homelab/monitoring

Monitoring Stack

Comprehensive monitoring and observability stack for the Proxmox homelab environment, providing real-time metrics, visualization, and alerting capabilities.

Overview

The monitoring stack consists of three primary components deployed on VM 101 (monitoring-docker) at 192.168.2.114:

• Grafana: Visualization and dashboards (Port 3000)
• Prometheus: Metrics collection and time-series database (Port 9090)
• PVE Exporter: Proxmox VE metrics exporter (Port 9221)

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Proxmox Host (serviceslab)                   │
│                         192.168.2.200                           │
└────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
                             │
                             │ API (8006)
                             │
                    ┌────────▼────────┐
                    │  PVE Exporter   │
                    │   Port: 9221    │
                    │  (VM 101)       │
                    └────────┬────────┘
                             │
                             │ Metrics
                             │
                    ┌────────▼────────┐
                    │   Prometheus    │
                    │   Port: 9090    │
                    │  (VM 101)       │
                    └────────┬────────┘
                             │
                             │ Query
                             │
                    ┌────────▼────────┐
                    │     Grafana     │
                    │   Port: 3000    │
                    │  (VM 101)       │
                    └─────────────────┘
                             │
                             │ HTTPS
                             │
                    ┌────────▼────────┐
                    │  Nginx Proxy    │
                    │   (CT 102)      │
                    │  192.168.2.101  │
                    └─────────────────┘

Components

VM 101: monitoring-docker

Specifications:

• IP Address: 192.168.2.114
• Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 LTS
• Docker Version: 24.0+
• Purpose: Dedicated monitoring infrastructure host

Resource Allocation:

• CPU: 2-4 cores
• Memory: 4-8 GB
• Storage: 50-100 GB (thin provisioned)

Grafana

Version: Latest stable Port: 3000 Access: http://192.168.2.114:3000

Features:

• Pre-configured Proxmox VE dashboards
• Prometheus data source integration
• User authentication and authorization
• Dashboard templating and variables
• Alerting capabilities
• Panel plugins for advanced visualizations

Default Credentials:

• Username: admin
• Password: Check .env file or initial setup

Key Dashboards:

• Proxmox Host Overview
• VM Resource Utilization
• Container Resource Utilization
• Storage Pool Metrics
• Network Traffic Analysis

Prometheus

Version: Latest stable Port: 9090 Access: http://192.168.2.114:9090

Configuration: /home/jramos/homelab/monitoring/prometheus/prometheus.yml

Scrape Targets:

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'prometheus'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['localhost:9090']

  - job_name: 'pve'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['pve-exporter:9221']
    metrics_path: /pve
    params:
      module: [default]

Features:

• Time-series metrics database
• PromQL query language
• Service discovery
• Alert manager integration (configurable)
• Data retention policies
• Remote storage support

Retention Policy: 15 days (configurable via command line args)

PVE Exporter

Version: prompve/prometheus-pve-exporter:latest Port: 9221 Access: http://192.168.2.114:9221

Configuration:

• File: /home/jramos/homelab/monitoring/pve-exporter/pve.yml
• Environment: /home/jramos/homelab/monitoring/pve-exporter/.env

Proxmox Connection:

default:
  user: monitoring@pve
  password: <stored in .env>
  verify_ssl: false

Metrics Exported:

• Proxmox cluster status
• Node CPU, memory, disk usage
• VM/CT status and resource usage
• Storage pool utilization
• Network interface statistics
• Backup job status
• Service health

Environment Variables:

• PVE_USER: Proxmox API user (typically monitoring@pve)
• PVE_PASSWORD: API user password
• PVE_VERIFY_SSL: SSL verification (false for self-signed certs)

Deployment

Prerequisites

1. VM 101 Setup:

   # Install Docker and Docker Compose
   curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
   sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
   
   # Verify installation
   docker --version
   docker compose version
   

2. Proxmox API User:

   # On Proxmox host, create monitoring user
   pveum user add monitoring@pve
   pveum passwd monitoring@pve
   pveum aclmod / -user monitoring@pve -role PVEAuditor
   

3. Clone Repository:

   cd /home/jramos
   git clone <repository-url> homelab
   cd homelab/monitoring
   

Configuration

1. PVE Exporter Environment:

   cd pve-exporter
   nano .env
   

   Add:

