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Costa Tsaousis (ktsaou) committed
Mar 23, 2014 at 04:18 UTC
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README.md
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@@ -15,14 +15,34 @@ Example server with 20 interfaces:
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# How it works
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1. You run a daemon on your linux: netdata.
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-This deamon is written in C and is extremely lightweight.
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-What it does is that it reads /proc/net/dev and for every interface present there, it creates a JSON data file.
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-This JSON file contains all the data needed for the web graphs.
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-Since these files are created too often (e.g. once per second) it is adviced to put them on tmpfs.
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-The files have a fixed length, around just 3k for 60 seconds of graphs.
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+ This deamon is written in C and is extremely lightweight.
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+
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+ netdata:
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+
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+ - reads /proc/net/dev and for every interface present there it keeps in its memory a short history of its received and sent bytes.
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+ - generates JSON HTTP responses containing all the data needed for the web graphs.
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+ - is a web server. You can access JSON data by using:
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+
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+ ```
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+ http://127.0.0.1:19999/data/net.eth0
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+ ```
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+
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+ This will give you the JSON file for traffic on eth0.
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+ The above is equivalent to:
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+
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+ ```
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+ http://127.0.0.1:19999/data/net.eth0/3600/1/average
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+ ```
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+
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+ where:
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+
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+ - 3600 is the number of entries to generate (3600 is a default which can be overwritten by -l).
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+ - 1 is grouping count, 1 = every single entry, 2 = half the entries, 3 = one every 3 entries, etc
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+ - `average` is the grouping method. It can also be `max`.
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+
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2. On your web page, you add a few javascript lines and a DIV for every graph you need.
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-Your browser will hit the web server to fetch the JSON data and refresh the graphs.
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+ Your browser will hit the web server to fetch the JSON data and refresh the graphs.
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3. Graphs are generated using Google Charts API.
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@@ -41,48 +61,51 @@ Your browser will hit the web server to fetch the JSON data and refresh the grap
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```
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For this to work, you need to have persmission to create a directory in /run or /var/run or /tmp.
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-If you run into problems, try to become root to verify it works.
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+If you run into problems, try to become root to verify it works. Please, do not run netdata are root permanently.
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+Since netdata is a web server, the right thing to do, is to have a special user for it.
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Once you run it, the file netdata.conf will be created. You can edit this file to set options for each graph.
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To apply the changes you made, you have to run netdata.start again.
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-The directory /run/netdata (or /var/run/netdata, or /tmp/netdata depending on your distro) is ready to be
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-served by a web server (it contains all files needed). Just link it to your htdocs and access it from your web browser.
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+To access the panel for all graphs, go to:
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+
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+ ```
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+ http://127.0.0.1:19999/
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+ ```
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+
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+
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---
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## Installation by hand
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-### download everything in a directory inside your web docs.
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-You don't need apache. Any web server able to provide static files will do the job fine.
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-
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### Compile netdata
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step into the directory you downloaded everything and compile netdata
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```sh
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-gcc -O3 -o netdata netdata.c
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+gcc -Wall -O3 -o netdata netdata.c -lpthread
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```
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### run netdata
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-Run netdata and instruct it to create json files in the current directory.
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+Run netdata:
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```sh
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-./netdata -d -l 60 -u 1 -o "`pwd`"
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+./netdata -d -l 60 -u 1 -p 19999
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```
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- -d says to go daemon mode
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- - -l 60 says to show 60 seconds of history
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- - -u 1 says to create json files every second
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- - -o sets the save path for the json files
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-
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-You should now have one .json file per interface you have active, in the current directory.
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-All these files are updated once per second.
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+ - -l 60 says to keep 60 history entries
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+ - -u 1 says to add a new history entry every second
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+ - -p 19999 is the port to listen for web clients
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### edit index.html
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Set in index.html the interfaces you would like to monitor on the web page.
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** REMEMBER: there are 2 sections in index.html to edit. A javascript section and an HTML section. **
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+### open a web browser
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+
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+ ```
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+ http://127.0.0.1:19999/
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+ ```
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-### hit index.html from a web browser
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-Enjoy real time monitor web graphs for your interfaces.
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