Files and directories collector

This module monitors files and directories.

File metrics:

• existence
• time since the last modification
• size

Directory metrics:

• existence
• time since the last modification
• number of files
• size

Permissions

netdata user needs the following permissions on all the directories in pathname that lead to the file/dir:

• files monitoring: execute.
• directories monitoring: read and execute.

If you need to modify the permissions we suggest to use file access control lists:

setfacl -m u:netdata:rx file ...

Warning: For security reasons, this should not be applied recursively, but only to the exact set of directories that lead to the file/dir you want to monitor.

Metrics

All metrics have "filecheck." prefix.

Metric	Scope	Dimensions	Units
file_existence	global	a dimension per file	boolean
file_mtime_ago	global	a dimension per file	seconds
file_size	global	a dimension per file	bytes
dir_existence	global	a dimension per directory	boolean
dir_mtime_ago	global	a dimension per directory	seconds
dir_num_of_files	global	a dimension per directory	files
dir_size	global	a dimension per directory	bytes

Configuration

Edit the go.d/filecheck.conf configuration file using edit-config from the Netdata config directory, which is typically at /etc/netdata.

cd /etc/netdata # Replace this path with your Netdata config directory
sudo ./edit-config go.d/filecheck.conf

Needs only a path to a file or a directory. The path supports * wildcard.

Here is an example:

jobs:
  - name: files_dirs_example
    discovery_every: 30s
    files:
      include:
        - '/path/to/file1'
        - '/path/to/file2'
        - '/path/to/*.log'
    dirs:
      collect_dir_size: no
      include:
        - '/path/to/dir1'
        - '/path/to/dir2'
        - '/path/to/dir3*'

  - name: files_example
    discovery_every: 30s
    files:
      include:
        - '/path/to/file1'
        - '/path/to/file2'
        - '/path/to/*.log'

  - name: dirs_example
    discovery_every: 30s
    dirs:
      collect_dir_size: yes
      include:
        - '/path/to/dir1'
        - '/path/to/dir2'
        - '/path/to/dir3*'

For all available options, see the Filecheck collector's configuration file.

Limitations

• filecheck uses stat call to collect metrics, which is not very efficient.

Troubleshooting

To troubleshoot issues with the filecheck 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 filecheck