   PVE_USER=monitoring@pve
   PVE_PASSWORD=your-secure-password
   PVE_VERIFY_SSL=false
   

2. Verify Configuration Files:

   # Check PVE exporter config
   cat pve-exporter/pve.yml
   
   # Check Prometheus config
   cat prometheus/prometheus.yml
   

Deployment Steps

1. Deploy PVE Exporter:

   cd /home/jramos/homelab/monitoring/pve-exporter
   docker compose up -d
   docker compose logs -f
   

2. Deploy Prometheus:

   cd /home/jramos/homelab/monitoring/prometheus
   docker compose up -d
   docker compose logs -f
   

3. Deploy Grafana:

   cd /home/jramos/homelab/monitoring/grafana
   docker compose up -d
   docker compose logs -f
   

4. Verify All Services:

   # Check running containers
   docker ps
   
   # Test PVE Exporter
   curl http://192.168.2.114:9221/pve?target=192.168.2.200&module=default
   
   # Test Prometheus
   curl http://192.168.2.114:9090/-/healthy
   
   # Test Grafana
   curl http://192.168.2.114:3000/api/health
   

Initial Grafana Setup

1. Access Grafana:

   • Navigate to http://192.168.2.114:3000
   • Login with default credentials (admin/admin)
   • Change password when prompted

2. Add Prometheus Data Source:

   • Go to Configuration → Data Sources
   • Click "Add data source"
   • Select "Prometheus"
   • URL: http://prometheus:9090
   • Click "Save & Test"

3. Import Proxmox Dashboard:

   • Go to Dashboards → Import
   • Dashboard ID: 10347 (Proxmox VE)
   • Select Prometheus data source
   • Click "Import"

4. Configure Alerting (Optional):

   • Go to Alerting → Notification channels
   • Add email, Slack, or other notification methods
   • Create alert rules in dashboards

Network Configuration

Internal Access

All services are accessible within the homelab network:

• Grafana: http://192.168.2.114:3000
• Prometheus: http://192.168.2.114:9090
• PVE Exporter: http://192.168.2.114:9221

External Access (via Nginx Proxy Manager)

Configure reverse proxy on CT 102 (nginx at 192.168.2.101):

1. Create Proxy Host:

   • Domain: monitoring.yourdomain.com
   • Scheme: http
   • Forward Hostname: 192.168.2.114
   • Forward Port: 3000

2. SSL Configuration:

   • Enable "Force SSL"
   • Request Let's Encrypt certificate
   • Enable HTTP/2

3. Access List (Optional):

   • Create access list for authentication
   • Apply to proxy host for additional security

Maintenance

Update Services

# Update all monitoring services
cd /home/jramos/homelab/monitoring

# Update PVE Exporter
cd pve-exporter
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

# Update Prometheus
cd ../prometheus
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

# Update Grafana
cd ../grafana
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

Backup Grafana Dashboards

# Backup Grafana data
docker exec -t grafana tar czf - /var/lib/grafana > grafana-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz

# Or use Grafana's provisioning
# Dashboards can be exported as JSON and stored in git

Prometheus Data Retention

# Check Prometheus storage size
docker exec prometheus du -sh /prometheus

# Adjust retention in docker-compose.yml:
# command:
#   - '--storage.tsdb.retention.time=30d'
#   - '--storage.tsdb.retention.size=50GB'

View Logs

# PVE Exporter logs
cd /home/jramos/homelab/monitoring/pve-exporter
docker compose logs -f

# Prometheus logs
cd /home/jramos/homelab/monitoring/prometheus
docker compose logs -f

# Grafana logs
cd /home/jramos/homelab/monitoring/grafana
docker compose logs -f

# All logs together
docker logs -f pve-exporter
docker logs -f prometheus
docker logs -f grafana

Troubleshooting

PVE Exporter Cannot Connect to Proxmox

Symptoms: No metrics from Proxmox, connection refused errors

Solutions:

1. Verify Proxmox API is accessible:

   curl -k https://192.168.2.200:8006/api2/json/version
   

2. Check PVE Exporter environment variables:

   cd /home/jramos/homelab/monitoring/pve-exporter
   cat .env
   docker compose config
   

