Dynamic Configuration Manager

Overview

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Netdata Cloud paid subscription is required.

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What You'll Learn

How to access the Dynamic Configuration Manager and understand its key features for managing your monitoring infrastructure.

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The Dynamic Configuration Manager allows you to configure collectors and alerts directly through the Netdata UI. This feature enables you to:

• Create, test, and deploy configurations for one or more nodes directly within the UI
• Eliminate manual command-line edits and node access, enhancing your workflow efficiency

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Cloud Connection and Security

Your nodes using Dynamic Configuration Manager require a connection to Netdata Cloud. This ensures proper permission handling and data security.

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Key Features:

Feature	Purpose
Configure collector parameters	Set up data collection settings directly in the UI
Fill out configuration forms	Use guided interfaces instead of editing config files
Test configurations before deployment	Validate settings to prevent errors
Create alert templates	Build reusable alert definitions
Apply templates to instances or contexts	Target specific services or apply broadly
Deploy to multiple nodes simultaneously	Ensure consistency across your infrastructure
Manage Health tab alert templates	Create configurations for templates and individual alerts that apply to instances or contexts

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To understand what actions you can perform based on your role, refer to the Role-Based Access documentation.

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Quick Access Methods

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What You'll Learn

Four different ways to access the Dynamic Configuration Manager, each optimized for different workflows.

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You can access the Dynamic Configuration Manager in multiple ways:

<details> <summary><strong>From Any Chart</strong></summary>

1. Navigate to any chart on your dashboard
2. Click the Alert icon (bell icon) at the top of the chart
3. Choose to edit an existing alert or create a new one
4. Configure your alert parameters and submit changes

</details> <details> <summary><strong>From the Alerts Tab</strong></summary>

1. Go to the Alerts tab on your Netdata dashboard
2. Locate the alert you want to modify and click on it
3. Adjust thresholds and parameters to match your needs
4. Save your changes

</details> <details> <summary><strong>From the Integrations Section</strong></summary>

1. Navigate to the Integrations section on your dashboard
2. Browse through the available collectors
3. Click on the Configure button for the collector you want to set up
4. Once configured, they will start collecting data as specified

</details> <details> <summary><strong>From Space Settings</strong></summary>

1. Go to Space Settings on your Dashboard
2. Navigate to the Configurations section
3. Explore, create, and edit collector, health and logs configurations

</details>

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Currently available for go.d collectors, you can configure collectors straight from the Integrations section. This means you can quickly identify what Netdata can monitor and set up your configurations in one go.

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Getting Started

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What You'll Learn

How to use each of the four access methods with practical step-by-step workflows.

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To help you get started with the Dynamic Configuration Manager, try using the Netdata demo environment to explore these capabilities firsthand and see how they can enhance your monitoring workflows.

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Step-by-Step Walkthrough

<details> <summary><strong>Creating Alerts from Charts</strong></summary>

Learn more about this access method: From Any Chart

1. Navigate to the chart (context) you want to create an alert for
2. Click on the Alert icon (bell icon) on top of the chart to edit an existing alert or create a new one
3. Configure your alert parameters, such as rules, instances, thresholds, etc.
4. Submit your changes

</details> <details> <summary><strong>Managing Alerts from the Alerts Tab</strong></summary>

Learn more about this access method: From the Alerts Tab

1. Go to the Alerts tab on your Netdata dashboard
2. Locate the alert you wish to modify and click on it
3. Adjust the thresholds and other parameters to match your specific needs
4. Save the changes

</details> <details> <summary><strong>Configuring Collectors from Integrations</strong></summary>

Learn more about this access method: From the Integrations Section

1. Navigate to the Integrations section on the dashboard
2. Browse through the available collectors
3. Click on the Configure button for the collector you want to set up
4. Once configured, they will start collecting data as specified

</details> <details> <summary><strong>Managing Configurations from Space Settings</strong></summary>

Learn more about this access method: From Space Settings

1. Go to Space Settings on your Dashboard
2. Navigate to the Configurations section
3. Explore, create, and edit collector, health and logs configurations

</details>

Collectors

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What You'll Learn

How modules and jobs work together to collect data, and the specific actions you can perform on each.

