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Node Exporter Installation Guide

Deploy the Prometheus Node Exporter on target client machines to collect hardware and OS metrics. These steps should be executed on both client nodes:

  • Client 1: 10.12.12.22
  • Client 2: 10.12.12.23

Execute the following steps to deploy the standalone Node Exporter (version 1.11.1).

1. Create System User​

Isolate the Node Exporter runtime process under a dedicated user restricted from local interactive logins:

create user:

sudo useradd --no-create-home --shell /bin/false node_exporter

2. Download & Install Binary​

Acquire the official architecture release and stage the execution binary:

download node exporter:

wget https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases/download/v1.11.1/node_exporter-1.11.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz

extract binary:

tar -zxvf node_exporter-1.11.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz

output:

node_exporter-1.11.1.linux-amd64/
node_exporter-1.11.1.linux-amd64/LICENSE
node_exporter-1.11.1.linux-amd64/node_exporter
node_exporter-1.11.1.linux-amd64/NOTICE

move binary to system path:

sudo mv node_exporter-1.11.1.linux-amd64/node_exporter /usr/local/bin/

set permissions:

sudo chown node_exporter:node_exporter /usr/local/bin/node_exporter

cleanup:

rm -rf node_exporter-1.11.1.linux-amd64*

3. Systemd Service Unit Definition​

To authorize process persistence, supervisor restarts, and OS startup management, register the service with systemd:

create service file:

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/node_exporter.service <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=Prometheus Node Exporter
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=node_exporter
Group=node_exporter
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/node_exporter
Restart=always
LimitNOFILE=65536

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

4. Start & Enable Daemon​

Initialize the service tracking loop:

reload systemd:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

start service:

sudo systemctl start node_exporter

enable service:

sudo systemctl enable node_exporter

Verification​

Query standard metrics formatting on default interface Port 9100:

check metrics:

curl -I http://localhost:9100/metrics

output:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/plain; version=0.0.4; charset=utf-8; escaping=underscores
Date: Fri, 15 May 2026 23:12:53 GMT