3. Test authentication:

   # From VM 101
   curl -k -d "username=monitoring@pve&password=yourpassword" \
     https://192.168.2.200:8006/api2/json/access/ticket
   

4. Verify user permissions on Proxmox:

   # On Proxmox host
   pveum user list
   pveum aclmod / -user monitoring@pve -role PVEAuditor
   

Prometheus Not Scraping Targets

Symptoms: Targets shown as down in Prometheus UI

Solutions:

1. Check Prometheus targets:

   • Navigate to http://192.168.2.114:9090/targets
   • Verify target status and error messages

2. Verify network connectivity:

   docker exec prometheus curl http://pve-exporter:9221/pve
   

3. Check Prometheus configuration:

   cd /home/jramos/homelab/monitoring/prometheus
   docker compose exec prometheus promtool check config /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
   

4. Reload Prometheus configuration:

   docker compose restart prometheus
   

Grafana Shows No Data

Symptoms: Dashboards display "No data" or empty graphs

Solutions:

1. Verify Prometheus data source:

   • Go to Configuration → Data Sources
   • Test connection to Prometheus
   • URL should be http://prometheus:9090

2. Check Prometheus has data:

   • Navigate to http://192.168.2.114:9090
   • Run query: up
   • Should show all scrape targets

3. Verify dashboard queries:

   • Edit panel
   • Check PromQL query syntax
   • Test query in Prometheus UI first

4. Check time range:

   • Ensure dashboard time range includes recent data
   • Prometheus retention period not exceeded

Docker Compose Network Issues

Symptoms: Containers cannot communicate

Solutions:

1. Check Docker network:

   docker network ls
   docker network inspect monitoring_default
   

2. Verify container connectivity:

   docker exec prometheus ping pve-exporter
   docker exec grafana ping prometheus
   

3. Recreate network:

   cd /home/jramos/homelab/monitoring
   docker compose down
   docker network prune
   docker compose up -d
   

High Memory Usage

Symptoms: VM 101 running out of memory

Solutions:

1. Check container memory usage:

   docker stats
   

2. Reduce Prometheus retention:

   # In prometheus/docker-compose.yml
   command:
     - '--storage.tsdb.retention.time=7d'
     - '--storage.tsdb.retention.size=10GB'
   

3. Limit Grafana image rendering:

   # In grafana/docker-compose.yml
   environment:
     - GF_RENDERING_SERVER_URL=
     - GF_RENDERING_CALLBACK_URL=
   

4. Increase VM memory allocation in Proxmox

SSL/TLS Certificate Errors

Symptoms: PVE Exporter cannot verify SSL certificate

Solutions:

1. Set verify_ssl: false in pve.yml (for self-signed certs)
2. Or import Proxmox CA certificate:

   # Copy CA from Proxmox to VM 101
   scp root@192.168.2.200:/etc/pve/pve-root-ca.pem .
   
   # Add to trust store
   sudo cp pve-root-ca.pem /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/pve-root-ca.crt
   sudo update-ca-certificates
   

Metrics Reference

Key Proxmox Metrics

Node Metrics:

• pve_node_cpu_usage_ratio: CPU utilization (0-1)
• pve_node_memory_usage_bytes: Memory used
• pve_node_memory_total_bytes: Total memory
• pve_node_disk_usage_bytes: Root disk used
• pve_node_uptime_seconds: Node uptime

VM/CT Metrics:

• pve_guest_info: Guest information (labels: id, name, type, node)
• pve_guest_cpu_usage_ratio: Guest CPU usage
• pve_guest_memory_usage_bytes: Guest memory used
• pve_guest_disk_read_bytes_total: Disk read bytes
• pve_guest_disk_write_bytes_total: Disk write bytes
• pve_guest_network_receive_bytes_total: Network received
• pve_guest_network_transmit_bytes_total: Network transmitted

Storage Metrics:

• pve_storage_usage_bytes: Storage used
• pve_storage_size_bytes: Total storage size
• pve_storage_info: Storage information (labels: storage, type)

Useful PromQL Queries

CPU Usage by VM:

pve_guest_cpu_usage_ratio{type="qemu"} * 100

Memory Usage Percentage:

(pve_guest_memory_usage_bytes / pve_guest_memory_size_bytes) * 100

Storage Usage Percentage:

