Monitoring

Server Monitoring with Prometheus and Grafana

Author :Liam K.
Date :March 08, 2026
Time :19 minutes

Architecture Overview

Node Exporter runs on monitored servers. Prometheus scrapes these metrics. Grafana visualizes and alerts on top of Prometheus data.

Step 1: Install Node Exporter on Target Server

bash

cd /tmp
curl -LO https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases/download/v1.8.2/node_exporter-1.8.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar xvf node_exporter-1.8.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo cp node_exporter-1.8.2.linux-amd64/node_exporter /usr/local/bin/
sudo useradd --no-create-home --shell /bin/false node_exporter || true

Step 2: Create systemd Service for Node Exporter

bash

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/node_exporter.service >/dev/null <<'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=Node Exporter
After=network.target
[Service]
User=node_exporter
Group=node_exporter
Type=simple
[...]

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Step 3: Install Prometheus and Grafana via Docker Compose

bash

mkdir -p ~/monitoring/{prometheus,grafana}
cd ~/monitoring

yaml

cat > prometheus/prometheus.yml <<'EOF'
global:
  scrape_interval: 15s
scrape_configs:
  - job_name: prometheus
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['localhost:9090']
  - job_name: node_exporter
[...]

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yaml

cat > docker-compose.yml <<'EOF'
services:
  prometheus:
    image: prom/prometheus:v2.54.1
    container_name: prometheus
    command:
      - '--config.file=/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml'
    volumes:
[...]

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Step 4: Add Prometheus Data Source in Grafana

Open Grafana at http://SERVER_IP:3000, log in with admin/admin, then add Prometheus at http://prometheus:9090.

Step 5: Import Dashboard

Import Node Exporter Full dashboard (ID 1860) and map it to your Prometheus data source.

Step 6: Create Basic Prometheus Alerts

yaml

cat > prometheus/alerts.yml <<'EOF'
groups:
  - name: node_alerts
    rules:
      - alert: HostHighCPU
        expr: 100 - (avg by(instance) (rate(node_cpu_seconds_total{mode="idle"}[5m])) * 100) > 85
        for: 10m
        labels:
[...]

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yaml

# Add to prometheus.yml
rule_files:
  - /etc/prometheus/alerts.yml

bash

# Mount alerts file in docker-compose and restart
# - ./prometheus/alerts.yml:/etc/prometheus/alerts.yml:ro
docker compose restart prometheus

"Monitoring is only useful if alerts are actionable and linked to an operational response."

Technical Author

Liam K.

System administrator and technical writer specializing in server infrastructure, security and deployment. Creating comprehensive guides to help you master server administration.