# How to monitor a Linux server with Netdata

> Install Netdata for per-second CPU, memory, disk and network charts, keep its dashboard private behind an SSH tunnel, and get its built-in alerts.

Source: https://vpsnine.com/tutorials/install-netdata · Updated: 2026-10-21

Difficulty: beginner · Time: about 15 minutes · Tested on: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

Prerequisites:

- A server running Ubuntu or Debian or a RHEL-family distribution
- Root or a user with sudo
- SSH access from your computer

To monitor a Linux server with Netdata, run Netdata's kickstart script (`wget -O /tmp/netdata-kickstart.sh https://get.netdata.cloud/kickstart.sh && sh /tmp/netdata-kickstart.sh`), then open port 19999 in a browser. You get per-second charts for CPU, memory, disks, network and every running service, with alerts already configured, and nothing to set up first.

The dashboard has no password by default, so this tutorial binds it to localhost and reaches it through an SSH tunnel instead of opening the port to the internet. We installed Netdata 2.12.1 on Ubuntu 24.04 this way; the script also supports Debian, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux and Fedora.

## Install Netdata

Download the kickstart script, then run it:

```bash
wget -O /tmp/netdata-kickstart.sh https://get.netdata.cloud/kickstart.sh
sh /tmp/netdata-kickstart.sh --stable-channel --disable-telemetry
```

What the options do:

- `--stable-channel` installs the stable releases rather than the nightly builds, which are the default.
- `--disable-telemetry` stops the agent sending anonymous usage statistics to Netdata.

The script adds Netdata's own package repository (`/etc/apt/sources.list.d/netdata.sources` on Ubuntu and Debian), installs the `netdata` package and its plugins, and starts the service. It asks for confirmation and for `sudo` along the way; add `--non-interactive` to skip the questions. To read it first, open `/tmp/netdata-kickstart.sh` before the second command.

### Check it worked

```bash
systemctl is-active netdata
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 19999
```

The service is `active`, and it listens on port 19999 on every address (`0.0.0.0:19999`). Fix that next.

## Keep the dashboard private

Anyone who can reach port 19999 can read everything Netdata collects: processes, connections, disk names. Make it listen on localhost only. Add this to the end of `/etc/netdata/netdata.conf`:

```ini
[web]
    bind to = 127.0.0.1
```

Then restart it:

```bash
sudo systemctl restart netdata
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 19999
```

It now shows `127.0.0.1:19999` only.

To open the dashboard, forward the port over SSH from your computer:

```bash
ssh -N -L 19999:127.0.0.1:19999 deploy@203.0.113.10
```

Leave that running and browse to `http://localhost:19999`. Close the tunnel with Ctrl+C when you're done. Nothing extra is exposed on the server, and the tunnel is as secure as your SSH login.

If you need the dashboard reachable without a tunnel, put it behind a reverse proxy with HTTPS and a password, or connect the server to Netdata Cloud (below), rather than opening 19999.

## Read the dashboard

The dashboard opens on an overview of the node. The sections worth looking at first:

| Section | What to look for |
| --- | --- |
| **System Overview: CPU** | Sustained use near 100%, and **iowait** (time waiting for the disk) |
| **System Overview: Load** | The load average compared with your number of vCPUs |
| **Memory** | **Available** memory, and any swap activity |
| **Disks** | Utilisation and the time requests wait (latency) |
| **Networking** | Traffic in and out, and errors or drops |
| **Applications** (apps plugin) | CPU and memory per program, grouped (nginx, postgres, docker) |
| **systemd Services** | The same per service |

Every chart is per second for recent data. Zoom with the time picker or by dragging on a chart, and the other charts follow, which makes it easy to see what else happened at the moment of a spike.

## Alerts

Netdata ships with alert rules for CPU, memory, disk space, disk latency, network errors and many applications; they're in `/usr/lib/netdata/conf.d/health.d/` (`cpu.conf`, `ram.conf`, `disks.conf` and more than a hundred others). Active alerts show up under **Alerts** in the dashboard.

To change a threshold, copy the file into `/etc/netdata/` with Netdata's helper and edit the copy:

```bash
cd /etc/netdata
sudo ./edit-config health.d/cpu.conf
sudo netdatacli reload-health
```

To have alerts emailed, the server needs to be able to send mail. Netdata uses the system's `sendmail`, so set up an [SMTP relay](https://vpsnine.com/tutorials/send-email-from-vps-smtp-relay) first, then set `DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_EMAIL` with `sudo ./edit-config health_alarm_notify.conf`.

## Netdata Cloud (optional)

Netdata Cloud is Netdata's hosted service: it shows several servers on one dashboard, adds sign-in, and sends alert notifications without a mail setup. Connecting a server is optional, and the local dashboard works without it. If you want it, the **Connect** button in the dashboard (or the `claim` options of the kickstart script) walks you through it. Read Netdata's terms for what it stores; the metrics themselves stay on your server.

## Updates and removal

Because Netdata came from its own repository, it updates with your normal `sudo apt upgrade` (or `dnf upgrade`).

To remove it completely:

```bash
sh /tmp/netdata-kickstart.sh --uninstall
```

Download the script again first if `/tmp` has been cleared.

## Troubleshooting

**The browser can't connect to `http://localhost:19999`.** The SSH tunnel isn't running, or another program on your computer uses 19999. Use another local port: `ssh -N -L 29999:127.0.0.1:19999 ...` and browse to `localhost:29999`.

**Netdata uses more memory than you'd like.** It used about 60 MB in our test. Shorter retention lowers it: see `[db]` in `netdata.conf` and [Netdata's documentation](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/) on database modes.

**`ss` still shows `0.0.0.0:19999` after the change.** The `[web]` section is in the wrong file or misspelt. `sudo netdatacli dumpconfig | grep -A3 '^\[web\]'` shows what Netdata actually read.

## Next steps

- Found something busy? [Troubleshoot high CPU and memory](https://vpsnine.com/tutorials/troubleshoot-high-cpu-and-memory).
- Match a spike to log lines with [journalctl](https://vpsnine.com/tutorials/read-logs-with-journalctl).
- The quick, no-install checks: [monitor your server](https://vpsnine.com/help/monitor-your-server).

## Doing it on VPSNine

The VPSNine panel already graphs each server's CPU, memory, disk reads and writes and network traffic in five-minute steps, and can email you on [resource alerts](https://vpsnine.com/help/notifications-and-alerts) without anything installed on the server. Netdata adds per-second detail and per-process charts from inside it. Runs on [Ubuntu 24.04](https://vpsnine.com/os/ubuntu-24.04) and every other image, on all [plans](https://vpsnine.com/plans).