====== How To: Grafana monitoring ======
We'll be demoing how to set up and configure influxdb and collectd to start gathering data about your system[s] (network bandwith, pings, memory and cpu usage, disk activity etc).

Then we'll show you how to use Grafana and configure a beautiful dashboard.

Bonus demo: Monitoring radio thermometers, minecraft kills and more!

Check out our [[/events]] page for the next How To event.

===== influxdb =====
On the server you want the data to be sent to (make sure to open the relevant port [8096] in your firewall).
<code bash>
sudo apt install influxdb
sudo vim /etc/influxdb/influxdb.conf
</code>

===== grafana =====
<code bash>
sudo apt install grafana
</code>

===== collectd =====
=== Adding a server ===
<code bash>
sudo apt install collectd
sudo vim /etc/collectd/collectd.conf
</code>

Set a hostname (if a FQDN doesn't work, i.e. on amazon EC2 default)
<code>
Hostname "MyVPS"
</code>

Enable (uncomment) the network Plugin:
<code>

LoadPlugin network
</code>

Enter the server details:
<code>
<Plugin network>
        <Server "monitor.yournserver.co.uk" "25726">
        SecurityLevel Sign
#        Username "user"
#        Password "PASSWORD"
#        </Server>
</Plugin>
</code>

Optionally uncomment out the relevant plugins, for example:
<code>
LoadPlugin apache
LoadPlugin mysql
</code>

Then set their specific config sections, for example:
<code>
<Plugin apache>
        <Instance "local">
                URL "http://localhost/server-status?auto"
                VerifyPeer false
        </Instance>
</Plugin>
</code>

Restart collectd
<code>
sudo service collectd restart
</code>




====== Links ======
  * [[https://grafana.com/|Grafana]]
  * [[https://www.influxdata.com/|InfluxDB]]
  * [[https://collectd.org/|collectd]]