Learn how to – Monitor BIND DNS server with Prometheus and Grafana.
In this blog post, we will cover the steps to set up monitoring for
BIND DNS server using Prometheus Server and Grafana to visualize Bind
metrics. BIND which stands for “Berkeley Internet Name Domain” is an
open-source Domain Name server that allows you to publish your DNS
information on the Internet and allow network users to do DNS queries.
The number of tools that can be used to monitor BIND DNS server is limited, and personally, I like Prometheus Bind exporter with Grafana. LibreNMS has BIND application monitoring that I was planning to give it a try.
Setup Pre-requisites
- Installed and configured BIND DNS server
- BIND need to have been build with
libxml2support. This can be confirmed using
# named -V | grep libxml2
using libxml2 version: 2.9.13. Installed Prometheus – Install Prometheus on Ubuntu / CentOS / Debian
Step 1: Install Bind Prometheus Exporter
Install wget
### Ubuntu / Debian ###
sudo apt update
sudo apt -y install wget
### CentOS / Fedora ###
sudo yum -y install wget
Download the latest release of bind_exporter binary:
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/prometheus-community/bind_exporter/releases/latest | grep browser_download_url | grep linux-amd64 | cut -d '"' -f 4 | wget -qi -This downloads a 64-bit binary release for Linux, for other operating systems, check the bind_exporter releases page.
Extract downloaded file.
tar xvf bind_exporter*.tar.gzMove extracted binary file to /usr/local/bin directory:
sudo mv bind_exporter-*/bind_exporter /usr/local/binConfirm installation by checking the version installed.
$ bind_exporter --version
bind_exporter, version 0.5.0 (branch: HEAD, revision: 792f7f381f95fbe5fb319b18cedb9ae6f6ad013b)
build user: root@711e62b7164b
build date: 20211123-09:00:54
go version: go1.17.3
platform: linux/amd64
You can print command options using bind_exporter --help
$ bind_exporter --help
usage: bind_exporter [<flags>]
Flags:
-h, --help Show context-sensitive help (also try --help-long and --help-man).
--bind.stats-url="http://localhost:8053/"
HTTP XML API address of BIND server
--bind.timeout=10s Timeout for trying to get stats from BIND server
--bind.pid-file="/run/named/named.pid"
Path to BIND's pid file to export process information
--bind.stats-version=auto BIND statistics version. Can be detected automatically.
--web.config.file="" [EXPERIMENTAL] Path to configuration file that can enable TLS or authentication.
--web.listen-address=":9119"
Address to listen on for web interface and telemetry
--web.telemetry-path="/metrics"
Path under which to expose metrics
--bind.stats-groups=server,view,tasks
Comma-separated list of statistics to collect
--version Show application version.
Step 2: Configure BIND DNS server
You need to configure BIND to open a statistics channel. Since the
exporter and BIND are on the same host, the port is opened locally.
For CentOS ISC BIND DNS server, edit the file /etc/named.conf to add.
