Linux Monitoring Agent

Easily collect and visualize system metrics from your Linux servers and devices in Grafana with Telemetry Harbor.

Repo Link: https://github.com/TelemetryHarbor/harbor-linux-monitor

Features

• Collect over 24 different system metrics including CPU, memory, disk, network, and more
• Customizable metric selection to fit your monitoring needs
• Configurable sampling rates from 1 second to 5 minutes
• Automatic service installation with systemd integration
• Interactive installation with color-coded interface
• Support for multiple Linux distributions
• Minimal dependencies - works on most Linux systems out of the box

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

• A Linux system with root/sudo access
• curl installed for API communication
• A working internet connection to send metrics to Telemetry Harbor
• Basic knowledge of Linux terminal commands

Setup

1. Create a Telemetry Harbor Account

1. Sign up at Telemetry Harbor

2. Verify your email and log in

3. Create a Harbor:

   • Click Create Harbor on your dashboard
   • Choose a name and select General as the type
   • Select the Free plan (or upgrade for more data capacity)
   • Click Create

4. Retrieve your credentials:

   • After creation, go to View Details
   • Note down:
     • API Batch Endpoint
     • API Key
     • Grafana Endpoint
     • Grafana Username
     • Grafana Password

2. Install the Monitoring Agent

1. Download the installation script:

curl -sSL -o install-monitoring.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TelemetryHarbor/harbor-linux-monitor/refs/heads/main/install.sh

2. Make it executable:

chmod +x install-monitoring.sh

3. Run the installation script with root privileges:

sudo ./install-monitoring.sh

3. Configuration During Installation

During installation, you'll be prompted to:

1. Enter your Telemetry Harbor API details:

   • API Batch Endpoint URL
   • API Key

2. Select a sampling rate for how often metrics are collected:

   • Every 1 second
   • Every 5 seconds
   • Every 30 seconds
   • Every 1 minute (default)
   • Every 5 minutes

3. Choose which metrics to monitor using either:

   • Interactive checkbox menu (arrow keys to navigate, space to select)
   • Simple number entry

Available Metrics

The monitoring agent can collect the following metrics:

Metric	Description
CPU Usage	Overall CPU utilization percentage
CPU Cores	Individual CPU core usage percentages
RAM Usage	Memory usage percentage
RAM Detailed	Detailed memory statistics (used, free, cached, etc.)
Disk Usage	Root partition usage percentage
Disk All	Usage for all mounted partitions
Load Average	System load averages (1, 5, and 15 minutes)
Processes	Total number of running processes
Zombie Processes	Count of zombie processes
Network In/Out	Network traffic rates
Network Errors	Network error and dropped packet counts
Temperature	CPU temperature (if available)
Uptime	System uptime in seconds
Boot Time	When the system was last booted
Swap Usage	Swap space usage percentage
Disk I/O	Disk read/write operations per second
Open Files	Number of open file descriptors
TCP/UDP Connections	Count of active network connections
Logged Users	Number of users logged into the system
System Entropy	Available entropy in the random pool
Context Switches	Rate of CPU context switches
Interrupts	Rate of hardware interrupts
Kernel Version	Linux kernel version
Battery	Battery status and capacity (if applicable)

Managing the Service

After installation, the monitoring service runs automatically. You can manage it using:

Check service status

systemctl status harbor-monitor

View logs

journalctl -u harbor-monitor -f

Stop the service

systemctl stop harbor-monitor

Start the service

systemctl start harbor-monitor

Disable automatic startup

systemctl disable harbor-monitor

Enable automatic startup

systemctl enable harbor-monitor

Uninstalling

To uninstall the monitoring agent:

1. Run the installation script again:

sudo ./install-monitoring.sh

3. Select the "Uninstall Harbor Monitor" option from the menu.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Error: Failed to send test data point

• Verify your API endpoint and key are correct
• Check your internet connection
• Ensure your firewall allows outbound connections

Service starts but no data appears in Grafana

• Check the service logs: journalctl -u harbor-monitor -f
• Verify the metrics are being collected correctly
• Ensure your Telemetry Harbor account is active

High CPU usage from the monitoring service

• Increase the sampling rate to reduce frequency
• Reduce the number of metrics being collected
• Check for any system issues that might be causing high CPU usage