S.M.A.R.T.

Plugin: go.d.plugin Module: smartctl

Overview

This collector monitors the health status of storage devices by analyzing S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) counters. It relies on the smartctl CLI tool but avoids directly executing the binary. Instead, it utilizes ndsudo, a Netdata helper specifically designed to run privileged commands securely within the Netdata environment. This approach eliminates the need to use sudo, improving security and potentially simplifying permission management.

Executed commands:

• smartctl --json --scan
• smartctl --json --all {deviceName} --device {deviceType} --nocheck {powerMode}

This collector is only supported on the following platforms:

• Linux
• BSD

This collector only supports collecting metrics from a single instance of this integration.

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

This integration doesn't support auto-detection.

Limits

The default configuration for this integration does not impose any limits on data collection.

Performance Impact

The default configuration for this integration is not expected to impose a significant performance impact on the system.

Metrics

Metrics grouped by scope.

The scope defines the instance that the metric belongs to. An instance is uniquely identified by a set of labels.

Per controller

These metrics refer to the Storage Device.

Labels:

Label	Description
device_name	Device name
device_type	Device type
model_name	Model name
serial_number	Serial number

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
smartctl.device_smart_status	passed, failed	status
smartctl.device_ata_smart_error_log_count	error_log	logs
smartctl.device_power_on_time	power_on_time	seconds
smartctl.device_temperature	temperature	Celsius
smartctl.device_power_cycles_count	power	cycles
smartctl.device_read_errors_rate	corrected, uncorrected	errors/s
smartctl.device_write_errors_rate	corrected, uncorrected	errors/s
smartctl.device_verify_errors_rate	corrected, uncorrected	errors/s
smartctl.device_smart_attr_{attribute_name}	{attribute_name}	{attribute_unit}
smartctl.device_smart_attr_{attribute_name}_normalized	{attribute_name}	value

Alerts

There are no alerts configured by default for this integration.

Setup

You can configure the smartctl collector in two ways:

Method	Best for	How to
UI	Fast setup without editing files	Go to Nodes → Configure this node → Collectors → Jobs, search for smartctl, then click + to add a job.
File	If you prefer configuring via file, or need to automate deployments (e.g., with Ansible)	Edit go.d/smartctl.conf and add a job.

important

UI configuration requires paid Netdata Cloud plan.

Prerequisites

Install smartmontools (v7.0+)

Install smartmontools version 7.0 or later using your distribution's package manager. Version 7.0 introduced the --json output mode, which is required for this collector to function properly.

For Netdata running in a Docker container

1. Install smartmontools.

   Ensure smartctl is available in the container by setting the environment variable NETDATA_EXTRA_DEB_PACKAGES=smartmontools when starting the container.

2. Provide access to storage devices.

   Netdata requires the SYS_RAWIO capability and access to the storage devices to run the smartctl collector inside a Docker container. Here's how you can achieve this:

   • docker run

     docker run --cap-add SYS_RAWIO --device /dev/sda:/dev/sda ...

   • docker-compose.yml

     services:
       netdata:
         cap_add:
           - SYS_PTRACE
           - SYS_ADMIN
           - SYS_RAWIO # smartctl
         devices:
           - "/dev/sda:/dev/sda"

   Multiple Devices: These examples only show mapping of one device (/dev/sda). You'll need to add additional --device options (in docker run) or entries in the devices list (in docker-compose.yml) for each storage device you want Netdata's smartctl collector to monitor.

   NVMe Devices: Do not map NVMe devices using this method. Netdata uses a dedicated collector to monitor NVMe devices.

Configuration

Options

The following options can be defined globally: update_every.

