Welcome! This guide will walk you through installing and running Prometheus on an Ubuntu system step-by-step.
- Ubuntu 20.04+ system
- Terminal access with
sudoprivileges
Keep your system packages up to date:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -yCreate a dedicated system user for Prometheus:
sudo useradd --no-create-home --shell /bin/false prometheusDownload the latest release from GitHub:
wget https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releases/download/v2.51.2/prometheus-2.51.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar xvf prometheus-2.51.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz
cd prometheus-2.51.2.linux-amd64Move the main binaries to your system PATH:
sudo cp prometheus /usr/local/bin/
sudo cp promtool /usr/local/bin/Create required directories and copy configuration:
sudo mkdir -p /etc/prometheus
sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/prometheus
sudo cp -r consoles /etc/prometheus
sudo cp -r console_libraries /etc/prometheus
sudo cp prometheus.yml /etc/prometheus/Set proper ownership:
sudo chown -R prometheus:prometheus /etc/prometheus /var/lib/prometheusCreate the systemd service file:
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/prometheus.service<<EOFPaste this configuration:
[Unit]
Description=Prometheus Monitoring
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target
[Service]
User=prometheus
Group=prometheus
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/prometheus \
--config.file=/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml \
--storage.tsdb.path=/var/lib/prometheus/ \
--web.console.templates=/etc/prometheus/consoles \
--web.console.libraries=/etc/prometheus/console_libraries
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.targetsudo systemctl daemon-reexec
sudo systemctl enable prometheus
sudo systemctl start prometheusCheck status:
sudo systemctl status prometheusOpen your browser and navigate to:
http://localhost:9090
OR
http://your_public_ip:9090
You should see the Prometheus Dashboard.
🔸 Install Node Exporter to monitor system metrics
🔸 Integrate with Grafana for visual dashboards
🔸 Define alerting rules in prometheus.yml
/etc/prometheus/
├── prometheus.yml
├── consoles/
└── console_libraries/