Node Exporter

This document describes how to configure your Google Kubernetes Engine deployment so that you can use Google Cloud Managed Service for Prometheus to collect metrics from Node Exporter. This document shows you how to do the following:

  • Set up Node Exporter to report metrics.
  • Access a predefined dashboard in Cloud Monitoring to view the metrics.
  • Configure alerting rules to monitor the metrics.

These instructions apply only if you are using managed collection with Managed Service for Prometheus. If you are using self-deployed collection, then see the source repository for Node Exporter for installation information.

These instructions are provided as an example and are expected to work in most Kubernetes environments. If you are having trouble installing an application or exporter due to restrictive security or organizational policies, then we recommend you consult open-source documentation for support.

Prerequisites

To collect metrics from Node Exporter by using Managed Service for Prometheus and managed collection, your deployment must meet the following requirements:

  • Your cluster must be running Google Kubernetes Engine version 1.28.15-gke.2475000 or later.
  • You must be running Managed Service for Prometheus with managed collection enabled. For more information, see Get started with managed collection.

  • To use dashboards available in Cloud Monitoring for the integration, you must use node_exporter version 1.3.1 or later.

    For more information about available dashboards, see Install dashboards.

These metrics are already enabled for nodes in GKE Autopilot clusters.

Install Node Exporter

You can use the following configuration to install Node Exporter:

# Copyright 2022 Google LLC
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
# https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.
apiVersion:apps/v1
kind:DaemonSet
metadata:
namespace:gmp-public
name:node-exporter
labels:
app.kubernetes.io/name:node-exporter
app.kubernetes.io/version:1.8.2
spec:
selector:
matchLabels:
app.kubernetes.io/name:node-exporter
updateStrategy:
type:RollingUpdate
rollingUpdate:
maxUnavailable:10%
template:
metadata:
labels:
app.kubernetes.io/name:node-exporter
app.kubernetes.io/version:1.8.2
spec:
affinity:
nodeAffinity:
requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
nodeSelectorTerms:
-matchExpressions:
-key:kubernetes.io/arch
operator:In
values:
-arm64
-amd64
-key:kubernetes.io/os
operator:In
values:
-linux
containers:
-name:node-exporter
image:quay.io/prometheus/node-exporter:v1.8.2
args:
---web.listen-address=:8080
---path.sysfs=/host/sys
---path.rootfs=/host/root
---no-collector.wifi
---no-collector.hwmon
---collector.filesystem.ignored-mount-points=^/(dev|proc|sys|var/lib/docker/.+|var/lib/kubelet/pods/.+)($|/)
---collector.netclass.ignored-devices=^(veth.*)$
---collector.netdev.device-exclude=^(veth.*)$
ports:
-name:metrics
containerPort:8080
resources:
limits:
memory:180Mi
requests:
cpu:102m
memory:180Mi
volumeMounts:
-mountPath:/host/sys
mountPropagation:HostToContainer
name:sys
readOnly:true
-mountPath:/host/root
mountPropagation:HostToContainer
name:root
readOnly:true
hostNetwork:true
hostPID:true
securityContext:
runAsNonRoot:true
runAsUser:65534
volumes:
-hostPath:
path:/sys
name:sys
-hostPath:
path:/
name:root
---
apiVersion:monitoring.googleapis.com/v1
kind:PodMonitoring
metadata:
namespace:gmp-public
name:node-exporter
labels:
app.kubernetes.io/name:node-exporter
app.kubernetes.io/part-of:google-cloud-managed-prometheus
spec:
selector:
matchLabels:
app.kubernetes.io/name:node-exporter
endpoints:
-port:metrics
interval:30s

To apply configuration changes from a local file, run the following command: 

kubectl apply -f FILE_NAME

You can also use Terraform to manage your configurations.

Define rules and alerts

You can use the following Rules configuration to define alerts on your metrics:

