---
title: How to Use Prometheus and Grafana for Server Monitoring
description: "Prometheus and Grafana are popular open-source tools for monitoring and visualizing server and application performance. Prometheus collects and stores metrics, while Grafana provides a beautiful dashboard for visualization. Here’s a guide to setting up server monitoring using Prometheus and Grafana…"
url: "https://truehost.com/support/knowledge-base/how-to-use-prometheus-and-grafana-for-server-monitoring/"
updated: "2024-11-02"
category: Cloud servers in Kenya
---

# How to Use Prometheus and Grafana for Server Monitoring

Prometheus and Grafana are popular open-source tools for monitoring and visualizing server and application performance. Prometheus collects and stores metrics, while Grafana provides a beautiful dashboard for visualization. Here’s a guide to setting up server monitoring using Prometheus and Grafana on a Linux server.

### Step 1: Install Prometheus

1. **Download Prometheus**:
   - Visit the Prometheus downloads page and copy the link for the latest release for your OS, or run:

```
wget https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releases/download/v2.40.0/prometheus-2.40.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
```

2. **Extract the Prometheus package**:

```
tar -xvf prometheus-2.40.0.linux-amd64.tar.gzcd prometheus-2.40.0.linux-amd64
```

3. **Move Prometheus binaries to `/usr/local/bin`**:

```
sudo mv prometheus /usr/local/bin/sudo mv promtool /usr/local/bin/
```

4. **Set up Prometheus configuration**:

- Create a directory for Prometheus configuration:

```
sudo mkdir /etc/prometheussudo mv prometheus.yml /etc/prometheus/
```

- Edit `prometheus.yml` to define targets:

```
global:
  scrape_interval: 15s
  evaluation_interval: 15s

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'prometheus'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['localhost:9090']
```

5. **Create a Prometheus systemd service file**:

```
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/prometheus.service
```

- Add the following:

```
[Unit]
Description=Prometheus Service
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=prometheus
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/prometheus --config.file=/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml --storage.tsdb.path=/var/lib/prometheus/

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

6. **Start and enable Prometheus**:

```
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start prometheus
sudo systemctl enable prometheus
```

7. **Verify Prometheus is running** by navigating to `http://<your_server_ip>:9090`.

### Step 2: Install and Configure Node Exporter

Node Exporter collects metrics from the server, such as CPU, memory, and disk usage.

1. **Download Node Exporter**:

```
wget https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases/download/v1.4.0/node_exporter-1.4.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
```

2. **Extract Node Exporter**:

```
tar -xvf node_exporter-1.4.0.linux-amd64.tar.gzsudo mv node_exporter-1.4.0.linux-amd64/node_exporter /usr/local/bin/
```

3. **Create a Node Exporter systemd service file**:

```
sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/node_exporter.service
```

- Add the following:

```
[Unit]
Description=Node Exporter
After=network.target

[Service]
User=prometheus
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/node_exporter

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
```

**4. Start and enable Node Exporter:**

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

5. **Configure Prometheus to scrape Node Exporter metrics**:

- Edit `/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml` to add Node Exporter as a target:

```
scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'node_exporter'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['localhost:9100']
```

6. **Restart Prometheus**:

```
sudo systemctl restart prometheus
```

### Step 3: Install Grafana

1. **Add the Grafana APT repository**:

```
sudo apt-get install -y software-properties-common

sudo apt-add-repository "deb https://packages.grafana.com/oss/deb stable main"

wget -q -O - https://packages.grafana.com/gpg.key | sudo apt-key add -
```

2. **Install Grafana**:

```
sudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get install grafana -y
```

3. **Start and enable Grafana**:

```
sudo systemctl start grafana-server
sudo systemctl enable grafana-server
```

4. **Access Grafana**:

- Open your browser and navigate to `http://<your_server_ip>:3000`. The default login is `admin` for both the username and password (you’ll be prompted to change the password after logging in).

### Step 4: Configure Grafana to Use Prometheus as a Data Source

1. **Add Prometheus as a data source**:
   - In the Grafana dashboard, go to **Configuration > Data Sources**.
   - Select **Add data source** and choose **Prometheus**.
   - Set the URL to `http://localhost:9090` and click **Save & Test** to ensure it’s connected.
2. **Create a Dashboard**:
   - Go to **+ > Dashboard** to create a new dashboard.
   - Select **Add New Panel** and choose metrics you want to visualize from Prometheus.

### Step 5: Create Alerts (Optional)

Grafana and Prometheus support alerting based on metric conditions. Here’s a basic setup for server load alerts:

1. **Configure Prometheus alert rules**:

- Create a new rules file for Prometheus

```
sudo vi /etc/prometheus/alert.rules
```

- Define an alert rule (e.g., high CPU usage):

```
groups:
  - name: example_alert
    rules:
      - alert: HighCPUUsage
        expr: node_cpu_seconds_total{mode="idle"} < 20
        for: 5m
        labels:
          severity: "critical"
        annotations:
          summary: "High CPU Usage Detected"
          description: "CPU usage has been above 80% for the last 5 minutes."
```

2. **Update Prometheus configuration to load the alert rules**:

- Edit `/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml` and add:

```
rule_files:
  - "/etc/prometheus/alert.rules"
```

3. **Restart Prometheus**:

```
sudo systemctl restart prometheus
```

4. **Set up Grafana Alerting** (for more advanced alerting):

- In Grafana, go to **Alerting > Notification channels** to set up notification channels (e.g., email or Slack).
- Define alert conditions in your Grafana dashboards, setting thresholds to trigger notifications.

### Step 6: Monitor and Visualize

With Prometheus and Grafana set up:

- **Check Prometheus** at `http://<your_server_ip>:9090` to ensure metrics are being collected.
- **View Grafana Dashboards** at `http://<your_server_ip>:3000` to see your data visualizations.

## Author's Final Word

By following these steps, you’ll have a fully functioning monitoring solution for your server. Prometheus and Grafana will gather and display metrics, helping you keep track of your server’s performance and set up alerts for proactive monitoring.