Running behind apache - hilbix/netdata GitHub Wiki

netdata via apache's mod_proxy

Below you can find instructions for configuring an apache server to:

  1. proxy a single netdata via an HTTP and HTTPS virtual host
  2. dynamically proxy any number of netdata
  3. add user authentication
  4. adjust netdata settings to get optimal results

Requirements

Make sure your apache has installed mod_proxy and mod_proxy_http.

On debian/ubuntu systems, install them with this:

sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-proxy-html

Also make sure they are enabled:

sudo a2enmod proxy
sudo a2enmod proxy_http

Ensure your rewrite module is enabled:

sudo a2enmod rewrite

netdata on an existing virtual host

On any existing and already working apache virtual host, you can redirect requests for URL /netdata/ to one or more netdata servers.

proxy one netdata, running on the same server apache runs

Add the following on top of any existing virtual host. It will allow you to access netdata as http://virtual.host/netdata/.

<VirtualHost *:80>

	RewriteEngine On
	ProxyRequests Off
	ProxyPreserveHost On

	<Proxy *>
		Require all granted
	</Proxy>

	# Local netdata server accessed with '/netdata/', at localhost:19999
	ProxyPass "/netdata/" "http://localhost:19999/" connectiontimeout=5 timeout=30 keepalive=on
	ProxyPassReverse "/netdata/" "http://localhost:19999/"

	# if the user did not give the trailing /, add it
	# for HTTP (if the virtualhost is HTTP, use this)
	RewriteRule ^/netdata$ http://%{HTTP_HOST}/netdata/ [L,R=301]
	# for HTTPS (if the virtualhost is HTTPS, use this)
	#RewriteRule ^/netdata$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}/netdata/ [L,R=301]

	# rest of virtual host config here
	
</VirtualHost>

proxy multiple netdata running on multiple servers

Add the following on top of any existing virtual host. It will allow you to access multiple netdata as http://virtual.host/netdata/HOSTNAME/, where HOSTNAME is the hostname of any other netdata server you have (to access the localhost netdata, use http://virtual.host/netdata/localhost/).

<VirtualHost *:80>

	RewriteEngine On
	ProxyRequests Off
	ProxyPreserveHost On

	<Proxy *>
		Require all granted
	</Proxy>

    # proxy any host, on port 19999
    ProxyPassMatch "^/netdata/([A-Za-z0-9\._-]+)/(.*)" "http://$1:19999/$2" connectiontimeout=5 timeout=30 keepalive=on

    # make sure the user did not forget to add a trailing /
    # for HTTP (if the virtualhost is HTTP, use this)
    RewriteRule "^/netdata/([A-Za-z0-9\._-]+)$" http://%{HTTP_HOST}/netdata/$1/ [L,R=301]
    # for HTTPS (if the virtualhost is HTTPS, use this)
    RewriteRule "^/netdata/([A-Za-z0-9\._-]+)$" https://%{HTTP_HOST}/netdata/$1/ [L,R=301]

	# rest of virtual host config here
	
</VirtualHost>

IMPORTANT
The above config allows your apache users to connect to port 19999 on any server on your network.

If you want to control the servers your users can connect to, replace the ProxyPassMatch line with the following. This allows only server1, server2, server3 and server4.

    ProxyPassMatch "^/netdata/(server1|server2|server3|server4)/(.*)" "http://$1:19999/$2" connectiontimeout=5 timeout=30 keepalive=on

netdata on a dedicated virtual host

You can proxy netdata through apache, using a dedicated apache virtual host.

Create a new apache site:

nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/netdata.conf

with this content:

<VirtualHost *:80>
	RewriteEngine On
	ProxyRequests Off
	ProxyPreserveHost On
	
	ServerName netdata.domain.tld

	<Proxy *>
		Require all granted
	</Proxy>

	ProxyPass "/" "http://localhost:19999/" connectiontimeout=5 timeout=30 keepalive=on
	ProxyPassReverse "/" "http://localhost:19999/"

	ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/netdata-error.log
	CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/netdata-access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Enable the VirtualHost:

sudo a2ensite netdata.conf && service apache2 reload

Netdata proxy in Plesk

Assuming the main goal is to make Netdata running in HTTPS.

  1. Make a subdomain for Netdata on which you enable and force HTTPS - You can use a free Let's Encrypt certificate
  2. Go to "Apache & nginx Settings", and in the following section, add:
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule (.*) http://localhost:19999/$1 [P,L]
  1. Optional: If your server is remote, then just replace "localhost" with your actual hostname or IP, it just works.

Repeat the operation for as many servers as you need.

Enable Basic Auth

If you wish to add an authentication (user/password) to access your netdata, do these:

Install the package apache2-utils. On debian / ubuntu run sudo apt-get install apache2-utils.

Then, generate password for user netdata, using htpasswd -c /etc/apache2/.htpasswd netdata

Modify the virtual host with these:

	# replace the <Proxy *> section
	<Proxy *>
		Order deny,allow
		Allow from all
	</Proxy>

	# add a <Location /netdata/> section
	<Location /netdata/>
		AuthType Basic
		AuthName "Protected site"
		AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/.htpasswd
		Require valid-user
		Order deny,allow
		Allow from all
	</Location>

Specify Location / if netdata is running on dedicated virtual host.

Note: Changes are applied by reloading or restarting Apache.

Netdata configuration

You might edit /etc/netdata/netdata.conf to optimize your setup a bit. For applying these changes you need to restart netdata.

Response compression

If you plan to use netdata exclusively via apache, you can gain some performance by preventing double compression of its output (netdata compresses its response, apache re-compresses it) by editing /etc/netdata/netdata.conf and setting:

[web]
    enable gzip compression = no

Once you disable compression at netdata (and restart it), please verify you receive compressed responses from apache (it is important to receive compressed responses - the charts will be more snappy).

Limit direct access to netdata

You would also need to instruct netdata to listen only on localhost, 127.0.0.1 or ::1.

[web]
    bind to = localhost

or

[web]
    bind to = 127.0.0.1

or

[web]
    bind to = ::1

You can also use a unix domain socket. This will also provide a faster route between apache and netdata:

[web]
    bind to = unix:/tmp/netdata.sock

note: netdata v1.8+ support unix domain sockets

At the apache side, prepend the 2nd argument to ProxyPass with unix:/tmp/netdata.sock|, like this:

ProxyPass "/netdata/" "unix:/tmp/netdata.sock|http://localhost:19999/" connectiontimeout=5 timeout=30 keepalive=on

If your apache server is not on localhost, you can set:

[web]
    bind to = *
    allow connections from = IP_OF_APACHE_SERVER

note: netdata v1.9+ support allow connections from

allow connections from accepts netdata simple patterns to match against the connection IP address.

prevent the double access.log

apache logs accesses and netdata logs them too. You can prevent netdata from generating its access log, by setting this in /etc/netdata/netdata.conf:

[global]
    access log = none

Troubleshooting mod_proxy

Make sure the requests reach netdata, by examing /var/log/netdata/access.log.

  1. if the requests do not reach netdata, your apache does not forward them.
  2. if the requests reach netdata by the URLs are wrong, you have not re-written them properly.
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