A Guide to Monitor Linux Server using Prometheus and Grafana

running a lemmy instance has learned me a lot about devops already!

I love playing around with this, the lemmy instance was a great reason. lemmyfly.org doesn't have a lot of traffic yet, I think it can handle some more. Currently running on 2 vcpu/4gb ram.

After chatting to my devops colleague at work I wanted to set up a Grafana dashboard with metrics on the server. Seems it's pretty pretty doable!

• I installed prometheus node_exporter on my lemmy server
• I created a second server at my VPS. Very cheap, and don't think I'll be running the Prometheus/Grafana 24/7 so I'll just create a snapshot of it, destroy the server and re-create when wanted
• Created an internal private network so the instances can communicate without exposing ports to the public
• Installed Prometheus on the new prometheus server
• Installed Grafana
• log in to Grafana, admin:admin then change password
• Go to the Grafana home dashboard, click on + sign and click on Import. In Import via grafana.com, put the dashboard id 1860 (preset for all prometheus node_exporter metrics) and click on Load.
• Done!

Last 2 hours in the garden with a beer on the side, WFH FTW