Prometheus Installation systemd

Running Prometheus directly from the terminal (for example, ./prometheus) launches it in the foreground. If you close that terminal, Prometheus stops. It also won’t start automatically after a reboot. To run Prometheus like any other long‑running service — in the background and enabled at boot — create a dedicated systemd unit and a system user that owns the Prometheus files. This guide walks through:

creating a system user and directories
installing the Prometheus binaries and configuration
creating a systemd unit file
starting and enabling the service

1. Create a Prometheus user

Create a system user that cannot log in interactively. This user will own and run the Prometheus process.

sudo useradd --no-create-home --shell /bin/false prometheus

Using --no-create-home and /bin/false prevents shell login for the prometheus user. This is a security best practice for service accounts.

2. Create directories and set permissions

Create directories for configuration and time series storage, then assign ownership to the prometheus user and group.

sudo mkdir /etc/prometheus
sudo mkdir /var/lib/prometheus

# Verify:
ls -ld /etc/prometheus /var/lib/prometheus

Table: directory purposes

Path	Purpose
`/etc/prometheus`	Prometheus configuration and consoles (`prometheus.yml`, `consoles`, `console_libraries`)
`/var/lib/prometheus`	TSDB (time series database) storage

After you copy files (next steps), make sure the directories and files are owned by the prometheus user:

sudo chown -R prometheus:prometheus /etc/prometheus /var/lib/prometheus

3. Download and extract Prometheus

Download the Prometheus release and extract it.

wget https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releases/download/v2.37.0/prometheus-2.37.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar xzf prometheus-2.37.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
cd prometheus-2.37.0.linux-amd64

4. Install binaries and copy supporting files

Copy the prometheus binary and the promtool CLI to /usr/local/bin, and copy consoles and config files into /etc/prometheus.

# Move binaries
sudo cp prometheus /usr/local/bin/
sudo cp promtool /usr/local/bin/
sudo chmod 0755 /usr/local/bin/prometheus /usr/local/bin/promtool
sudo chown prometheus:prometheus /usr/local/bin/prometheus /usr/local/bin/promtool

# Copy consoles and console libraries for the web UI
sudo cp -r consoles /etc/prometheus
sudo cp -r console_libraries /etc/prometheus
sudo chown -R prometheus:prometheus /etc/prometheus/consoles /etc/prometheus/console_libraries

# Copy the example config (rename to prometheus.yml)
sudo cp prometheus.yml /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
sudo chown prometheus:prometheus /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
sudo chmod 0644 /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml

consoles and console_libraries provide optional local web UI templates. If you are not using these right away, copying them still ensures the web UI works later without additional steps.

5. Test running Prometheus as the prometheus user

You can test the exact command the systemd unit will run:

sudo -u prometheus /usr/local/bin/prometheus \
  --config.file=/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml \
  --storage.tsdb.path=/var/lib/prometheus/ \
  --web.console.templates=/etc/prometheus/consoles \
  --web.console.libraries=/etc/prometheus/console_libraries

This runs Prometheus in the foreground (for testing). When satisfied, stop it with Ctrl+C and proceed to create the systemd service.

6. Create the systemd service unit

Create /etc/systemd/system/prometheus.service with the contents below. This unit ensures Prometheus starts after the network is available and runs under the prometheus user.

[Unit]
Description=Prometheus
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=prometheus
Group=prometheus
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/prometheus \
  --config.file=/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml \
  --storage.tsdb.path=/var/lib/prometheus/ \
  --web.console.templates=/etc/prometheus/consoles \
  --web.console.libraries=/etc/prometheus/console_libraries

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Explanation highlights:

Wants=network-online.target and After=network-online.target ensure the network is up before Prometheus starts.
User / Group set the service account; Type=simple is sufficient for Prometheus.
ExecStart is the full command to run Prometheus with the correct paths.

You can create the file with:

sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/prometheus.service
# (paste the unit file contents, save and exit)

The image shows a dark-themed command line interface titled "Prometheus Installation systemd," with no visible content or commands displayed.

7. Reload systemd, start and enable Prometheus

After adding or changing unit files, reload systemd and start the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start prometheus

Check the status:

sudo systemctl status prometheus

To ensure Prometheus starts automatically on boot:

sudo systemctl enable prometheus
sudo systemctl is-enabled prometheus   # should print "enabled"

If systemctl status prometheus reports failures, inspect the journal for details: sudo journalctl -u prometheus -b. Common issues include incorrect file paths, file ownership, or an invalid prometheus.yml.

8. Troubleshooting tips

Confirm prometheus binary location: which prometheus or ls -l /usr/local/bin/prometheus.
Confirm config file syntax: promtool check config /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml.
Check logs: sudo journalctl -u prometheus -f to tail live logs.

References

Prometheus releases: https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releases
systemd documentation: https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/

Introduction

Observability Fundamentals

Prometheus Fundamentals

PromQL

Dashboarding & Visualization

Application Instrumentation

Service Discovery

Push Gateway

Alerting

Monitoring Kubernetes

Conclusion

Scaling & Long Term Storage

Prometheus Installation systemd

1. Create a Prometheus user

2. Create directories and set permissions

3. Download and extract Prometheus

4. Install binaries and copy supporting files

5. Test running Prometheus as the prometheus user

6. Create the systemd service unit

7. Reload systemd, start and enable Prometheus

8. Troubleshooting tips

References

Watch Video

​1. Create a Prometheus user

​2. Create directories and set permissions

​3. Download and extract Prometheus

​4. Install binaries and copy supporting files

​5. Test running Prometheus as the prometheus user

​6. Create the systemd service unit

​7. Reload systemd, start and enable Prometheus

​8. Troubleshooting tips

​References

Watch Video

1. Create a Prometheus user

2. Create directories and set permissions

3. Download and extract Prometheus

4. Install binaries and copy supporting files

5. Test running Prometheus as the prometheus user

6. Create the systemd service unit

7. Reload systemd, start and enable Prometheus

8. Troubleshooting tips

References