Config options

Group	Option	Description	Default	Required
Collection	update_every	Netdata chart update interval (seconds). Collector may use cached data if this is less than poll_devices_every.	10	no
	timeout	smartctl binary execution timeout (seconds).	5	no
	scan_every	Device discovery interval using smartctl --scan (seconds). Set 0 to scan only once at startup.	900	no
	poll_devices_every	Device polling interval (seconds). Data is cached for this interval.	300	no
Target	device_selector	Pattern to match the 'info name' of devices as reported by smartctl --scan --json.	*	no
	extra_devices	Manually specify devices not auto-detected by smartctl --scan. Each entry must include both a name and a type.	[]	no
Performance	concurrent_scans	Number of devices to scan concurrently. Set 0 for sequential scanning (default). Helps performance when monitoring many devices.	0	no
	no_check_power_mode	Skip data collection when device is in low-power mode (avoids unnecessary spin-up).	standby	no

no_check_power_mode

Valid arguments:

Mode	Description
never	Check the device always.
sleep	Skip check if device is in SLEEP mode.
standby	Skip check if device is in SLEEP or STANDBY mode (prevents spin-up).
idle	Skip check if device is in SLEEP, STANDBY, or IDLE mode (not recommended since disks may still be spinning).

via UI

Configure the smartctl collector from the Netdata web interface:

1. Go to Nodes.
2. Select the node where you want the smartctl data-collection job to run and click the ⚙ (Configure this node). That node will run the data collection.
3. The Collectors → Jobs view opens by default.
4. In the Search box, type smartctl (or scroll the list) to locate the smartctl collector.
5. Click the + next to the smartctl collector to add a new job.
6. Fill in the job fields, then click Test to verify the configuration and Submit to save.
   • Test runs the job with the provided settings and shows whether data can be collected.
   • If it fails, an error message appears with details (for example, connection refused, timeout, or command execution errors), so you can adjust and retest.

via File

The configuration file name for this integration is go.d/smartctl.conf.

The file format is YAML. Generally, the structure is:

update_every: 1
autodetection_retry: 0
jobs:
  - name: some_name1
  - name: some_name2

You can edit the configuration file using the edit-config script from the Netdata config directory.

cd /etc/netdata 2>/dev/null || cd /opt/netdata/etc/netdata
sudo ./edit-config go.d/smartctl.conf

Examples

Custom devices poll interval

Allows you to override the default devices poll interval (data collection).

Config

jobs:
  - name: smartctl
    devices_poll_interval: 60  # Collect S.M.A.R.T statistics every 60 seconds

Concurrent scanning for multiple devices

This example demonstrates enabling concurrent scanning to improve performance when monitoring many devices.

Config

jobs:
  - name: smartctl
    concurrent_scans: 4  # Scan up to 4 devices concurrently

Extra devices

This example demonstrates using extra_devices to manually add a storage device (/dev/sdc) not automatically detected by smartctl --scan.

Config

jobs:
  - name: smartctl
    extra_devices:
      - name: /dev/sdc
        type: jmb39x-q,3

Troubleshooting

Debug Mode

Important: Debug mode is not supported for data collection jobs created via the UI using the Dyncfg feature.

To troubleshoot issues with the smartctl collector, run the go.d.plugin with the debug option enabled. The output should give you clues as to why the collector isn't working.

• Navigate to the plugins.d directory, usually at /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/. If that's not the case on your system, open netdata.conf and look for the plugins setting under [directories].

  cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/

• Switch to the netdata user.

  sudo -u netdata -s

• Run the go.d.plugin to debug the collector:

  ./go.d.plugin -d -m smartctl

  To debug a specific job:

  ./go.d.plugin -d -m smartctl -j jobName

Getting Logs

If you're encountering problems with the smartctl collector, follow these steps to retrieve logs and identify potential issues:

• Run the command specific to your system (systemd, non-systemd, or Docker container).
• Examine the output for any warnings or error messages that might indicate issues. These messages should provide clues about the root cause of the problem.

System with systemd

Use the following command to view logs generated since the last Netdata service restart:

journalctl _SYSTEMD_INVOCATION_ID="$(systemctl show --value --property=InvocationID netdata)" --namespace=netdata --grep smartctl

System without systemd

Locate the collector log file, typically at /var/log/netdata/collector.log, and use grep to filter for collector's name:

grep smartctl /var/log/netdata/collector.log

Note: This method shows logs from all restarts. Focus on the latest entries for troubleshooting current issues.

Docker Container

If your Netdata runs in a Docker container named "netdata" (replace if different), use this command:

docker logs netdata 2>&1 | grep smartctl