How to Install Prometheus and Node Exporter on Ubuntu 24.04

This guide explains how to manually install and configure Prometheus 2.55.1 together with Node Exporter 1.10.2 on an Ubuntu 24.04 server. The procedure follows the configuration provided in the Prometheus Ansible playbook.

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Step 1: Connect to Your Ubuntu Server

From your computer, open PowerShell, Windows Terminal, or another SSH client. Connect to the Ubuntu server:

ssh username@SERVER-IP

Replace username with your Ubuntu username and SERVER-IP with your server IP address.

For example:

ssh ubuntu@203.0.113.10

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Step 2: Check the Ubuntu Version

Confirm that the server is running Ubuntu 24.04:

lsb_release -a

You should see Ubuntu 24.04 information.

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Step 3: Update Ubuntu

Update the package list:

sudo apt update

Upgrade installed packages:

sudo apt upgrade -y

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Step 4: Install Required Packages

The Ansible playbook requires wget and tar. Install them with:

sudo apt install -y wget tar

Verify that they are available:

wget --version
tar --version

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Step 5: Create the Prometheus Group

The Prometheus service runs using a dedicated system account. Create the Prometheus group:

sudo groupadd --system prometheus

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Step 6: Create the Prometheus User

Create a system user called prometheus:

sudo useradd --system --no-create-home --shell /usr/sbin/nologin --gid prometheus prometheus

Verify the user:

id prometheus

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Step 7: Create Prometheus Directories

Create the Prometheus configuration directory:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/prometheus

Create the Prometheus data directory:

sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/prometheus

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Step 8: Download Prometheus 2.55.1

Move to the temporary directory:

cd /tmp

Download Prometheus 2.55.1:

wget https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releases/download/v2.55.1/prometheus-2.55.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Verify the downloaded archive:

ls -lh /tmp/prometheus-2.55.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz

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Step 9: Extract Prometheus

Extract the Prometheus archive:

sudo tar -xzf /tmp/prometheus-2.55.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz -C /tmp

Check the extracted directory:

ls -lah /tmp/prometheus-2.55.1.linux-amd64

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Step 10: Install the Prometheus Binary

Copy the Prometheus binary to /usr/local/bin:

sudo cp /tmp/prometheus-2.55.1.linux-amd64/prometheus /usr/local/bin/prometheus

Set the correct ownership:

sudo chown prometheus:prometheus /usr/local/bin/prometheus

Set executable permissions:

sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/prometheus

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Step 11: Install Promtool

Copy promtool:

sudo cp /tmp/prometheus-2.55.1.linux-amd64/promtool /usr/local/bin/promtool

Set ownership:

sudo chown prometheus:prometheus /usr/local/bin/promtool

Set permissions:

sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/promtool

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Step 12: Copy Prometheus Console Files

Copy the Prometheus consoles:

sudo cp -r /tmp/prometheus-2.55.1.linux-amd64/consoles /etc/prometheus/

Copy the console libraries:

sudo cp -r /tmp/prometheus-2.55.1.linux-amd64/console_libraries /etc/prometheus/

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Step 13: Create the Prometheus Configuration

Create the Prometheus configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml

Paste the following configuration:

global:
  scrape_interval: 15s

scrape_configs:

  - job_name: "prometheus"
    static_configs:
      - targets:
          - "localhost:9090"

  - job_name: "node_exporter"
    static_configs:
      - targets:
          - "localhost:9100"

Save the file:

• Press Ctrl + O
• Press Enter
• Press Ctrl + X

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Step 14: Set Prometheus Directory Ownership

Give the Prometheus user ownership of the configuration directory:

sudo chown -R prometheus:prometheus /etc/prometheus

Give the Prometheus user ownership of the data directory:

sudo chown -R prometheus:prometheus /var/lib/prometheus

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Step 15: Validate the Prometheus Configuration

Before starting Prometheus, use promtool to check the configuration:

sudo -u prometheus promtool check config /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml

A valid configuration should report that the configuration file is valid.

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Step 16: Create the Prometheus systemd Service

Create the systemd service:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/prometheus.service

Paste:

[Unit]
Description=Prometheus
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=prometheus
Group=prometheus
Type=simple
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5s
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 \
  --web.listen-address=0.0.0.0:9090 \
  --web.enable-lifecycle \
  --log.level=info

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save the file using:

• Ctrl + O
• Enter
• Ctrl + X

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Step 17: Download Node Exporter 1.10.2

Node Exporter collects hardware and operating-system metrics that Prometheus can monitor.

