A Guide on How to Use NGINX Prometheus Exporter

In the ever-evolving landscape of web servers, NGINX has emerged as a robust and efficient choice for serving web content. Monitoring the performance of your NGINX server is crucial for ensuring optimal functionality and identifying potential issues. One powerful tool for monitoring NGINX is Prometheus, and to facilitate this monitoring process, the NGINX Prometheus Exporter comes into play. This article will guide you through the steps of using the NGINX Prometheus Exporter to gather valuable insights into your NGINX server's metrics.

Prerequisites:

Before diving into the details, make sure you have the following prerequisites in place:

1. NGINX Installed: Ensure that NGINX is installed and running on your server.

2. Prometheus Installed: Have Prometheus installed on your system. If not, you can download it from https://prometheus.io/download/ and follow the installation instructions.

3. NGINX Prometheus Exporter: Download the NGINX Prometheus Exporter from the official GitHub repository: https://github.com/nginxinc/nginx-prometheus-exporter

Installation:

1. Download NGINX Prometheus Exporter:

   git clone https://github.com/nginxinc/nginx-prometheus-exporter.git
   

2. Build the Exporter:

   cd nginx-prometheus-exporter
   go build
   

3. Run the Exporter:

   ./nginx-prometheus-exporter
   

   This will start the NGINX Prometheus Exporter, making NGINX metrics accessible to Prometheus.

Configuration:

To configure NGINX to export metrics, add the following lines to your NGINX configuration file (usually located at /etc/nginx/nginx.conf or /etc/nginx/sites-available/default):

server {
    listen 9113;
    location /metrics {
        stub_status;
    }
}

This configuration tells NGINX to expose its metrics on port 9113.

Prometheus Configuration:

Now, update your Prometheus configuration (prometheus.yml) to scrape NGINX metrics. Add the following job:

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'nginx'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['localhost:9113']

This configuration tells Prometheus to scrape metrics from the NGINX Prometheus Exporter running on port 9113.

Verify and Explore:

1. Restart NGINX:
   After making configuration changes, restart NGINX for the changes to take effect.

   systemctl restart nginx
   

2. Check Metrics:
   Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost:9113/metrics. You should see a list of NGINX metrics in Prometheus format.

3. Explore in Prometheus:
   Access the Prometheus web interface (usually at http://localhost:9090) and run queries to explore NGINX metrics.

Congratulations! You have successfully set up and configured the NGINX Prometheus Exporter, allowing Prometheus to monitor and collect crucial metrics from your NGINX server. This insight into your server's performance can be invaluable for troubleshooting and optimizing your NGINX deployment.