---
title: "Verify Prometheus metrics are written to an endpoint | Grafana Labs"
description: "How to verify that metrics are being written to an endpoint"
---

# Verify Prometheus metrics are written to an endpoint

While installing and configuring Prometheus in your local environment is out of scope for this journey, a good first step in this journey is to verify that your system is writing metrics to the Prometheus endpoint. Watch video ->

To verify Prometheus metrics are written to an endpoint, complete the following steps:

1. Log into the machine on which Prometheus is installed.
2. If required, switch to a user that has administrative privileges.
3. To check the Prometheus service status, run one of the following commands:
   
   For Linux:
   
   ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
   
   ```none
   systemctl status prometheus.service
   ```
   
   For Windows:
   
   ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy
   
   ```none
   sc query prometheus
   ```
   
   You should see something similar to the following:
4. To ensure that Prometheus is capturing the metrics, open a browser tab and navigate to the metrics endpoint URL.
   
   For example, navigate to `http://localhost:9090/metrics`
   
   You should see something similar to the following:

**Tip:** Consult the Prometheus documentation if you are unable to run the Prometheus service or can’t verify that Prometheus is capturing metrics.

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### Troubleshooting

Explore the following troubleshooting topics if you need help:

- [Prometheus is not running as a service](/docs/grafana/next/getting-started/get-started-grafana-prometheus/#4-if-prometheus-is-not-running-as-a-service)
- [Prometheus is not running](/docs/grafana/next/getting-started/get-started-grafana-prometheus/#2-if-prometheus-is-not-running)
- [Check if Prometheus is capturing metrics](/docs/grafana/next/getting-started/get-started-grafana-prometheus/#5-checking-if-prometheus-is-capturing-metrics)

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### More to explore (optional)

- [Send data from a Prometheus instance](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/metrics/metrics-prometheus/#send-data-from-a-prometheus-instance)
- [Send data from multiple Prometheus instances](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/metrics/metrics-prometheus/#send-data-from-multiple-prometheus-instances)
- [Send data from multiple high-availability Prometheus instances](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/metrics/metrics-prometheus/#send-data-from-multiple-high-availability-prometheus-instances)