Deploy Node Exporter as a Daemon Service

Introduction:

Node Exporter is a crucial tool in the realm of system monitoring, providing detailed metrics about the system’s health and performance. Deploying it as a daemon service ensures its continuous operation, making it accessible for monitoring solutions like Prometheus. Below is a step-by-step guide to seamlessly deploy Node Exporter as a daemon service on your Linux system.

This is a continuation from our previous blog, where we have deployed node exporter by running a script.

Step 1: Download the Latest Stable Release:

Begin by fetching the Node Exporter binary from the official GitHub repository using the wget command:

wget https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases/download/v1.5.0/node_exporter-1.5.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Step 2: Untar the Package

Unpack the downloaded archive using tar:

tar xvf node_exporter-1.5.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Step 3: Copy the essential Scripts

Copy the Node Exporter binary to the /usr/local/bin directory for system-wide accessibility:

sudo cp node_exporter-1.5.0.linux-amd64/node_exporter /usr/local/bin

Step 4: Create a Dedicated User:

Create a dedicated user to run the Node Exporter service securely:

sudo useradd node_exporter –no-create-home –shell /bin/false

Step 5: Adjust Permissions:

Craft a systemd service file to manage the Node Exporter service:

sudo chown node_exporter:node_exporter /usr/local/bin/node_exporter

Step 6: Configure Service File:

Insert the following content into the node_exporter.service file:

sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/node_exporter.service
[Unit]
Description=Node Exporter Daemon
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=node_exporter
Group=node_exporter
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/node_exporter

Step 7: Reload System Daemon:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Step 8: Start and Enable Service:

sudo systemctl start node_exporter
sudo systemctl enable node_exporter

Conclusion:

By following these steps, you’ve successfully deployed Node Exporter as a daemon service on your Linux system. This setup ensures that Node Exporter runs persistently, providing valuable system metrics for monitoring and analysis.