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Module

A module represents a specific data collector, such as Apache, MySQL, or Redis. Think of modules as templates for data collection.

Each module can have multiple jobs, which are unique configurations of that template tailored to your specific needs.

Module Management Actions:

Action	Description
Add job	Create new configuration instances (jobs) for a particular module
Enable/Disable	Disabling a module deactivates all currently running jobs and prevents any future jobs from being created for that module

Job

A job represents a running instance of a module with a specific configuration. Think of it as a customized data collection task based on a module template.

Job Source Types:

Every job has a designated "source type" indicating its origin:

Source Type	Description
Stock	Pre-installed with Netdata and provides basic data collection for common services
User	Created from user-defined configuration files on the node
Discovered	Automatically generated by Netdata upon discovering a service running on the node
Dynamic Configuration	Managed and created through the Dynamic Configuration Manager

Job Management Actions:

Category	Action	Description
Configuration	Edit	Modify an existing job's configuration
Configuration	Test	Validate newly created or edited configurations before applying them permanently
Management	Enable/Disable	Control the job's activity. Disabling a running job stops data collection
Management	Restart	Restart a job's data collection, useful if a job encounters a "Failed" state. Upon restart, you'll see a notification with the failure message
Management	Remove	Delete a job configuration entirely. Note that you can only remove jobs created through Dynamic Configuration. Other job types originate from files on the node and cannot be deleted here

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Only jobs created through Dynamic Configuration can be removed. Other job types originate from files on the node and can’t be deleted through the UI.

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Multi-Node Deployment

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What You'll Learn

How to deploy configurations to multiple nodes simultaneously, saving time and ensuring consistency across your infrastructure.

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The Dynamic Configuration Manager allows you to submit configurations to multiple nodes with just one click, eliminating the need to configure each node individually.

:::note For teams using Infrastructure as Code solutions, the Dynamic Configuration Manager allows you to construct and copy configurations easily, integrating them into your IaC workflows. This ensures your configurations are consistent and reproducible across different environments. :::

Multi-Node Deployment Process

<details> <summary><strong>Deploy to Multiple Nodes</strong></summary>

1. Configure your collectors or alerts using any of the methods described above
2. Use the multi-node feature to select your target nodes
3. Submit your configuration, and it will be applied to all selected nodes instantly

</details>

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This feature is particularly valuable for managing large infrastructures where manual configuration of individual nodes would be time-consuming and error-prone.

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Troubleshooting

HTTP 412 Error When Editing Alert Configurations

If you receive an HTTP 412 error with a message like "Request failed with status 412" when editing alert configurations, this indicates an authentication issue, not a schema validation error.

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In Netdata, HTTP 412 is used to indicate that an authorization bearer token was required but was not present in the request. This differs from the generic HTTP 412 "Precondition Failed" response.

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Common causes:

1. Bearer token protection enabled - Your agent requires Cloud authentication for API access
2. Cloud connection lost - Agent disconnected from Netdata Cloud
3. Session expired - Bearer token has expired (tokens expire after 24 hours)
4. Missing browser authentication state - Your browser is no longer sending a valid Cloud bearer token with the request

Resolution steps:

1. Verify claim and Cloud connection: Check http://IP:19999/api/v3/info and inspect the cloud section. Use cloud.status to verify whether the Agent is connected to Netdata Cloud, and if it is not online, inspect cloud.reason for the failure details.
2. Re-authenticate: Log out and log back into Netdata Cloud to refresh your bearer token.
3. Verify bearer token protection setting: If enabled in netdata.conf, ensure you're accessing the agent through a Cloud-authenticated session.
4. Check permissions only if you get HTTP 403: If the request changes from HTTP 412 to HTTP 403 after re-authenticating, ensure you have Admin or Manager role in the space containing the agent.

For more information, see Secure Your Netdata Agent with Bearer Token Protection.

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Experience the efficiency and power of the Dynamic Configuration Manager in Netdata today. Whether you're managing a handful of nodes or a vast infrastructure, this feature will make your monitoring and alerting tasks smoother and more intuitive.

Developing with dynamic configuration? Click here.