What is a monitoring system? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A monitoring system is a software or hardware component capable of continuously tracking and recording the states and operations of a system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why do we need a monitoring system? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In the past, administrators\/developers would only intervene when a system encountered errors. This led to numerous risks in troubleshooting or involved using only a few small tools that could not provide a comprehensive view, resulting in a waste of time and money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A monitoring system is a suitable solution, helping administrators\/developers easily track and assess the system comprehensively (analyzing CPU, RAM, disk, etc.), thereby building a stable system and quickly responding to any occurring incidents. Additionally, the centralized management feature of monitoring systems ensures that you will receive immediate notifications in case of any issues, helping you resolve them quickly, saving time, and providing peace of mind for the system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prometheus & Grafana Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Prometheus<\/strong> and Grafana<\/strong> are two widely used software tools in monitoring systems, addressing essential needs such as data collection, stability assessment, and early warning when one or more system targets encounter issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Originally developed at SoundCloud, Prometheus is an open-source system monitoring and alerting tool. In 2012, many companies and organizations supported Prometheus, leading to significant project growth and a large user base. Today, it’s no longer an independent project but is developed by numerous companies and utilizes Google’s GoLang source code. Prometheus is fully open-source and licensed under the Apache 2 License on GitHub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prometheus employs a powerful query language to pull metrics from nodes and then transfers data to Grafana for web-based visualization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prometheus includes a built-in exporter that outputs metrics about the Prometheus service to the URL: http:\/\/localhost:9090\/metrics. However, to obtain other metrics, Prometheus relies on third-party exporters or those developed by individual contributors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reactive problem-solving using small tools can lead to significant risks and a lack of comprehensive system oversight, resulting in time and cost inefficiencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grafana is a Container Monitoring Software solution offering a feature set and cost that is well-suited for both small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as larger corporations. Grafana is highly regarded by both users and experts in the DevOps Software field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grafana focuses on time-series data. You can visualize data or create alerts from existing data sources. In addition to Prometheus, Grafana can also utilize various other databases including Elasticsearch, InfluxDB, OpenTSDB, Graphite, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grafana is known for its built-in support for authentication and access control. You can also connect your Grafana instance to an external Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server or SQL server for better access control in enterprise settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key features of Grafana:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this section, we will create a basic dashboard to monitor a Windows server using Grafana and Prometheus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can use Prometheus via Docker or a pre-compiled binary file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We will use the pre-compiled binary file for Windows. After downloading and extracting, it will look like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u0110\u1ec3 s\u1eed d\u1ee5ng Prometheus, ch\u00fang ta m\u1edf file\u00a0prometheus.exe<\/strong>\u00a0\u1edf th\u1eed m\u1ee5c g\u1ed1c v\u00e0 truy c\u1eadp \u0111\u01b0\u1eddng d\u1eabn http:\/\/localhost:9090\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Similar to Prometheus, there are multiple ways to install Grafana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this case, we will install it through Windows: https:\/\/grafana.com\/grafana\/download<\/p>\n\n\n\n After downloading the installation file, please follow the instructions to install it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After installation, you can access the application at: http:\/\/localhost:3000\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grafana supports multiple data sources, so to integrate data from Prometheus, you’ll need to add a new data source. To do this, navigate to: http:\/\/localhost:3000\/datasources\/new (Configuration -> Data Source -> Add data source).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then select Prometheus, fill in the configuration information (URL), and save.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To monitor Windows Server, we need to utilize a third-party tool: windows_exporter (wmi_exporter) to enable Prometheus to collect metrics. For more details, please refer to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/github.com\/prometheus-community\/windows_exporter<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Step 1: Download the latest version of wmi_exporter from:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/github.com\/prometheus-community\/windows_exporter\/releases<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are 2 versions of wmi_exporter:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We will install via CMD. After downloading, open CMD and run the following command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n After installation, there will be a service called ‘windows_exporter’ running in the Services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Step 2: Check Metric<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Access the link http:\/\/localhost:9182<\/p>\n\n\n\n Step 3: Create a job in Prometheus to monitor Windows Server<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Edit the prometheus.yml file, and add the following content:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s the result:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Step 4: Restart Prometheus Application<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After restarting Prometheus, we access the URL http:\/\/localhost:9090\/targets (Status\/Targets) again. We will see 2 jobs running:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Step 5: Create a Windows Server Monitoring Dashboard on Grafana<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This step describes how to use the import function to import a pre-built dashboard. You can find various dashboards on the Grafana website at the following link:<\/p>\n\n\n\nPrometheus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/1-1.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nGrafana<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/2.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
Creating a simple Dashboard with Grafana and Prometheus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/3.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSet up Prometheus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/4-1024x643.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/5.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/6.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nInstalling Grafana<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/8-1024x652.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/9.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/10-1024x555.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nConnecting Grafana to Prometheus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/11-1024x555.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/12-1024x555.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nMonitoring Windows Server<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/13.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/14.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
msiexec \/i windows_exporter-0.16.0-amd64.msi ENABLED_COLLECTORS=\"ad,adfs,cache,cpu,cpu_info,cs,container,dfsr,dhcp,dns,fsrmquota,iis,logical_disk,logon,memory,msmq,mssql,netframework_clrexceptions,netframework_clrinterop,netframework_clrjit,netframework_clrloading,netframework_clrlocksandthreads,netframework_clrmemory,netframework_clrremoting,netframework_clrsecurity,net,os,process,remote_fx,service,tcp,time,vmware\" TEXTFILE_DIR=\"C:\\custom_metrics\"<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/15.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/16-1024x154.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n - job_name: 'windows'<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n static_configs:<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n - targets: ['localhost:9182']<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n labels: <\/code> <\/p>\n\n\n\nhostname: DC01<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n type: windows<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n company: XYZDG<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/17.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/18-1024x287.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/19-1024x555.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/8dd96b57354fc7cf8374e6613675c8680aa7de06d99129e0c420db16fd743a48-image-1024x564.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/20-1024x555.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/21-1024x619.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n