How to enable the prometheus in Podman

How to enable prometheus in Podman (Podman-exporter, Node-Exporter)

Note: Linux Machine (Ubuntu/RHEL-based) and Podman is already installed.

1. Overview of Monitoring Components

Prometheus: Collects and stores metrics from configured targets
Podman Exporter: Provides container-level metrics for Podman workloads
Node Exporter: Provides system-level metrics (CPU, memory, disk, network)

2. Install and Configure Prometheus ( From Scratch)

Step 1: Remove existing Prometheus (if any)

podman rm -f prometheus

Step 2: Create Prometheus configuration directory

mkdir -p /opt/prometheus

Step 3: Start Prometheus container on port 8087

podman run -d --name prometheus \
  -p 8087:8087 \
  -v /opt/prometheus/prometheus.yml:/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml:Z \
  docker.io/prom/prometheus:latest \
  --config.file=/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml \
  --storage.tsdb.path=/prometheus \
  --web.listen-address=":8087"

Prometheus will be accessible at: http://<server-ip>:8087

3. Install Podman Exporter

Step 1: Run Podman Exporter container

podman run -d --name podman-exporter \
  --privileged \
  --network host \
  -v /run/podman/podman.sock:/run/podman/podman.sock:Z \
  -e CONTAINER_HOST=unix:///run/podman/podman.sock \
  quay.io/navidys/prometheus-podman-exporter:latest \
  --collector.enable-all

Step 2: Validate exporter

curl http://<server-ip>:8091/metrics

Podman Exporter exposes container metrics on port 8091

4. Install Node Exporter

Step 1: Run Node Exporter container

podman run -d --name node-exporter \
  --net=host \
  --pid=host \
  --privileged \
  -v "/:/host:ro,rslave" \
  quay.io/prometheus/node-exporter:latest \
  --path.rootfs=/host

Step 2: Validate Node Exporter

curl http://<server-ip>:9100/metrics

Node Exporter collects system metrics such as CPU, memory, disk usage, and network statistics.

5. Configure Prometheus Scraping

Step 1: Open configuration file

/opt/prometheus/prometheus.yml

Step 2: Add scrape configuration

global:
  scrape_interval: 15s

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: "prometheus"
    static_configs:
      - targets: ["localhost:8087"]

  - job_name: "podman-exporter"
    static_configs:
      - targets: ["<server-ip>:8091"]

  - job_name: "node-exporter"
    static_configs:
      - targets: ["<server-ip>:9100"]

Replace <server-ip> with actual server IP address

6. Restart Prometheus

podman restart prometheus

7. Validation Steps

Open Prometheus UI: http://<server-ip>:8087/targets
Verify all targets are in UP state
Check metrics endpoints manually using curl

8. Port Summary

Component	Port
Prometheus	8087
Podman Exporter	8091
Node Exporter	9100

9. Troubleshooting Tips

If Prometheus is not accessible, verify port 8087 is not blocked by firewall
If targets show DOWN, check network connectivity between Prometheus and exporters
Use podman logs <container> for debugging