185 lines
7.6 KiB
Markdown
185 lines
7.6 KiB
Markdown
# Monitoring multiple Linux hosts with Grafana Agent Role
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Monitoring with Grafana Agents across multiple Linux hosts can be difficult.
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To make it easier, you can use the Grafana Agent role with the Grafana Ansible collection.
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This guide shows how to use the `grafana_agent` Ansible role to deploy and manage Grafana Agents across multiple Linux hosts so you can monitor them in Grafana.
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## Before you begin
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Before you begin, you should have:
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- Linux hosts
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- SSH access to the Linux hosts
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- Account permissions sufficient to install and use Grafana Agent on the Linux hosts
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## Install the Grafana Ansible collection
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The [Grafana Agent role](https://github.com/grafana/grafana-ansible-collection/tree/main/roles/grafana_agent) is available in the Grafana Ansible collection as of the 1.1.0 release.
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To install the Grafana Ansible collection, run this command:
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```
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ansible-galaxy collection install grafana.grafana:2.0.0
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```
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## Create an Ansible inventory file
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Next, you will set up your hosts and create an inventory file.
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1. Create your hosts and add public SSH keys to them.
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This example uses eight Linux hosts: two Ubuntu hosts, two CentOS hosts, two Fedora hosts, and two Debian hosts.
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1. Create an Ansible inventory file.
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The Ansible inventory, which resides in a file named `inventory`, looks similar to this:
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```
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146.190.208.216 # hostname = ubuntu-01
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146.190.208.190 # hostname = ubuntu-02
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137.184.155.128 # hostname = centos-01
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146.190.216.129 # hostname = centos-02
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198.199.82.174 # hostname = debian-01
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198.199.77.93 # hostname = debian-02
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143.198.182.156 # hostname = fedora-01
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143.244.174.246 # hostname = fedora-02
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```
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> **Note**: If you are copying the above file, remove the comments (#).
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1. Create an `ansible.cfg` file within the same directory as `inventory`, with the following values:
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```
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[defaults]
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inventory = inventory # Path to the inventory file
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private_key_file = ~/.ssh/id_rsa # Path to my private SSH Key
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remote_user=root
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```
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## Use the Grafana Agent Ansible role
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Next you will create an Ansible playbook that calls the `grafana_agent` role from the `grafana.grafana` Ansible collection.
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To use the Grafana Agent Ansible role:
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1. Create a file named `deploy-agent.yml` in the same directory as `ansible.cfg` and `inventory` and add the configuration below.
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```yaml
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- name: Install Grafana Agent
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hosts: all
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become: true
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vars:
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grafana_cloud_api_key: <Your Grafana.com API Key> # Example - eyJrIjoiYjI3NjI5MGQxZTcyOTIxYTc0MDgzMGVhNDhlODNhYzA5OTk2Y2U5YiIsIm4iOiJhbnNpYmxldGVzdCIsImlkIjo2NTI5
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metrics_username: <prometheus-username> # Example - 825019
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logs_username: <loki-username> # Example - 411478
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prometheus_url: <prometheus-push-url> # Example - https://prometheus-us-central1.grafana.net/api/prom/push
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loki_url: <loki-push-url> # Example - https://logs-prod-017.grafana.net/loki/api/v1/push
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tasks:
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- name: Install Grafana Agent
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ansible.builtin.include_role:
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name: grafana.grafana.grafana_agent
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vars:
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grafana_agent_metrics_config:
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configs:
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- name: integrations
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remote_write:
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- basic_auth:
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password: "{{ grafana_cloud_api_key }}"
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username: "{{ metrics_username }}"
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url: "{{ prometheus_url }}"
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global:
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scrape_interval: 60s
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wal_directory: /tmp/grafana-agent-wal
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grafana_agent_logs_config:
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configs:
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- name: default
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clients:
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- basic_auth:
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password: "{{ grafana_cloud_api_key }}"
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username: "{{ logs_username }}"
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url: "{{ loki_url }}"
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positions:
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filename: /tmp/positions.yaml
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target_config:
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sync_period: 10s
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scrape_configs:
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- job_name: varlogs
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static_configs:
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- targets: [localhost]
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labels:
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instance: ${HOSTNAME:-default}
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job: varlogs
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__path__: /var/log/*log
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grafana_agent_integrations_config:
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node_exporter:
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enabled: true
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instance: ${HOSTNAME:-default}
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prometheus_remote_write:
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- basic_auth:
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password: "{{ grafana_cloud_api_key }}"
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username: "{{ metrics_username }}"
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url: "{{ prometheus_url }}"
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```
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The playbook calls the `grafana_agent` role from the `grafana.grafana` Ansible collection.
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The Agent configuration in this playbook send metrics and logs from the linux hosts to your Prometheus and Loki data sources.
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Refer to the [Grafana Ansible documentation](https://github.com/grafana/grafana-ansible-collection/tree/main/roles/grafana_agent#role-variables) to understand the other variables you can pass to the `grafana_agent` role.
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When deploying the Agent across multiple instances for monitoring them, It is essential that the Agent is able to auto-detect the hostname for ease in monitoring.
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Notice that the label `instance` has been set to the value `${HOSTNAME:-default}`, which is substituted by the value of the HOSTNAME environment variable in the Linux host.
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To read more about the variable substitution, refer to the Grafana Agent [node_exporter_config](https://grafana.com/docs/agent/latest/configuration/integrations/node-exporter-config/) documentation.
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1. To run the playbook, run this command:
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```
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ansible-playbook deploy-agent.yml
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```
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> **Note:** You can place the `deploy-agent.yml`, `ansible.cfg` and `inventory` files in different directories based on your needs.
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## Check that logs and metrics are being ingested into Prometheus and Loki
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Logs and metrics will soon be available in Grafana if your Promtheus and Loki datasources are added.
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To test this, use the Explore feature.
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Click the Explore icon (compass icon) in the vertical navigation bar.
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### Check logs
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To check logs:
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1. Use the dropdown menu at the top of the page to select your Loki logs data source.
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1. In the log browser, run the query `{instance="centos-01"}` where centos-01 is the hostname of one of the Linux hosts.
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If you see log lines (shown in the example below), logs are being received.
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![Logs](https://grafana.com/static/assets/img/blog/ansible-to-manage-agent1.png)
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If no log lines appear, logs are not being collected.
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### Check metrics
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To check metrics:
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1. Use the dropdown menu at the top of the page to select your Prometheus data source.
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1. Run the query `{instance="centos-01"}` where centos-01 is the hostname of one of the Linux hosts.
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If you see a metrics graph and table (shown in the example below), metrics are being received.
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![Metrics](https://grafana.com/static/assets/img/blog/ansible-to-manage-agent2.png)
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If no metrics appear, metrics are not being collected.
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### View dashboards
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Now that you have logs and metrics in Grafana, you can use dashboards to view them.
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Here's an example of one of the prebuilt dashboards included with the Linux integration in Grafana Cloud:
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![Dashboard](https://grafana.com/static/assets/img/blog/ansible-to-manage-agent3.png)
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Using the **Instance** dropdown in the dashboard, you can select from the hostnames where you deployed Grafana Agent and start monitoring them.
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