Featured resource
2025 Tech Upskilling Playbook
Tech Upskilling Playbook

Build future-ready tech teams and hit key business milestones with seven proven plays from industry leaders.

Check it out
  • Lab
    • Libraries: If you want this lab, consider one of these libraries.
    • Cloud
Google Cloud Platform icon
Labs

Docker Container Monitoring with Prometheus

Prometheus has exporters that are capable of easily exposing metrics for a variety of systems and infrastructures. Docker containers are a great way to manage your applications, and they can be monitored by Prometheus using cAdvisor. In this lab, you will have the opportunity to use cAdvisor to set up Prometheus monitoring for containers running on a Docker host.

Google Cloud Platform icon
Lab platform
Lab Info
Level
Intermediate
Last updated
Sep 03, 2025
Duration
45m

Contact sales

By filling out this form and clicking submit, you acknowledge our privacy policy.
Table of Contents
  1. Challenge

    Set Up cAdvisor to Expose Metrics
    1. Log in to the Docker server.

    2. Run cAdvisor in a container:

      docker run -d --restart always --name cadvisor -p 8080:8080 -v "/:/rootfs:ro" -v "/var/run:/var/run:rw" -v "/sys:/sys:ro" -v "/var/lib/docker/:/var/lib/docker:ro" google/cadvisor:latest
      
    3. Verify you can query cAdvisor for metrics:

      curl localhost:8080/metrics
      
  2. Challenge

    Configure Prometheus to Scrape Docker Container Metrics from cAdvisor
    1. Log in to the Prometheus server.

    2. Edit the Prometheus config:

      sudo vi /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
      
    3. Under the scrape_configs section, add a scrape configuration for cAdvisor:

      - job_name: 'Docker Containers'
        static_configs:
        - targets: ['limedrop-docker:8080']
      
    4. Restart Prometheus to load the new configuration:

      sudo systemctl restart prometheus
      
    5. Use the expression browser to verify you can see Docker container metrics in Prometheus. You can access the expression browser in a web browser at http://<PROMETHEUS_SERVER_PUBLIC_IP>:9090:

    6. Run a query to view some Docker container metric data:

      container_memory_usage_bytes{name=~"web."}
      
About the author

Pluralsight Skills gives leaders confidence they have the skills needed to execute technology strategy. Technology teams can benchmark expertise across roles, speed up release cycles and build reliable, secure products. By leveraging our expert content, skill assessments and one-of-a-kind analytics, keep up with the pace of change, put the right people on the right projects and boost productivity. It's the most effective path to developing tech skills at scale.

Real skill practice before real-world application

Hands-on Labs are real environments created by industry experts to help you learn. These environments help you gain knowledge and experience, practice without compromising your system, test without risk, destroy without fear, and let you learn from your mistakes. Hands-on Labs: practice your skills before delivering in the real world.

Learn by doing

Engage hands-on with the tools and technologies you’re learning. You pick the skill, we provide the credentials and environment.

Follow your guide

All labs have detailed instructions and objectives, guiding you through the learning process and ensuring you understand every step.

Turn time into mastery

On average, you retain 75% more of your learning if you take time to practice. Hands-on labs set you up for success to make those skills stick.

Get started with Pluralsight