Installing Node_Exporter

Downloading The Package

Locate the appropriate package here and copy the URL (should be a Github link) for the below command:

wget LINK_GOES_HERE

Extract the package you downloaded via:

tar xvzf node_exporter-WHATEVER-VERSION-YOU-HAVE.tar.gz

Creating A User

Create a user for node_exporter without a home directory or shell login:

sudo useradd --no-create-home --shell /usr/sbin/nologin node_exporter

Relocating The Files/Directories

From the files extracted, copy the below to '/usr/local/bin/':

sudo cp node_exporter-WHATEVER-VERSION-YOU-HAVE/node_exporter /usr/local/bin/

Change ownership of those files to the node_exporter user:group that we created:

sudo chown node_exporter:node_exporter /usr/local/bin/node_exporter

Creating Systemd Service File

Creating the Service File

Create a .service file at the below location:

/etc/systemd/system/node_exporter.service

Input the below content into that new .service file:

[Unit]
Description=Node Exporter
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=node_exporter
Group=node_exporter
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/node_exporter \  # Make sure that each line of the ExecStart block ends in a \ EXCEPT for the final line
    --web.listen-address=:PORT            # Replace PORT with whatever the desired port number for node_exporter is, 9100 is default if this line is omitted

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Starting The Service

Reload the systemd daemons:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Start the node_exporter service:

sudo systemctl start node_exporter

Confirm the service started successfully via:

sudo systemctl status node_exporter

If the service is running, enable it so that it starts on every boot:

sudo systemctl enable node_exporter

We can also verify that it's listening/functioning with the below command:

curl http://localhost:PORT/metrics

Updating Prometheus Config

Within the prometheus.yml file, typically located here:

/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml

Add the following block under the 'scrape_configs:' section:

   - job_name: 'node_exporter'
     static_configs:
       - targets: ['localhost:PORT'] # Replace localhost and/or PORT with your actual host and/or PORT number

Reminder that indents, spacing, and punctuation are CRITICAL to get right, and should be in line with the rest of the .yml file

Once the prometheus.yml file has been updated, reload Prometheus via:

curl -X POST http://localhost:PORT/-/reload 
# Where localhost:PORT are the hostname and port number for Prometheus, NOT the node_exporter

Make sure to verify that this traffic is permissible through any firewalls that may be between any hosts/ports.

Node Exporter (Prometheus)

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