# Copyright 2022 Google LLC
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
# https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.
apiVersion:monitoring.googleapis.com/v1
kind:Rules
metadata:
namespace:gmp-public
name:node-exporter-rules
labels:
app.kubernetes.io/component:rules
app.kubernetes.io/name:node-exporter-rules
app.kubernetes.io/part-of:google-cloud-managed-prometheus
spec:
groups:
-name:node-exporter
interval:30s
rules:
-alert:NodeFilesystemSpaceFillingUp
annotations:
description:Filesystem on {{ $labels.device }} at {{ $labels.instance }}
has only {{ printf "%.2f" $value }}% available space left and is filling
up.
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/nodefilesystemspacefillingup
summary:Filesystem is predicted to run out of space within the next 24 hours.
expr:|
(
node_filesystem_avail_bytes{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} / node_filesystem_size_bytes{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} * 100 < 15
and
predict_linear(node_filesystem_avail_bytes{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""}[6h], 24 * 60 * 60) < 0
and
node_filesystem_readonly{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} == 0
)
for:1h
labels:
severity:warning
-alert:NodeFilesystemSpaceFillingUp
annotations:
description:Filesystem on {{ $labels.device }} at {{ $labels.instance }}
has only {{ printf "%.2f" $value }}% available space left and is filling
up fast.
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/nodefilesystemspacefillingup
summary:Filesystem is predicted to run out of space within the next 4 hours.
expr:|
(
node_filesystem_avail_bytes{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} / node_filesystem_size_bytes{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} * 100 < 10
and
predict_linear(node_filesystem_avail_bytes{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""}[6h], 4*60*60) < 0
and
node_filesystem_readonly{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} == 0
)
for:1h
labels:
severity:critical
-alert:NodeFilesystemAlmostOutOfSpace
annotations:
description:Filesystem on {{ $labels.device }} at {{ $labels.instance }}
has only {{ printf "%.2f" $value }}% available space left.
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/nodefilesystemalmostoutofspace
summary:Filesystem has less than 5% space left.
expr:|
(
node_filesystem_avail_bytes{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} / node_filesystem_size_bytes{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} * 100 < 5
and
node_filesystem_readonly{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} == 0
)
for:30m
labels:
severity:warning
-alert:NodeFilesystemAlmostOutOfSpace
annotations:
description:Filesystem on {{ $labels.device }} at {{ $labels.instance }}
has only {{ printf "%.2f" $value }}% available space left.
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/nodefilesystemalmostoutofspace
summary:Filesystem has less than 3% space left.
expr:|
(
node_filesystem_avail_bytes{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} / node_filesystem_size_bytes{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} * 100 < 3
and
node_filesystem_readonly{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} == 0
)
for:30m
labels:
severity:critical
-alert:NodeFilesystemFilesFillingUp
annotations:
description:Filesystem on {{ $labels.device }} at {{ $labels.instance }}
has only {{ printf "%.2f" $value }}% available inodes left and is filling
up.
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/nodefilesystemfilesfillingup
summary:Filesystem is predicted to run out of inodes within the next 24 hours.
expr:|
(
node_filesystem_files_free{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} / node_filesystem_files{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} * 100 < 40
and
predict_linear(node_filesystem_files_free{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""}[6h], 24*60*60) < 0
and
node_filesystem_readonly{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} == 0
)
for:1h
labels:
severity:warning
-alert:NodeFilesystemFilesFillingUp
annotations:
description:Filesystem on {{ $labels.device }} at {{ $labels.instance }}
has only {{ printf "%.2f" $value }}% available inodes left and is filling
up fast.
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/nodefilesystemfilesfillingup
summary:Filesystem is predicted to run out of inodes within the next 4 hours.
expr:|
(
node_filesystem_files_free{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} / node_filesystem_files{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} * 100 < 20
and
predict_linear(node_filesystem_files_free{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""}[6h], 4*60*60) < 0
and
node_filesystem_readonly{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} == 0
)
for:1h
labels:
severity:critical
-alert:NodeFilesystemAlmostOutOfFiles
annotations:
description:Filesystem on {{ $labels.device }} at {{ $labels.instance }}
has only {{ printf "%.2f" $value }}% available inodes left.
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/nodefilesystemalmostoutoffiles
summary:Filesystem has less than 5% inodes left.
expr:|
(
node_filesystem_files_free{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} / node_filesystem_files{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} * 100 < 5
and
node_filesystem_readonly{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} == 0
)
for:1h
labels:
severity:warning
-alert:NodeFilesystemAlmostOutOfFiles
annotations:
description:Filesystem on {{ $labels.device }} at {{ $labels.instance }}
has only {{ printf "%.2f" $value }}% available inodes left.
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/nodefilesystemalmostoutoffiles
summary:Filesystem has less than 3% inodes left.
expr:|
(
node_filesystem_files_free{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} / node_filesystem_files{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} * 100 < 3
and
node_filesystem_readonly{job="node-exporter",fstype!=""} == 0
)
for:1h
labels:
severity:critical
-alert:NodeNetworkReceiveErrs
annotations:
description:'{{ $labels.instance }}interface{{ $labels.device }}hasencountered
{{ printf "%.0f" $value }}receiveerrorsinthelasttwominutes.'
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/nodenetworkreceiveerrs
summary:Network interface is reporting many receive errors.
