🚀 How to Install and Configure Node Exporter on Debian VPS

This article will provide a guide for how to install and configure Node Exporter on Debian VPS.

What is Node Exporter?

Node Exporter is a Prometheus exporter that collects and exposes hardware and OS-level metrics from Linux and Unix-like systems. It runs as a background service and makes these metrics available over HTTP, typically at http://localhost:9100/metrics, where Prometheus scrapes them for monitoring and alerting.

🔍 What It Monitors

Node Exporter gathers system-level metrics such as:

• CPU usage
• Memory usage
• Disk I/O and space
• Network statistics
• Filesystem metrics
• System load and uptime
• Hardware sensor data (if available)
• Systemd service states

✅ Key Features

• Lightweight & efficient: Minimal overhead, ideal for all server types.
• Easy integration: Works seamlessly with Prometheus and Grafana.
• Modular collectors: Can enable or disable specific metric collectors.
• Secure options: Supports TLS and basic auth (via reverse proxy or exporter wrappers).

🔧 Common Use Case

• Infrastructure monitoring: Paired with Prometheus and Grafana to build dashboards and alerting systems for your servers’ health and performance.

✅ Prerequisites

• A Debian VPS (Debian 10/Debian 11/Debian 12)
• Root or sudo access
• Prometheus server (optional, but needed for metrics scraping)

🛠️ How to Install and Configure Node Exporter on Debian VPS

To install and configure Node Exporter on Debian VPS, follow the steps below:

1. 🧩 Create a Dedicated User

   It’s best practice to run Node Exporter as a non-privileged system user.

   sudo useradd --no-create-home --shell /usr/sbin/nologin node_exporter

2. 📥 Download Node Exporter

   1. Find the latest version from the official releases page:
      https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases
   2. Download and extract:

      cd /tmp wget https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases/download/v1.8.1/node_exporter-1.9.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz tar -xzf node_exporter-1.9.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz

      Replace 1.9.1 with the latest version if needed.

   3. Move the binary to a system path:

      sudo mv node_exporter-1.8.1.linux-amd64/node_exporter /usr/local/bin/ sudo chown node_exporter:node_exporter /usr/local/bin/node_exporter

3. ⚙️ Create a Systemd Service

   Create a systemd service file to manage Node Exporter as a system service.

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

   Paste the following:

   [Unit] Description=Prometheus Node Exporter Wants=network-online.target After=network-online.target [Service] User=node_exporter Group=node_exporter Type=simple ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/node_exporter [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target

   Save and exit.

4. 🔄 Start and Enable the Service

   sudo systemctl daemon-reexec sudo systemctl daemon-reload sudo systemctl start node_exporter sudo systemctl enable node_exporter

   Check status:

   sudo systemctl status node_exporter

5. 🔓 Allow Port in Firewall

   By default, Node Exporter exposes metrics on port 9100.

   If ufw is enabled:

   sudo ufw allow 9100/tcp

6. 🔍 Test Node Exporter

   Open your browser or use curl to check if it’s running:

   http://:9100/metrics

   You should see a long list of metrics in plain text.

7. 🧲 Configure Prometheus to Scrape Node Exporter

   If you’re using Prometheus, add the target in prometheus.yml:

    - job_name: 'node_exporter' static_configs: - targets: [':9100']

   Reload Prometheus or restart the service:

   sudo systemctl restart prometheus

✅ Bonus: Secure Node Exporter with NGINX + Lets Encrypt

To secure Node Exporter with TLS (HTTPS), you’ll need to wrap it behind a reverse proxy like NGINX (since Node Exporter doesn’t support TLS natively). We’ll use Certbot to get a Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate.

✅ Prerequisites

• Domain name pointing to your VPS (e.g. metrics.example.com)
• Node Exporter running on localhost:9100
• Port 80 and 443 open in firewall

To secure Node Exporter with TLS using NGINX + Let’s Encrypt, follow the steps below:

1. 🧱 Install NGINX

   sudo apt update sudo apt install nginx -y

   Enable and start:

   sudo systemctl enable nginx sudo systemctl start nginx

2. 🧩 Configure Reverse Proxy for Node Exporter

   Create a new NGINX config:

   sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/node_exporter

   Paste this config (replace domain name):

   server { listen 80; server_name metrics.example.com; location / { proxy_pass http://localhost:9100/; proxy_set_header Host $host; proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr; } }

   Enable the site:

   sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/node_exporter /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ sudo nginx -t sudo systemctl reload nginx

3. 🔐 Install Certbot and Get SSL Certificate

   Install Certbot:

   sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

   Request SSL:

   sudo certbot --nginx -d metrics.example.com

   When prompted, choose to redirect HTTP to HTTPS.

4. 🔄 Auto-Renew SSL Certificate

   Let’s Encrypt certs are valid for 90 days. Add a cron job to auto-renew:

   sudo systemctl list-timers | grep certbot

   Certbot installs a timer automatically. To test:

   sudo certbot renew --dry-run

5. ✅ Test Access Over HTTPS

   Visit:

   https://metrics.example.com

   You should see Node Exporter’s /metrics output over a secure HTTPS connection.

🧪 Verify Metrics in Prometheus

1. Visit Prometheus web UI:
   http://prometheus.example.com:9090
2. Run a query like:

node_cpu_seconds_total

You should see live metrics.

Conclusion

You now know how to install and configure Node Exporter on Debian VPS.

Related:

• How to Install Prometheus on Debian VPS
• Top 10 Best Grafana Dashboards for Service Monitoring
• How to Deploy a Telegraf, InfluxDB and Grafana Stack on Debian VPS