Monitoring a Linux host using the Linux Node integration

This guide will show you how to install the Linux Node integration, deploy the Grafana Agent to a Linux host, push metrics to Grafana Cloud, and use the preconfigured dashboard to visualize those metrics.

Prerequisites

• A Grafana Cloud account, as shown in Quickstarts
• A Linux machine
• Command line (terminal) access to that Linux machine

Install the integration and agent

1. Login to Grafana.com to enter the Cloud Portal.

2. Click Log In in the Grafana tile.

   The first time you log in to Grafana from the Cloud Portal you are automatically taken to the Walkthrough. If this is not your first time, follow the next two steps, otherwise you can skip ahead.

3. Click the Integrations and Connections icon (it looks like a lightning bolt) in the left column.

4. Select the Linux Server tile and click Install Integration.

5. To install and configure the Grafana Agent on your Linux machine, follow the provided instructions. When you are done installing the agent and it is running, click Test integration and finish installation to confirm the agent is sending metrics that Grafana Cloud is receiving them.

   NOTE: The gcloud_api_key shown in this screenshot has publisher rights and can be found in your portal account API Keys list with the name $instance_name-easystart_prom-publisher.

6. Click View Dashboards to view preconfigured dashboards.

   The Linux server dashboard is called Nodes and is found in the Linux Node folder. Click it to open the dashboard.