Files and directories monitoring with Netdata

This module monitors files and directories.

File metrics:

• existence
• time since the last modification
• size

Directory metrics:

• existence
• time since the last modification
• number of files
• size

Permissions

netdata user needs the following permissions on all the directories in pathname that lead to the file/dir:

• files monitoring: execute.
• directories monitoring: read and execute.

If you need to modify the permissions we suggest to use file access control lists:

setfacl -m u:netdata:rx file ...

⚠️ For security reasons, this should not be applied recursively, but only to the exact set of directories that lead to the file/dir you want to monitor.

Charts

Files and directories have their own set of charts.

Files

• File Existence in boolean
• File Time Since the Last Modification in seconds
• File Size in bytes

Directories

• Dir Existence in boolean
• Dir Time Since the Last Modification in seconds
• Dir Number of Files in files
• Dir Size in bytes

Configuration

Edit the go.d/filecheck.conf configuration file using edit-config from the Netdata config directory, which is typically at /etc/netdata.

cd /etc/netdata # Replace this path with your Netdata config directory
sudo ./edit-config go.d/filecheck.conf

Needs only a path to a file or a directory. The path supports * wildcard.

Here is an example:

jobs:
  - name: files_dirs_example
    discovery_every: 30s
    files:
      include:
        - '/path/to/file1'
        - '/path/to/file2'
        - '/path/to/*.log'
    dirs:
      collect_dir_size: no
      include:
        - '/path/to/dir1'
        - '/path/to/dir2'
        - '/path/to/dir3*'

  - name: files_example
    discovery_every: 30s
    files:
      include:
        - '/path/to/file1'
        - '/path/to/file2'
        - '/path/to/*.log'

  - name: dirs_example
    discovery_every: 30s
    dirs:
      collect_dir_size: yes
      include:
        - '/path/to/dir1'
        - '/path/to/dir2'
        - '/path/to/dir3*'

For all available options, see the Filecheck collector's configuration file.

Limitations

• filecheck uses stat call to collect metrics, which is not very efficient.

Troubleshooting

To troubleshoot issues with the filecheck collector, run the go.d.plugin with the debug option enabled. The output should give you clues as to why the collector isn't working.

First, navigate to your plugins directory, usually at /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/. If that's not the case on your system, open netdata.conf and look for the setting plugins directory. Once you're in the plugin's directory, switch to the netdata user.

cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/
sudo -u netdata -s

You can now run the go.d.plugin to debug the collector:

./go.d.plugin -d -m filecheck