statistics-channels {
inet 127.0.0.1 port 8053 allow { 127.0.0.1; };
};For Ubuntu / Debian ISC BIND DNS server, edit the file /etc/bind/named.conf.options
statistics-channels {
inet 127.0.0.1 port 8053 allow { 127.0.0.1; };
};Restart bind for the changes to be effected
sudo systemctl restart namedStep 3: Create Bind Exporter systemd service
The next part is to create systemd service used to start the
collector with access to the bind(named) pid file and enable the view
stats group:
Add Prometheus system user account:
sudo groupadd --system prometheus
sudo useradd -s /sbin/nologin --system -g prometheus prometheusThis user will manage the exporter service. Once the user account has been added, create a systemd service unit file:
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/bind_exporter.service<<EOF
[Unit]
Description=Prometheus
Documentation=https://github.com/digitalocean/bind_exporter
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target
[Service]
Type=simple
User=prometheus
Group=prometheus
ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/bind_exporter
--bind.pid-file=/var/run/named/named.pid
--bind.timeout=20s
--web.listen-address=0.0.0.0:9153
--web.telemetry-path=/metrics
--bind.stats-url=http://localhost:8053/
--bind.stats-groups=server,view,tasks
SyslogIdentifier=prometheus
Restart=always
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
Reload systemd and start bind_exporter service:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart bind_exporter.serviceEnable the service to start on boot:
sudo systemctl enable bind_exporter.serviceConfirm that the service is listening on port 9153 as configured
$ systemctl status bind_exporter.service
● bind_exporter.service - Prometheus
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/bind_exporter.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Wed 2021-09-01 11:12:04 UTC; 21s ago
Docs: https://github.com/digitalocean/bind_exporter
Main PID: 16114 (bind_exporter)
Tasks: 5 (limit: 2340)
Memory: 2.6M
CPU: 7ms
CGroup: /system.slice/bind_exporter.service
└─16114 /usr/local/bin/bind_exporter --bind.pid-file=/var/run/named/named.pid --bind.timeout=20s --web.listen-address=0.0.0.0:9153 --web.telemetry-path=/metrics --bind.stats-url=http:/>
Sep 01 11:12:04 debian-bullseye-01 systemd[1]: Started Prometheus.
Sep 01 11:12:04 debian-bullseye-01 prometheus[16114]: level=info ts=2021-09-01T11:12:04.716Z caller=bind_exporter.go:529 msg="Starting bind_exporter" version="(version=0.4.0, branch=HEAD, revision=>
Sep 01 11:12:04 debian-bullseye-01 prometheus[16114]: level=info ts=2021-09-01T11:12:04.716Z caller=bind_exporter.go:530 msg="Build context" build_context="(go=go1.15.6, user=root@5365dfa4cc9d, dat>
Sep 01 11:12:04 debian-bullseye-01 prometheus[16114]: level=info ts=2021-09-01T11:12:04.716Z caller=bind_exporter.go:531 msg="Collectors enabled" collectors=server,view,tasks
Sep 01 11:12:04 debian-bullseye-01 prometheus[16114]: level=info ts=2021-09-01T11:12:04.716Z caller=bind_exporter.go:555 msg="Listening on" address=0.0.0.0:9153
Sep 01 11:12:04 debian-bullseye-01 prometheus[16114]: level=info ts=2021-09-01T11:12:04.717Z caller=tls_config.go:191 msg="TLS is disabled." http2=false
$ sudo ss -tunelp | grep 9153
tcp LISTEN 0 128 :::9153 :::* users:(("bind_exporter",pid=23266,fd=3)) uid:997 ino:113951 sk:ffff8d17fab19980 v6only:0 <->Open the port on the firewall if you have firewalld running:
sudo firewall-cmd --add-port=9153/tcp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --reloadStep 4: Configure Prometheus Server
If you don’t have a running Prometheus server, refer to our previous guide on how to Install Prometheus Server on CentOS and Ubuntu Linux. Below is a definition of my two jobs
- job_name: dns-master
static_configs:
- targets: ['10.1.5.3:9153']
labels:
alias: dns-master
- job_name: dns-slave1
static_configs:
- targets: ['10.1.5.4:9153']
labels:
alias: dns-slaveRestart prometheus server:
sudo systemctl restart prometheusStep 5: Add Grafana Dashboard
We’re going to use already created Grafana dashboard by Cristian Calin. Dashboard ID is 1666. Login to Grafana and Add Prometheus data source if you haven’t.
When Prometheus data source has been added, import Bind Grafana Dashboard by navigating to Dashboard > Import. Use 1666 for Grafana Dashboard ID.
Give it a descriptive name and choose Prometheus data source added earlier.
Click “Import” button to start using the dashboard. After a few minutes, the metrics should start showing.
Stay tuned for more monitoring guides with Prometheus and Grafana. Other monitoring guides are:
- Monitor Linux Server Performance with Prometheus and Grafana in 5 minutes
- How To Monitor Etcd Cluster with Prometheus and Grafana
- Monitor Apache Web Server with Prometheus and Grafana in 5 minutes
- Monitoring MySQL / MariaDB with Prometheus in five minutes
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