expr:|
rate(node_network_receive_errs_total[2m]) / rate(node_network_receive_packets_total[2m]) > 0.01
for:1h
labels:
severity:warning
-alert:NodeNetworkTransmitErrs
annotations:
description:'{{ $labels.instance }}interface{{ $labels.device }}hasencountered
{{ printf "%.0f" $value }}transmiterrorsinthelasttwominutes.'
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/nodenetworktransmiterrs
summary:Network interface is reporting many transmit errors.
expr:|
rate(node_network_transmit_errs_total[2m]) / rate(node_network_transmit_packets_total[2m]) > 0.01
for:1h
labels:
severity:warning
-alert:NodeHighNumberConntrackEntriesUsed
annotations:
description:'{{ $value | humanizePercentage }}ofconntrackentriesareused.'
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/nodehighnumberconntrackentriesused
summary:Number of conntrack are getting close to the limit.
expr:|
(node_nf_conntrack_entries / node_nf_conntrack_entries_limit) > 0.75
labels:
severity:warning
-alert:NodeTextFileCollectorScrapeError
annotations:
description:Node Exporter text file collector failed to scrape.
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/nodetextfilecollectorscrapeerror
summary:Node Exporter text file collector failed to scrape.
expr:|
node_textfile_scrape_error{job="node-exporter"} == 1
labels:
severity:warning
-alert:NodeClockSkewDetected
annotations:
description:Clock on {{ $labels.instance }} is out of sync by more than 300s.
Ensure NTP is configured correctly on this host.
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/nodeclockskewdetected
summary:Clock skew detected.
expr:|
(
node_timex_offset_seconds{job="node-exporter"} > 0.05
and
deriv(node_timex_offset_seconds{job="node-exporter"}[5m]) >= 0
)
or
(
node_timex_offset_seconds{job="node-exporter"} < -0.05
and
deriv(node_timex_offset_seconds{job="node-exporter"}[5m]) <= 0
)
for:10m
labels:
severity:warning
-alert:NodeClockNotSynchronising
annotations:
description:Clock on {{ $labels.instance }} is not synchronising. Ensure
NTP is configured on this host.
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/nodeclocknotsynchronising
summary:Clock not synchronising.
expr:|
min_over_time(node_timex_sync_status{job="node-exporter"}[5m]) == 0
and
node_timex_maxerror_seconds{job="node-exporter"} >= 16
for:10m
labels:
severity:warning
-alert:NodeRAIDDegraded
annotations:
description:RAID array '{{ $labels.device }}' on {{ $labels.instance }} is
in degraded state due to one or more disks failures. Number of spare drives
is insufficient to fix issue automatically.
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/noderaiddegraded
summary:RAID Array is degraded
expr:|
node_md_disks_required{job="node-exporter",device=~"(/dev/)?(mmcblk.p.+|nvme.+|rbd.+|sd.+|vd.+|xvd.+|dm-.+|dasd.+)"} - ignoring (state) (node_md_disks{state="active",job="node-exporter",device=~"(/dev/)?(mmcblk.p.+|nvme.+|rbd.+|sd.+|vd.+|xvd.+|dm-.+|dasd.+)"}) > 0
for:15m
labels:
severity:critical
-alert:NodeRAIDDiskFailure
annotations:
description:At least one device in RAID array on {{ $labels.instance }} failed.
Array '{{ $labels.device }}' needs attention and possibly a disk swap.
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/noderaiddiskfailure
summary:Failed device in RAID array
expr:|
node_md_disks{state="failed",job="node-exporter",device=~"(/dev/)?(mmcblk.p.+|nvme.+|rbd.+|sd.+|vd.+|xvd.+|dm-.+|dasd.+)"} > 0
labels:
severity:warning
-alert:NodeFileDescriptorLimit
annotations:
description:File descriptors limit at {{ $labels.instance }} is currently
at {{ printf "%.2f" $value }}%.
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/nodefiledescriptorlimit
summary:Kernel is predicted to exhaust file descriptors limit soon.
expr:|
(
node_filefd_allocated{job="node-exporter"} * 100 / node_filefd_maximum{job="node-exporter"} > 70
)
for:15m
labels:
severity:warning
-alert:NodeFileDescriptorLimit
annotations:
description:File descriptors limit at {{ $labels.instance }} is currently
at {{ printf "%.2f" $value }}%.
runbook_url:https://runbooks.prometheus-operator.dev/runbooks/node/nodefiledescriptorlimit
summary:Kernel is predicted to exhaust file descriptors limit soon.
expr:|
(
node_filefd_allocated{job="node-exporter"} * 100 / node_filefd_maximum{job="node-exporter"} > 90
)
for:15m
labels:
severity:critical
-name:node-exporter.rules
interval:30s
rules:
-expr:|
count without (cpu, mode) (
node_cpu_seconds_total{job="node-exporter",mode="idle"}
)
record:instance:node_num_cpu:sum
-expr:|
1 - avg without (cpu) (
sum without (mode) (rate(node_cpu_seconds_total{job="node-exporter", mode=~"idle|iowait|steal"}[5m]))
)
record:instance:node_cpu_utilisation:rate5m
-expr:|
(
node_load1{job="node-exporter"}
/
instance:node_num_cpu:sum{job="node-exporter"}
)
record:instance:node_load1_per_cpu:ratio
-expr:|
1 - (
(
node_memory_MemAvailable_bytes{job="node-exporter"}
or
(
node_memory_Buffers_bytes{job="node-exporter"}
+
node_memory_Cached_bytes{job="node-exporter"}
+
node_memory_MemFree_bytes{job="node-exporter"}
+
node_memory_Slab_bytes{job="node-exporter"}
)
)
/
node_memory_MemTotal_bytes{job="node-exporter"}
)
record:instance:node_memory_utilisation:ratio
-expr:|
rate(node_vmstat_pgmajfault{job="node-exporter"}[5m])
record:instance:node_vmstat_pgmajfault:rate5m
-expr:|
rate(node_disk_io_time_seconds_total{job="node-exporter", device=~"(/dev/)?(mmcblk.p.+|nvme.+|rbd.+|sd.+|vd.+|xvd.+|dm-.+|dasd.+)"}[5m])
record:instance_device:node_disk_io_time_seconds:rate5m
-expr:|
rate(node_disk_io_time_weighted_seconds_total{job="node-exporter", device=~"(/dev/)?(mmcblk.p.+|nvme.+|rbd.+|sd.+|vd.+|xvd.+|dm-.+|dasd.+)"}[5m])
record:instance_device:node_disk_io_time_weighted_seconds:rate5m
-expr:|
sum without (device) (
rate(node_network_receive_bytes_total{job="node-exporter", device!="lo"}[5m])
)
record:instance:node_network_receive_bytes_excluding_lo:rate5m
-expr:|
sum without (device) (
rate(node_network_transmit_bytes_total{job="node-exporter", device!="lo"}[5m])
)
record:instance:node_network_transmit_bytes_excluding_lo:rate5m
-expr:|
sum without (device) (
rate(node_network_receive_drop_total{job="node-exporter", device!="lo"}[5m])
)
record:instance:node_network_receive_drop_excluding_lo:rate5m
-expr:|
sum without (device) (
rate(node_network_transmit_drop_total{job="node-exporter", device!="lo"}[5m])
)
record:instance:node_network_transmit_drop_excluding_lo:rate5m

