Networks/Configuring Prometheus.md

---

Alias: ["Prometheus"]
Tag: ["Computer", "Server", "Monitoring"]
Date: 2022-03-19
DocType: "Personal"
Hierarchy: "NonRoot"
TimeStamp:
location: [47.3639129,8.55627491017841]
CollapseMetaTable: Yes

---

Parent:: [[Selfhosting]], [[Configuring Caddy|caddy]], [[Server Tools]]

---

 

```button
name Save
type command
action Save current file
id Save
```
^button-ConfiguringPrometheusNSave

 

# Configuring Prometheus

 

```ad-abstract
title: Summary
collapse: open
This not runs through the installation and use of Prometheus as a monitoring tool.
Prometheus interacts better with json logs rather than common log language, which is caddy's output.
```

 

```toc
style: number
```

 

---

 

### Introduction

 

[Prometheus](https://prometheus.io/docs/introduction/overview/) is a free and open-source monitoring and alerting tool that was initially used for monitoring metrics at SoundCloud back in 2012. It is written in Go programming language.

Prometheus monitors and records real-time events in a time-series database. Since then it has grown in leaps and bounds and had been adopted by many organizations to monitor their infrastructure metrics. Prometheus provides flexible queries and real-time alerting which helps in quick diagnosis and troubleshooting of errors.

Prometheus comprises the following major components:

-   The main Prometheus server for scraping and storing time-series data.
-   Unique exporters for services such as Graphite, HAProxy, StatsD and so much more
-   An alert manager for handling alerts
-   A push-gateway for supporting transient jobs
-   Client libraries for instrumenting application code

 

---

 

### Installing Prometheus

 

#### Installing the main modules

But first, we need to create the configuration and data directories for Prometheus.

To create the configuration directory, run the command:

```ad-command
~~~bash
sudo mkdir -p /etc/prometheus
~~~
```

 

For the data directory, execute:

```ad-command
~~~bash
sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/prometheus
~~~
```

 

Once the directories are created, grab the compressed installation file:

```ad-command
~~~bash
wget https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releases/download/v2.31.0/prometheus-2.31.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz 
~~~
```

 

Once downloaded, extract the tarball file.

```ad-command
~~~bash
tar -xvf prometheus-2.31.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz
~~~
```

 

Then navigate to the Prometheus folder.

```ad-command
~~~bash
cd prometheus-2.31.3.linux-amd64
~~~
```

 

Once in the [directory move](https://linoxide.com/mv-command-in-linux/) the  `prometheus` and `promtool` binary files to `/usr/local/bin/` folder.

```ad-command
~~~bash
sudo mv prometheus promtool /usr/local/bin/
~~~
```

 

Additionally, move console files in `console` directory and library files in the `console_libraries`  directory to `/etc/prometheus/` directory.

```ad-command
~~~bash
sudo mv consoles/ console_libraries/ /etc/prometheus/
~~~
```

 

Also, ensure to move the prometheus.yml template configuration file to the  **`/etc/prometheus/`** directory.

```ad-command
~~~bash
sudo mv prometheus.yml /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
~~~
```

 

At this point, Prometheus has been successfully installed. To check the version of Prometheus installed, run the command:

```ad-command
~~~bash
prometheus --version
~~~
```

 

Output:

```ad-code
~~~bash
prometheus, version 2.31.3 (branch: HEAD, revision: f29caccc42557f6a8ec30ea9b3c8c089391bd5df)
build user: root@5cff4265f0e3
build date: 20211005-16:10:52
go version: go1.17.1
platform: linux/amd64
~~~
```

 

```ad-command
~~~bash
promtool --version
~~~
```

 

Output:

```ad-code
~~~bash
promtool, version 2.31.3 (branch: HEAD, revision: f29caccc42557f6a8ec30ea9b3c8c089391bd5df)
build user: root@5cff4265f0e3
build date: 20211005-16:10:52
go version: go1.17.1
platform: linux/amd64
~~~
```

If your output resembles what I have, then you are on the right track. In the next step, we will create a system group and user.

 

#### Permissions & User Management

It's essential that we create a Prometheus group and user before proceeding to the next step which involves creating a system file for Prometheus.

To  create a `prometheus` [group](https://linoxide.com/groupadd-command/) execute the command:

```ad-command
~~~bash
sudo groupadd --system prometheus
~~~
```

 

Thereafter, Create `prometheus` user and assign it to the just-created `prometheus` group.

```ad-command
~~~bash
sudo useradd -s /sbin/nologin --system -g prometheus prometheus
~~~
```

 

Next, configure the directory ownership and permissions as follows.

```ad-command
~~~bash
sudo chown -R prometheus:prometheus /etc/prometheus/ /var/lib/prometheus/$ sudo chmod -R 775 /etc/prometheus/ /var/lib/prometheus/
~~~
```

The only part remaining is to make Prometheus a systemd service so that we can easily manage its running status.

 

#### Configuring the service

Using your favorite text editor, create a systemd service file:

```ad-command
~~~bash
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/prometheus.service
~~~
```

 

Paste the following lines of code.


```ad-code
~~~bash
[Unit]
Description=Prometheus
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=prometheus
Group=prometheus
Restart=always
Type=simple
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

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


Save the changes and exit the systemd file.

Then proceed and start the Prometheus service.

```ad-command
~~~bash
sudo systemctl start prometheus
~~~
```

 

Enable the Prometheus service to run at startup. Therefore invoke the command:

```ad-command
~~~bash
sudo systemctl enable prometheus
~~~
```

 

Then confirm the status of the Prometheus service.

```ad-command
~~~bash
sudo systemctl status prometheus
~~~
```

![Check status of Prometheus services](https://linoxide.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-10-1003-Check-status-of-Prometheus-services.png)![Check status of Prometheus services](https://linoxide.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-10-1003-Check-status-of-Prometheus-services.png)

 

#### Configuration of user acccess

Finally, to access Prometheus, parameter your reverse-proxy ([[Configuring Caddy|caddy]]) to point back to the service.

It is accessible below, under internal port 9090:

```ad-address
https://prometheus.mfxm.fr
```

 


![prometheus dashboard](https://linoxide.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-10-1003-Prometheus-dashboard-1024x440.png)![prometheus dashboard](https://linoxide.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-10-1003-Prometheus-dashboard-1024x440.png)