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Enable or configure a collector
When Netdata starts up, each collector searches for exposed metrics on the default endpoint established by that service
or application's standard installation procedure. For example, the Nginx
collector searches at
http://127.0.0.1/stub_status for exposed metrics in the correct format. If an Nginx web server is running and exposes
metrics on that endpoint, the collector begins gathering them.
However, not every node or infrastructure uses standard ports, paths, files, or naming conventions. You may need to enable or configure a collector to gather all available metrics from your systems, containers, or applications.
Enable a collector or its orchestrator
You can enable/disable collectors individually, or enable/disable entire orchestrators, using their configuration files.
For example, you can change the behavior of the Go orchestrator, or any of its collectors, by editing go.d.conf.
Use edit-config from your Netdata config directory to open
the orchestrator primary configuration file:
cd /etc/netdata
sudo ./edit-config go.d.conf
Within this file, you can either disable the orchestrator entirely (enabled: yes), or find a specific collector and
enable/disable it with yes and no settings. Uncomment any line you change to ensure the Netdata daemon reads it on
start.
After you make your changes, restart the Agent with sudo systemctl restart netdata, or the appropriate
method for your system.
Configure a collector
First, find the collector you want to edit and open its documentation. Some software has collectors written in multiple languages. In these cases, you should always pick the collector written in Go.
Use edit-config from your Netdata config directory to open a
collector's configuration file. For example, edit the Nginx collector with the following:
./edit-config go.d/nginx.conf
Each configuration file describes every available option and offers examples to help you tweak Netdata's settings according to your needs. In addition, every collector's documentation shows the exact command you need to run to configure that collector. Uncomment any line you change to ensure the collector's orchestrator or the Netdata daemon read it on start.
After you make your changes, restart the Agent with sudo systemctl restart netdata, or the appropriate
method for your system.
What's next?
Read high-level overviews on how Netdata collects system metrics, container metrics, and application metrics.
If you're already collecting all metrics from your systems, containers, and applications, it's time to move into Netdata's visualization features. See an overview of your infrastructure using Netdata Cloud, or learn how to interact with dashboards and charts.