Setting Up Node Exporter¶

Download Node Exporter¶

Begin by downloading Node Exporter using the wget command:

wget https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases/download/v1.7.0/node_exporter-1.7.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Note: Ensure you are using the latest version of Node Exporter and the correct architecture build for your server. The provided link is for amd64. For the latest releases, check here - Prometheus Node Exporter Releases

Extract the Contents¶

After downloading, extract the contents with the following command:

tar xvf node_exporter-1.7.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Move the Node Exporter Binary¶

Change to the directory and move the node_exporter binary to /usr/local/bin:

cd node_exporter-1.7.0.linux-amd64

sudo cp node_exporter /usr/local/bin

Then, clean up by removing the downloaded tar file and its directory:

rm -rf ./node_exporter-1.7.0.linux-amd64

Create a Node Exporter User¶

Create a dedicated user for running Node Exporter:

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

Assign ownership permissions of the node_exporter binary to this user:

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

Configure the Service¶

To ensure Node Exporter automatically starts on server reboot, configure the systemd service:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/node_exporter.service

Then, paste the following configuration:

[Unit]
Description=Node Exporter
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=node_exporter
Group=node_exporter
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/node_exporter
Restart=always
RestartSec=3

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save and exit the editor.

Enable and Start the Service¶

Reload the systemd daemon:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Enable the Node Exporter service:

sudo systemctl enable node_exporter

Start the service:

sudo systemctl start node_exporter

To confirm the service is running properly, check its status:

sudo systemctl status node_exporter.service