Netdata provides a real-time, highly detailed web dashboard showing CPU, memory, disk, network, and per-process metrics with almost no configuration required — ideal for quickly understanding what's actually happening on your VPS at any moment.
Prerequisites
- Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 or Debian 11/12 VPS
- Root or sudo access
Step 1 — Install Netdata Using the Official Script
wget -O /tmp/netdata-kickstart.sh https://get.netdata.cloud/kickstart.sh
sh /tmp/netdata-kickstart.sh
Step 2 — Verify the Service Is Running
sudo systemctl status netdata
Step 3 — Access the Dashboard
By default, Netdata listens on port 19999:
http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:19999
Step 4 — Restrict Public Access (Important)
The dashboard shouldn't be publicly exposed by default — restrict it to trusted IPs at the firewall level:
sudo ufw deny 19999/tcp
sudo ufw allow from YOUR_TRUSTED_IP to any port 19999
Alternative: Access via Nginx Reverse Proxy with Authentication
location /netdata/ {
auth_basic "Restricted";
auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd;
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:19999/;
}
What Netdata Shows Out of the Box
- Per-core CPU usage
- Memory usage, including cache/buffer breakdown
- Disk I/O and space usage per mount point
- Network traffic per interface
- Per-process resource consumption
- Automatic detection of running services (Nginx, MySQL, Docker) with service-specific metrics
Configuring Alerts
Netdata includes sensible default alert thresholds out of the box (high CPU, low disk space, etc.). Customize them:
sudo /etc/netdata/edit-config health_alarm_notify.conf
Setting Up Email Notifications
sudo nano /etc/netdata/health_alarm_notify.conf
SEND_EMAIL="YES"
DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_EMAIL="[email protected]"
sudo systemctl restart netdata
Reducing Netdata's Own Resource Usage
On smaller VPS plans, Netdata's default data retention can use noticeable RAM. Reduce it:
sudo nano /etc/netdata/netdata.conf
[global]
history = 1800
sudo systemctl restart netdata
Common Errors
Dashboard inaccessible — confirm the firewall rule allows your specific IP on port 19999.
Netdata using significant CPU/RAM on a small VPS — reduce history retention and disable plugins for services you don't run, via /etc/netdata/netdata.conf.
Best Practices
- Never expose the dashboard publicly without authentication or IP restriction
- Configure alert notifications so you're proactively informed of issues
- Reduce retention/history settings on smaller VPS plans to limit overhead
Related Articles
- How to Check VPS Resource Usage (CPU, RAM & Disk)
- How to Set Up Uptime Monitoring for Your Website
- How to Configure UFW Firewall on a Linux VPS
