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Prometheus collects and stores time-series metrics, while Grafana visualizes them in customizable dashboards — together forming the most widely used open-source monitoring stack, well-suited for monitoring multiple servers from a central location.

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 or Debian 11/12 VPS
• Root or sudo access
• At least 2 GB RAM recommended for the monitoring server

Step 1 — Install Prometheus

sudo useradd --no-create-home --shell /bin/false prometheus
wget https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releases/download/v2.53.0/prometheus-2.53.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar xvf prometheus-2.53.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo cp prometheus-2.53.0.linux-amd64/prometheus /usr/local/bin/
sudo cp prometheus-2.53.0.linux-amd64/promtool /usr/local/bin/
sudo mkdir /etc/prometheus /var/lib/prometheus
sudo cp -r prometheus-2.53.0.linux-amd64/consoles /etc/prometheus
sudo cp -r prometheus-2.53.0.linux-amd64/console_libraries /etc/prometheus

Check for the current version at Prometheus's official releases page and adjust the version number accordingly.

Step 2 — Create the Configuration File

sudo nano /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml

global:
  scrape_interval: 15s

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'node'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['localhost:9100']

Step 3 — Create a systemd Service

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/prometheus.service

[Unit]
Description=Prometheus
After=network.target

[Service]
User=prometheus
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/prometheus --config.file=/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml --storage.tsdb.path=/var/lib/prometheus

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now prometheus

Step 4 — Install Node Exporter (Collects Server Metrics)

wget https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases/download/v1.8.2/node_exporter-1.8.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar xvf node_exporter-1.8.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo cp node_exporter-1.8.2.linux-amd64/node_exporter /usr/local/bin/

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/node_exporter.service

[Unit]
Description=Node Exporter
After=network.target

[Service]
User=prometheus
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/node_exporter

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now node_exporter

Step 5 — Install Grafana

sudo apt install -y apt-transport-https software-properties-common
wget -q -O - https://packages.grafana.com/gpg.key | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb https://packages.grafana.com/oss/deb stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/grafana.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install grafana -y
sudo systemctl enable --now grafana-server

Step 6 — Access Grafana

http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:3000

Default login is admin/admin — you'll be prompted to change the password on first login.

Step 7 — Add Prometheus as a Data Source

In Grafana: Connections → Data Sources → Add data source → Prometheus, set the URL to http://localhost:9090.

Step 8 — Import a Pre-Built Dashboard

Grafana's dashboard marketplace has ready-made dashboards for Node Exporter (search for "Node Exporter Full") — import one by ID rather than building from scratch.

Step 9 — Restrict Access

sudo ufw deny 9090/tcp
sudo ufw deny 3000/tcp
sudo ufw allow from YOUR_TRUSTED_IP to any port 3000

Monitoring Multiple Servers

Install Node Exporter on each additional VPS, then add each as a separate target in prometheus.yml:

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'node'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['server1:9100', 'server2:9100']

Common Errors

Grafana shows "No data" — verify Prometheus is actually scraping successfully at http://localhost:9090/targets.

Node Exporter unreachable from a remote Prometheus server — confirm port 9100 is allowed through the firewall for the specific Prometheus server's IP.

Best Practices

• Never expose Prometheus or Grafana publicly without authentication/IP restriction
• Use pre-built community dashboards rather than building from scratch
• Set up alerting rules for critical thresholds, not just visual dashboards

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