Running behind nginx

netdata via nginx

To pass netdata via a nginx, use this:

As a virtual host

upstream backend {
    # the netdata server
    server 127.0.0.1:19999;
    keepalive 64;
}

server {
    # nginx listens to this
    listen 80;

    # the virtual host name of this
    server_name netdata.example.com;

    location / {
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Server $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_pass http://backend;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_pass_request_headers on;
        proxy_set_header Connection "keep-alive";
        proxy_store off;
    }
}

As a subfolder to an existing virtual host

upstream netdata {
    server 127.0.0.1:19999;
    keepalive 64;
}

server {
   listen 80;

   # the virtual host name of this subfolder should be exposed
   #server_name netdata.example.com;

   location = /netdata {
        return 301 /netdata/;
   }

   location ~ /netdata/(?<ndpath>.*) {
        proxy_redirect off;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;

        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Server $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_pass_request_headers on;
        proxy_set_header Connection "keep-alive";
        proxy_store off;
        proxy_pass http://netdata/$ndpath$is_args$args;

        gzip on;
        gzip_proxied any;
        gzip_types *;
    }
}

As a subfolder for multiple netdata servers, via one nginx

upstream backend-server1 {
    server 10.1.1.103:19999;
    keepalive 64;
}
upstream backend-server2 {
    server 10.1.1.104:19999;
    keepalive 64;
}

server {
    listen 80;

    # the virtual host name of this subfolder should be exposed
    #server_name netdata.example.com;

    location ~ /netdata/(?<behost>.*)/(?<ndpath>.*) {
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Server $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_pass_request_headers on;
        proxy_set_header Connection "keep-alive";
        proxy_store off;
        proxy_pass http://backend-$behost/$ndpath$is_args$args;

        gzip on;
        gzip_proxied any;
        gzip_types *;
    }

    # make sure there is a trailing slash at the browser
    # or the URLs will be wrong
    location ~ /netdata/(?<behost>.*) {
        return 301 /netdata/$behost/;
    }
}

Of course you can add as many backend servers as you like.

Using the above, you access netdata on the backend servers, like this:

• http://nginx.server/netdata/server1/ to reach backend-server1
• http://nginx.server/netdata/server2/ to reach backend-server2

Enable authentication

Create an authentication file to enable the nginx basic authentication. Do not use authentication without SSL/TLS! If you haven't one you can do the following:

printf "yourusername:$(openssl passwd -apr1)" > /etc/nginx/passwords

And enable the authentication inside your server directive:

server {
    # ...
    auth_basic "Protected";
    auth_basic_user_file passwords;
    # ...
}

limit direct access to netdata

If your nginx is on localhost, you can use this to protect your netdata:

[web]
    bind to = 127.0.0.1 ::1

---

You can also use a unix domain socket. This will also provide a faster route between nginx and netdata:

[web]
    bind to = unix:/tmp/netdata.sock

note: netdata v1.8+ support unix domain sockets

At the nginx side, use something like this to use the same unix domain socket:

upstream backend {
    server unix:/tmp/netdata.sock;
    keepalive 64;
}

---

If your nginx server is not on localhost, you can set:

[web]
    bind to = *
    allow connections from = IP_OF_NGINX_SERVER

note: netdata v1.9+ support allow connections from

allow connections from accepts netdata simple patterns to match against the connection IP address.

prevent the double access.log

nginx logs accesses and netdata logs them too. You can prevent netdata from generating its access log, by setting this in /etc/netdata/netdata.conf:

[global]
      access log = none

SELinux

If you get an 502 Bad Gateway error you might check your nginx error log:

# cat /var/log/nginx/error.log:
2016/09/09 12:34:05 [crit] 5731#5731: *1 connect() to 127.0.0.1:19999 failed (13: Permission denied) while connecting to upstream, client: 1.2.3.4, server: netdata.example.com, request: "GET / HTTP/2.0", upstream: "http://127.0.0.1:19999/", host: "netdata.example.com"

If you see something like the above, chances are high that SELinux prevents nginx from connecting to the backend server. To fix that, just use this policy: setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect true.