Node Exporter Setup for Metrics Collection in Prometheus

This document describes how to install and configure the Node Exporter on a server so that metrics can be collected by Prometheus.

Step 1: Install Node Exporter

1. Download the latest version of Node Exporter:

   wget https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases/download/v1.8.2/node_exporter-1.8.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz
   

   (can be found here: Node Exporter Download)

2. Extract the downloaded file:

   tar xvfz node_exporter-1.8.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz

3. Move it to a common directory:

   mv node_exporter-1.8.2.linux-amd64/node_exporter /usr/local/bin/

Step 2: Configure Node Exporter as a Service

1. Create a service file for Node Exporter:

   nano /etc/systemd/system/node_exporter.service

2. Add the configurations to the file:

   [Unit]
   Description=Node Exporter
   Wants=network-online.target
   After=network-online.target
   
   [Service]
   User=node_exporter
   ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/node_exporter
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=default.target

3. Create the user and adjust permissions:

   useradd -rs /bin/false node_exporter

4. Start the service, enable it to start automatically, and check the status:

   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   sudo systemctl start node_exporter
   sudo systemctl enable node_exporter
   sudo systemctl status node_exporter

Step 3: Add the configuration on the Prometheus Server

1. In the prometheus.yml file, add your job configuration in the scrape_configs section:

   - job_name: "node_exporter"
     static_configs:
       - targets: ["SERVER_IP:9100"]

2. Restart the service:

   sudo systemctl restart prometheus

This README.md file provides all the necessary information to set up the Node Exporter on a server and integrate it with Prometheus.