netdata Installation Guide Installation Guide

netdata is a free and open-source real-time performance monitoring. Netdata provides distributed, real-time performance and health monitoring with zero configuration, serving as an alternative to Datadog or New Relic

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 256MB minimum (1GB+ recommended)

Storage: 1GB for metrics storage

Network: HTTP/HTTPS for dashboard

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 19999 (default netdata port)

Port 8125 for StatsD

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install netdata
sudo dnf install -y netdata

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now netdata

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=19999/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
netdata -V

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install netdata
sudo apt install -y netdata

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now netdata

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 19999

# Verify installation
netdata -V

bash

# Install netdata
sudo pacman -S netdata

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now netdata

# Verify installation
netdata -V

bash

# Install netdata
apk add --no-cache netdata

# Enable and start service
rc-update add netdata default
rc-service netdata start

# Verify installation
netdata -V

bash

# Install netdata
sudo zypper install -y netdata

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now netdata

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=19999/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
netdata -V

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install netdata

# Start service
brew services start netdata

# Verify installation
netdata -V

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install netdata

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'netdata_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service netdata start

# Verify installation
netdata -V

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install netdata

# Or using Scoop
scoop install netdata

# Verify installation
netdata -V

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/netdata

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
netdata -V

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable netdata

# Start service
sudo systemctl start netdata

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop netdata

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart netdata

# Check status
sudo systemctl status netdata

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u netdata -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add netdata default

# Start service
rc-service netdata start

# Stop service
rc-service netdata stop

# Restart service
rc-service netdata restart

# Check status
rc-service netdata status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'netdata_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service netdata start

# Stop service
service netdata stop

# Restart service
service netdata restart

# Check status
service netdata status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start netdata
brew services stop netdata
brew services restart netdata

# Check status
brew services list | grep netdata

powershell

# Start service
net start netdata

# Stop service
net stop netdata

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service netdata
Stop-Service netdata
Restart-Service netdata

# Check status
Get-Service netdata

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream netdata_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:19999;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name netdata.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name netdata.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/netdata.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/netdata.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://netdata_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName netdata.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://netdata.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName netdata.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/netdata.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/netdata.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:19999/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:19999/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend netdata_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/netdata.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend netdata_backend

backend netdata_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server netdata1 127.0.0.1:19999 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R netdata:netdata /etc/netdata
sudo chmod 750 /etc/netdata

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=19999/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status netdata

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u netdata -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep netdata)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/netdata"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/netdata-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/netdata /var/lib/netdata

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/netdata-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop netdata

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/netdata/netdata-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start netdata

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u netdata -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/netdata/netdata.log

# Check configuration
netdata -V

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/netdata

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 19999

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 19999

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep netdata)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep netdata)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 19999

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  netdata:
    image: netdata:latest
    ports:
      - "19999:19999"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/netdata
      - ./data:/var/lib/netdata
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update netdata

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade netdata

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu netdata

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade netdata

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update netdata

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade netdata

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/netdata-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/netdata

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart netdata

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/netdata

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/netdata -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/netdata

Official Documentation: https://docs.netdata.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/netdata/netdata

Community Forum: https://forum.netdata.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.netdata.org/best-practices

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Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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