blackbox-exporter Installation Guide Installation Guide

blackbox-exporter is a free and open-source Prometheus exporter for probing endpoints. Blackbox Exporter allows blackbox probing of endpoints over HTTP, HTTPS, DNS, TCP and ICMP, essential for monitoring external services with Prometheus

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 128MB minimum

Storage: 100MB for installation

Network: Network access to probe targets

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 9115 (default blackbox-exporter port)

None

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 blackbox-exporter
sudo dnf install -y prometheus-blackbox-exporter

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=9115/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
blackbox_exporter --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install blackbox-exporter
sudo apt install -y prometheus-blackbox-exporter

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

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 9115

# Verify installation
blackbox_exporter --version

bash

# Install blackbox-exporter
sudo pacman -S prometheus-blackbox-exporter

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

# Verify installation
blackbox_exporter --version

bash

# Install blackbox-exporter
apk add --no-cache prometheus-blackbox-exporter

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

# Verify installation
blackbox_exporter --version

bash

# Install blackbox-exporter
sudo zypper install -y prometheus-blackbox-exporter

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=9115/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
blackbox_exporter --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install prometheus-blackbox-exporter

# Start service
brew services start prometheus-blackbox-exporter

# Verify installation
blackbox_exporter --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install prometheus-blackbox-exporter

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

# Start service
service blackbox_exporter start

# Verify installation
blackbox_exporter --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install prometheus-blackbox-exporter

# Or using Scoop
scoop install prometheus-blackbox-exporter

# Verify installation
blackbox_exporter --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/prometheus-blackbox-exporter

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

# Test configuration
blackbox_exporter --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable blackbox_exporter

# Start service
sudo systemctl start blackbox_exporter

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop blackbox_exporter

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart blackbox_exporter

# Check status
sudo systemctl status blackbox_exporter

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u blackbox_exporter -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add blackbox_exporter default

# Start service
rc-service blackbox_exporter start

# Stop service
rc-service blackbox_exporter stop

# Restart service
rc-service blackbox_exporter restart

# Check status
rc-service blackbox_exporter status

bash

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

# Start service
service blackbox_exporter start

# Stop service
service blackbox_exporter stop

# Restart service
service blackbox_exporter restart

# Check status
service blackbox_exporter status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start prometheus-blackbox-exporter
brew services stop prometheus-blackbox-exporter
brew services restart prometheus-blackbox-exporter

# Check status
brew services list | grep prometheus-blackbox-exporter

powershell

# Start service
net start blackbox_exporter

# Stop service
net stop blackbox_exporter

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

# Check status
Get-Service blackbox_exporter

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream prometheus-blackbox-exporter_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:9115;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name prometheus-blackbox-exporter.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name prometheus-blackbox-exporter.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/prometheus-blackbox-exporter.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/prometheus-blackbox-exporter.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://prometheus-blackbox-exporter_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 prometheus-blackbox-exporter.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://prometheus-blackbox-exporter.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName prometheus-blackbox-exporter.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/prometheus-blackbox-exporter.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/prometheus-blackbox-exporter.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:9115/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:9115/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend prometheus-blackbox-exporter_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/prometheus-blackbox-exporter.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend prometheus-blackbox-exporter_backend

backend prometheus-blackbox-exporter_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server prometheus-blackbox-exporter1 127.0.0.1:9115 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R prometheus-blackbox-exporter:prometheus-blackbox-exporter /etc/prometheus-blackbox-exporter
sudo chmod 750 /etc/prometheus-blackbox-exporter

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=9115/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 blackbox_exporter

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u blackbox_exporter -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep prometheus-blackbox-exporter)

bash

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

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

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/prometheus-blackbox-exporter-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop blackbox_exporter

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/prometheus-blackbox-exporter/prometheus-blackbox-exporter-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start blackbox_exporter

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u blackbox_exporter -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/prometheus-blackbox-exporter/prometheus-blackbox-exporter.log

# Check configuration
blackbox_exporter --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/prometheus-blackbox-exporter

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 9115

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 9115

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

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep prometheus-blackbox-exporter)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep prometheus-blackbox-exporter)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 9115

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  prometheus-blackbox-exporter:
    image: prometheus-blackbox-exporter:latest
    ports:
      - "9115:9115"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/prometheus-blackbox-exporter
      - ./data:/var/lib/prometheus-blackbox-exporter
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update prometheus-blackbox-exporter

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade prometheus-blackbox-exporter

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu prometheus-blackbox-exporter

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade prometheus-blackbox-exporter

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update prometheus-blackbox-exporter

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade prometheus-blackbox-exporter

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

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart blackbox_exporter

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/prometheus-blackbox-exporter

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

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/prometheus-blackbox-exporter

Official Documentation: https://docs.prometheus-blackbox-exporter.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/prometheus-blackbox-exporter/prometheus-blackbox-exporter

Community Forum: https://forum.prometheus-blackbox-exporter.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.prometheus-blackbox-exporter.org/best-practices

---

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

Related Monitoring Guides

Blackbox Exporter Installation Guide

mysqld-exporter Installation Guide

nagios Installation Guide