Move to /tmp:

cd /tmp

Download Node Exporter 1.10.2:

wget https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases/download/v1.10.2/node_exporter-1.10.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Verify the archive:

ls -lh /tmp/node_exporter-1.10.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz

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Step 18: Extract Node Exporter

Extract the Node Exporter archive:

sudo tar -xzf /tmp/node_exporter-1.10.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz -C /tmp

Check the extracted directory:

ls -lah /tmp/node_exporter-1.10.2.linux-amd64

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Step 19: Install the Node Exporter Binary

Copy the binary:

sudo cp /tmp/node_exporter-1.10.2.linux-amd64/node_exporter /usr/local/bin/node_exporter

Set executable permissions:

sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/node_exporter

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Step 20: Create the Node Exporter User

Create the system user:

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

Verify the user:

id node_exporter

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Step 21: Create the Node Exporter systemd Service

Create the service file:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/node_exporter.service

Paste:

[Unit]
Description=Node Exporter
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=node_exporter
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/node_exporter

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save the file:

• Press Ctrl + O
• Press Enter
• Press Ctrl + X

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Step 22: Reload systemd

Reload systemd so Ubuntu detects both new services:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

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Step 23: Enable Prometheus

Enable Prometheus to start automatically after a reboot:

sudo systemctl enable prometheus

Start Prometheus:

sudo systemctl start prometheus

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Step 24: Enable Node Exporter

Enable Node Exporter:

sudo systemctl enable node_exporter

Start Node Exporter:

sudo systemctl start node_exporter

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Step 25: Check Prometheus Status

Run:

sudo systemctl status prometheus --no-pager

Look for:

Active: active (running)

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Step 26: Check Node Exporter Status

Run:

sudo systemctl status node_exporter --no-pager

You should see:

Active: active (running)

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Step 27: Check Prometheus Port

Prometheus listens on port 9090. Check the port:

sudo ss -tulpn | grep 9090

Test Prometheus locally:

curl -I http://localhost:9090

A successful response should contain:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK

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Step 28: Check Node Exporter Port

Node Exporter listens on port 9100. Check the port:

sudo ss -tulpn | grep 9100

Test the Node Exporter metrics endpoint:

curl http://localhost:9100/metrics

You should see many lines of metric information.

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Step 29: Open Prometheus in a Browser

Find the server IP address:

hostname -I

From another computer, open:

http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:9090

For example:

http://203.0.113.10:9090

Replace the example IP address with the actual IP address of your Ubuntu server.

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Step 30: Check Node Exporter from the Browser

Node Exporter exposes its metrics at:

http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:9100/metrics

For example:

http://203.0.113.10:9100/metrics

A page containing Prometheus metrics confirms that Node Exporter is responding.

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Step 31: Configure the Firewall

If UFW is enabled and you want Prometheus and Node Exporter to be accessible from another computer, allow their ports:

sudo ufw allow 9090/tcp
sudo ufw allow 9100/tcp

Reload UFW:

sudo ufw reload

Check the firewall:

sudo ufw status

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Step 32: Verify Prometheus Targets

After opening Prometheus in your browser, go to the targets page:

http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:9090/targets

The configuration supplied in the playbook contains two scrape targets:

• Prometheus: localhost:9090
• Node Exporter: localhost:9100

Both targets should eventually show a healthy status.

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Step 33: Check Prometheus Logs

If Prometheus is not running, check its logs:

sudo journalctl -u prometheus -n 100 --no-pager

To follow the logs live:

sudo journalctl -u prometheus -f

Press Ctrl + C to stop viewing the logs.

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Step 34: Check Node Exporter Logs

View Node Exporter logs:

sudo journalctl -u node_exporter -n 100 --no-pager

To follow the logs:

sudo journalctl -u node_exporter -f

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Step 35: Troubleshooting Prometheus

Prometheus does not start

Check the service:

sudo systemctl status prometheus --no-pager -l

Check the logs:

sudo journalctl -u prometheus -n 100 --no-pager

Check the configuration:

sudo -u prometheus promtool check config /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml

Node Exporter does not start

Check:

sudo systemctl status node_exporter --no-pager -l

Then check:

sudo journalctl -u node_exporter -n 100 --no-pager

Prometheus cannot scrape Node Exporter

Check Node Exporter:

curl http://localhost:9100/metrics

If metrics are returned, check the Prometheus configuration:

sudo cat /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml

The Node Exporter target should be:

localhost:9100

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Step 36: Useful Service Commands

Restart Prometheus:

sudo systemctl restart prometheus

Restart Node Exporter:

sudo systemctl restart node_exporter

Stop Prometheus:

sudo systemctl stop prometheus

Stop Node Exporter:

sudo systemctl stop node_exporter

Start Prometheus:

sudo systemctl start prometheus

Start Node Exporter:

sudo systemctl start node_exporter

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Step 37: Final Verification

Run the following commands to verify the complete installation:

sudo systemctl status prometheus --no-pager

sudo systemctl status node_exporter --no-pager

sudo ss -tulpn | grep -E '9090|9100'

curl -I http://localhost:9090

curl http://localhost:9100/metrics

If both services are running and the ports respond, the installation is complete.

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Installation Complete

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Configuration Summary

Component	Configuration
Operating System	Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
Prometheus	2.55.1
Prometheus Port	9090
Prometheus Configuration	/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
Prometheus Data	/var/lib/prometheus
Node Exporter	1.10.2
Node Exporter Port	9100
Prometheus User	prometheus
Node Exporter User	node_exporter

This knowledgebase article follows the Prometheus and Node Exporter configuration provided in the supplied Ansible playbook, including Prometheus 2.55.1, Node Exporter 1.10.2, systemd services, port 9090, port 9100, and the supplied Prometheus scrape configuration.