netdata-minimal

Minimal netdata installation with all plugins disabled by default. This image is intended as a base image for netdata custom plugins running as a microservice with a backend or stream enabled (which is disabled by default, see below). Minimal as in minimal plugins enabled, not minimal in size!

This image is being weekly built and pushed to Docker Hub.

Note: The web UI and health checks of netdata are disabled by default. Even if enabled (see env vars) then it does not show any charts, you will only see the footer and menu. Unless you activate plugins explicitly, ofc.

How to get started

Declare FROM braindoctor/netdata-minimal in your Dockerfile
Override the config (see below)
Enable the web service for debugging purposes

What's in the box

Alpine edge
Full netdata installation (latest git clone & compile), but the default plugins are disabled using config options in /etc/netdata/netdata.conf
Python, and some pkgs: py-mysqldb, py-psycopg2, netcat-openbsd
Nodejs (without npm)
Crudini (for easy ini editing)
jq (for easy json editing)
merge-yaml-cli (for easy yaml editing)
bash (just 1 additional MB, but makes scripting so much easier)

Environment variables

Some basic settings can be applied without having to override them in files.

Key	Default value	Accepted values	Description
`N_ENABLE_WEB`	`no`	`yes` or `no`	Set it to `yes` to enable the web UI.
`N_DISABLE_WEB_LOG`	`no`	`yes` or `no`	Set it to `yes` to disable the web access log.
`N_ENABLE_HEALTH`	`no`	`yes` or `no`	Set it to `yes` to enable health.
`N_ENABLE_PYTHON_D`	`no`	`yes` or `no`	Set it to `yes` to enable python plugins.
`N_ENABLE_NODE_D`	`no`	`yes` or `no`	Set it to `yes` to enable nodejs plugins.
`N_STREAM_DESTINATION`	(unset)	DNS or IP	The netdata streaming master. Requires `N_STREAM_API_KEY`.
`N_STREAM_API_KEY`	(unset)	uuid	The API key for streaming.
`N_STREAM_MASTER_MEMORY`	(unset)	`save`, `ram`, `none` or `map`	The memory mode of the netdata slaves (enables master). Requires `N_STREAM_API_KEY`.
`N_STREAM_MASTER_HEALTH`	`auto`	`yes`, `auto`, or `no`	Whether health checks are enabled for slaves. `auto` means `yes, if connected`.
`N_HOSTNAME`	(unset)	string	The hostname for netdata (affects streaming). Default is container hostname.
`N_MEMORY_MODE`	`save`	`save`, `ram`, `none` or `map`	The memory mode of this node.

Overriding netdata configuration

Overriding netdata configuration is relatively easy. In your Dockerfile, either:

Replace /etc/netdata/overrides/netdata.ini with your file. Make sure user netdata can read the file.
Mount /etc/netdata/overrides from outside (permissions!).
Append section and key/value pairs using echo in your RUN instructions, e.g:

FROM braindoctor/netdata-minimal
RUN \
    echo "[plugins]" >> /etc/netdata/overrides/netdata.ini
    echo "python.d = yes" >> /etc/netdata/overrides/netdata.ini

Whichever method you prefer, do NOT provide leading whitespace in your ini file, or else parsing and merging will fail!

Installing/Enabling custom plugins

In your Dockerfile, install them as you would on a normal system:

Make sure that the dependencies are installed.
Install configuration file(s) for netdata.
Ensure that user netdata can read and execute the plugin and config file(s) by setting the proper permissions.
Build & Test.

Installing custom scripts

Provide any shell scripts ending with .sh in /etc/netdata/pre-start.d or /etc/netdata/post-start.d. Pre-start scripts are executed before merging/overwriting files from /etc/netdata/overrides in alphabetical order. Post-start scripts after merging but before starting netdata. The scripts will be called with bash.

Netdata user

The official firehol/netdata base image has been built so that user netdata can run netdata. Initially, the container will start as root, but then switches user.

ccremer/netdata-minimal