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Monitoring Infrastructure and Containers with Prometheus
Prometheus is able to monitor our infrastructure and applications at multiple levels: on the host itself, on any containers, and on the application. In this hands-on lab, we're going to address the first two options for monitoring: our virtual machine host and our containers. We'll first set up monitoring for our virtual machine by using Prometheus's Node Exporter, and then we'll set up container monitoring for the provided container using Google's cAdvisor. By the time we're done, we'll be able to view metrics across two levels of our system in Prometheus to track changes and view trends on our systems.

Lab Info
Table of Contents
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Challenge
Set up the Node Exporter.
Work on the application server.
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Create a system user:
$ sudo useradd --no-create-home --shell /bin/false node_exporter
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Download the Node Exporter from Prometheus's download page:
$ cd /tmp/ $ wget https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases/download/v0.17.0/node_exporter-0.17.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
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Extract its contents:
$ tar -xvf node_exporter-0.17.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
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Move into the newly-created directory:
$ cd node_exporter-0.17.0.linux-amd64/
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Move the provided binary:
$ sudo mv node_exporter /usr/local/bin/
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Set the ownership:
$ sudo chown node_exporter:node_exporter /usr/local/bin/node_exporter
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Create a systemd service file:
$ sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/node_exporter.service [Unit] Description=Node Exporter After=network.target [Service] User=node_exporter Group=node_exporter Type=simple ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/node_exporter [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
Save and exit when done.
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Start the Node Exporter:
$ sudo systemctl start node_exporter
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Challenge
Set up cAdvisor.
Work on the application server.
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Launch cAdvisor:
$ sudo docker run --volume=/:/rootfs:ro --volume=/var/run:/var/run:ro --volume=/sys:/sys:ro --volume=/var/lib/docker/:/var/lib/docker:ro --volume=/dev/disk/:/dev/disk:ro --publish=8000:8080 --detach=true --name=cadvisor google/cadvisor:latest
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List available containers to confirm it's working:
$ docker ps
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Challenge
Add the new endpoints to Prometheus.
Work on the monitoring server.
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Open the Prometheus configuration file:
$ sudo vim /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
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Add the Node Exporter and cAdvisor endpoints:
- job_name: 'node_exporter' static_configs: - targets: ['10.0.1.101:9100'] - job_name: 'cadvisor' static_configs: - targets: ['10.0.1.101:8000']
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Save and exit.
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Restart Prometheus:
$ sudo systemctl restart prometheus
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Check the Targets page on the web UI to ensure the endpoints are working.
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About the author
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.
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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.