Install Netdata on VPS for Real-time Monitoring

June 2026 · 7 min read

Netdata is an open-source monitoring agent that collects metrics every 1 second and displays them through a real-time web dashboard — view CPU, RAM, Disk I/O, Network, Process, Container, and Application metrics all in one place without needing to set up a complex database or pipeline. Unlike Prometheus+Grafana which require multiple layers of configuration, Netdata installs with a single command and works immediately. This guide covers installation, setting up alerts, securing the dashboard, and exporting metrics to Grafana.

Why Use Netdata?

• 1-second Real-time: See problems the moment they happen without waiting for scrape intervals
• Easy Installation: Single script handles everything and supports Ubuntu/Debian/CentOS
• Auto-detect: Automatically discovers Nginx, MySQL, Docker, Redis and other services
• Low Memory: Uses approximately 100–200 MB of RAM while storing hours of historical data
• Built-in Alerts: Includes 200+ default rules and can send alerts to email/Slack/PagerDuty

Install Netdata

# Method 1 — Official installer script (recommended)
wget -O /tmp/netdata-kickstart.sh https://get.netdata.cloud/kickstart.sh
sh /tmp/netdata-kickstart.sh --stable-channel --disable-telemetry

# Method 2 — Install from apt (Ubuntu/Debian)
apt install -y netdata

# Enable and start the service
systemctl enable netdata
systemctl start netdata

# Netdata listens on port 19999 by default
# Open in browser: http://YOUR_VPS_IP:19999

Secure the Dashboard from Public Access

Netdata's default configuration opens port 19999 to everyone. You must secure this immediately using a reverse proxy.

# Edit the config file
nano /etc/netdata/netdata.conf

# Add to [web] section
[web]
    bind to = 127.0.0.1

# Restart Netdata
systemctl restart netdata

Set Up Nginx Reverse Proxy with Authentication

# Create password file
apt install -y apache2-utils
htpasswd -c /etc/nginx/.netdata_auth admin

# Create Nginx vhost
nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/netdata

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name monitor.yourdomain.com;
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name monitor.yourdomain.com;

    ssl_certificate     /etc/letsencrypt/live/monitor.yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/monitor.yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;

    auth_basic "Netdata Monitoring";
    auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.netdata_auth;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:19999;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    }
}

# Enable and reload
ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/netdata /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx

Enable Additional Plugins and Monitoring

Netdata auto-detects many services, but some require additional configuration:

# MySQL Monitoring — Create user for Netdata to read metrics
mysql -u root -p -e "CREATE USER 'netdata'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '';
  GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'netdata'@'localhost';
  FLUSH PRIVILEGES;"

# Edit plugin config
nano /etc/netdata/python.d/mysql.conf
# Add:
# localhost:
#   'user': 'netdata'
#   'pass': ''
#   'my.cnf': '/etc/mysql/my.cnf'

# Docker container monitoring
# Netdata auto-detects Docker if socket /var/run/docker.sock is accessible
usermod -aG docker netdata
systemctl restart netdata

Configure Alert Notifications

# View active alerts
/etc/netdata/health.d/

# Set up email alerts
nano /etc/netdata/health_alarm_notify.conf

# Edit email section:
SEND_EMAIL="YES"
DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_EMAIL="[email protected]"
SENDMAIL=/usr/sbin/sendmail

# Set up Slack webhook
SEND_SLACK="YES"
SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL="https://hooks.slack.com/services/YOUR/SLACK/WEBHOOK"
DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_SLACK="#alerts"

# Test the alert
su -s /bin/bash netdata -c "/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/alarm-notify.sh test"

Export Metrics to Prometheus + Grafana

# Enable Prometheus exporter in Netdata
nano /etc/netdata/exporting.conf

[prometheus:local]
    enabled = yes
    destination = localhost:9091
    # Or use native Prometheus endpoint directly at:
    # http://127.0.0.1:19999/api/v1/allmetrics?format=prometheus

# Add scrape config to Prometheus
# prometheus.yml:
# - job_name: 'netdata'
#   static_configs:
#     - targets: ['localhost:19999']
#   metrics_path: '/api/v1/allmetrics'
#   params:
#     format: [prometheus]

# Import Grafana dashboard ID 7107 (Netdata Overview)
# Or ID 2701 (popular Netdata dashboard)

Configure Log Retention to Reduce Memory Usage

# Edit history and memory mode
nano /etc/netdata/netdata.conf

[global]
    # Store 6 hours of history (default = 3600 seconds)
    history = 21600
    # Use dbengine instead of RAM to store longer history
    memory mode = dbengine

[db]
    # Disk space for dbengine (MB)
    dbengine multihost disk space MB = 512

systemctl restart netdata

Verify Netdata is Working Correctly

# Check service status
systemctl status netdata

# Verify listening port (should show 127.0.0.1:19999 after config change)
ss -tlnp | grep 19999

# Check for errors
journalctl -u netdata -n 50

# Test API health endpoint
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:19999/api/v1/info | python3 -m json.tool | head -20

# View all collected metrics
curl -s "http://127.0.0.1:19999/api/v1/charts" | python3 -c "import sys,json; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print(f'Charts: {len(d[\"charts\"])}')"

Common Issues & Troubleshooting

Error: "Cannot open /proc/net/dev"

This occurs when the kernel lacks procfs or when container privileges are too restricted.

# Check if procfs is mounted
ls /proc/net/dev

# For Docker containers, run with --cap-add SYS_PTRACE
docker run -d \
  --cap-add SYS_PTRACE \
  --pid=host \
  --network=host \
  -v /proc:/host/proc:ro \
  -v /sys:/host/sys:ro \
  netdata/netdata

Error: "netdata: command not found" After Installation

The installer adds a new PATH at /opt/netdata/usr/sbin/ — you need to reload your shell.

export PATH=$PATH:/opt/netdata/usr/sbin
# Or logout and login again

# Check actual location
which netdata || find /opt /usr -name netdata -type f 2>/dev/null

Error: "Permission denied" for MySQL Plugin

The netdata user lacks permission to read MySQL stats.

mysql -u root -p -e "GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'netdata'@'localhost'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;"

# Verify
mysql -u netdata -e "SHOW GLOBAL STATUS LIMIT 5;"

Dashboard Loads Slowly or Charts Are Missing

Usually caused by browser cache or proxy not forwarding WebSocket connections.

# Add to Nginx location block
location / {
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:19999;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
    proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
}

Netdata Uses Too Much RAM

Default configuration stores metrics in RAM. On low-memory servers, change to disk mode.

nano /etc/netdata/netdata.conf

[global]
    memory mode = save   # Write to disk instead of RAM
    history = 3600       # Reduce history to 1 hour

systemctl restart netdata
# Check RAM after restart
ps aux | grep netdata | awk '{print $6}' | head -5

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Netdata compare to Grafana+Prometheus?

Netdata excels at real-time troubleshooting — see data in 1-second intervals, easy setup, no complex pipeline. Prometheus+Grafana is better for long-term trend analysis, multi-server aggregation, and complex custom dashboards. They work together: Netdata exports metrics that Prometheus can scrape.

Does Netdata send data to the internet?

No by default — --disable-telemetry turns off telemetry during installation. If you use Netdata Cloud, you authenticate with a claim token, but metrics stay on your VPS and aren't uploaded to the cloud.

Does Netdata support container monitoring?

Yes, it automatically detects Docker and LXC/LXD containers — view CPU/RAM per container and see per-container network/disk I/O. Kubernetes requires a separate Netdata Helm chart.