(pve_storage_usage_bytes / pve_storage_size_bytes) * 100

Network Bandwidth (rate):

rate(pve_guest_network_transmit_bytes_total[5m])

Top 5 VMs by CPU:

topk(5, pve_guest_cpu_usage_ratio{type="qemu"})

Security Considerations

API Credentials

1. PVE Exporter .env file:

   • Never commit to version control
   • Use strong passwords
   • Restrict file permissions: chmod 600 .env

2. Proxmox API User:

   • Use dedicated monitoring user
   • Grant minimal required permissions (PVEAuditor role)
   • Consider token-based authentication

3. Grafana Authentication:

   • Change default admin password
   • Enable OAuth/LDAP for user authentication
   • Use role-based access control

Network Security

1. Firewall Rules:

   # On VM 101, restrict access
   ufw allow from 192.168.2.0/24 to any port 3000
   ufw allow from 192.168.2.0/24 to any port 9090
   ufw allow from 192.168.2.0/24 to any port 9221
   

2. Reverse Proxy:

   • Use Nginx Proxy Manager for SSL termination
   • Implement access lists
   • Enable fail2ban for brute force protection

3. Docker Security:

   • Run containers as non-root users
   • Use read-only filesystems where possible
   • Limit container capabilities

Performance Tuning

Prometheus Optimization

Scrape Interval:

global:
  scrape_interval: 30s  # Increase for less frequent scraping
  evaluation_interval: 30s

Target Relabeling:

relabel_configs:
  - source_labels: [__address__]
    regex: '.*'
    action: keep  # Keep only matching targets

Grafana Optimization

Query Optimization:

• Use recording rules in Prometheus for complex queries
• Set appropriate refresh intervals on dashboards
• Limit time range on expensive queries

Caching:

# In grafana.ini or environment variables
[caching]
enabled = true
ttl = 3600

Advanced Configuration

Alerting with Alertmanager

1. Add Alertmanager to stack:

   cd /home/jramos/homelab/monitoring
   # Create alertmanager directory with docker-compose.yml
   

2. Configure alerts in Prometheus:

   # In prometheus.yml
   alerting:
     alertmanagers:
       - static_configs:
           - targets: ['alertmanager:9093']
   
   rule_files:
     - 'alerts.yml'
   

3. Example alert rules:

   # alerts.yml
   groups:
     - name: proxmox
       interval: 30s
       rules:
         - alert: HighCPUUsage
           expr: pve_node_cpu_usage_ratio > 0.9
           for: 5m
           labels:
             severity: warning
           annotations:
             summary: "High CPU usage on {{ $labels.node }}"
   

Multi-Node Proxmox Cluster

For clustered Proxmox environments:

# In pve.yml
cluster1:
  user: monitoring@pve
  password: ${PVE_PASSWORD}
  verify_ssl: false

cluster2:
  user: monitoring@pve
  password: ${PVE_PASSWORD}
  verify_ssl: false

Dashboard Provisioning

Store dashboards as code:

# Create provisioning directory
mkdir -p grafana/provisioning/dashboards

# Add provisioning config
# grafana/provisioning/dashboards/dashboards.yml

Integration with Other Services

n8n Workflow Automation

Create workflows in n8n (CT 113) to:

• Send alerts to Slack/Discord based on Prometheus alerts
• Generate daily/weekly infrastructure reports
• Automate backup verification checks

NetBox IPAM

Sync monitoring targets with NetBox (CT 103):

• Automatically discover new VMs/CTs
• Update service inventory
• Link metrics to network documentation

Additional Resources

Documentation

• Prometheus Documentation
• Grafana Documentation
• PVE Exporter GitHub
• Proxmox API Documentation

Community Dashboards

• Grafana Dashboard 10347: Proxmox VE
• Grafana Dashboard 15356: Proxmox Cluster
• Grafana Dashboard 15362: Proxmox Summary

Related Homelab Documentation

• Homelab Overview
• Services Documentation
• Infrastructure Index
• n8n Setup Guide

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Last Updated: 2025-12-07 Maintainer: jramos VM: 101 (monitoring-docker) at 192.168.2.114 Stack Version: Prometheus 2.x, Grafana 10.x, PVE Exporter latest