To apply configuration changes from a local file, run the following command: 

kubectl apply -f FILE_NAME

You can also use Terraform to manage your configurations.

For more information about applying rules to your cluster, see Managed rule evaluation and alerting.

This Rules configuration was adapted from the rules and alerts contributed to the kube-prometheus repository.

Verify the configuration

You can use Metrics Explorer to verify that you correctly configured Node Exporter. It might take one or two minutes for Cloud Monitoring to ingest your metrics.

To verify the metrics are ingested, do the following:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Metrics explorer page:

    Go to Metrics explorer

    If you use the search bar to find this page, then select the result whose subheading is Monitoring.

  2. In the toolbar of the query-builder pane, select the button whose name is either MQL or PromQL.
  3. Verify that PromQL is selected in the Language toggle. The language toggle is in the same toolbar that lets you format your query.
  4. Enter and run the following query:
    up{job="node-exporter", cluster="CLUSTER_NAME", namespace="gmp-public"}

Install dashboards

Cloud Monitoring provides a library of sample dashboards for integrations. The sample library includes "Prometheus" dashboards, which you can install to view your data in the Google Cloud console.

Note that the Kubernetes Cluster Prometheus Overview dashboard requires Kube State Metrics to be installed. The Kubernetes Pod Prometheus Overview dashboard requires Kube State Metrics and Kubelet/cAdvisor to be installed.

To install a dashboard from the sample library, do the following:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dashboards page:

    Go to Dashboards

    If you use the search bar to find this page, then select the result whose subheading is Monitoring.

  2. Select the Sample Library tab.
  3. Choose the Other category.
  4. (Optional) To view a static preview of a dashboard without installing it, click Preview.
  5. Select the dashboards you want to install, then click Import.

For more information about installing dashboards, see Installing sample dashboards.

Troubleshooting

For information about troubleshooting metric ingestion problems, see Problems with collection from exporters in Troubleshooting ingestion-side problems.

Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Last updated 2025年10月30日 UTC.