Agent claiming allows a Netdata Agent, running on a distributed node, to securely connect to Netdata Cloud. A Space's administrator creates a claiming token, which is used to add an Agent to their Space via the Agent-Cloud link (ACLK).
Claiming nodes is a security feature in Netdata Cloud. Through the process of claiming, you demonstrate in a few ways that you have administrative access to that node and the configuration settings for its Agent. By logging into the node, you prove you have access, and by using the claiming script or the Netdata command line, you prove you have write access and administrative privileges.
Only the administrators of a Space in Netdata Cloud can view the claiming token and accompanying script generated by Netdata Cloud.
The claiming process ensures no third party can add your node, and then view your node's metrics, in a Cloud account, Space, or War Room that you did not authorize.
By claiming a node, you opt-in to sending data from your Agent to Netdata Cloud via the ACLK. This data is encrypted by TLS while it is in transit. We use the the RSA keypair created during claiming to authenticate the identity of the agent when it connects to the Cloud. While the data does flow through Netdata Cloud servers on its way from Agents to the browser, we do not store or log it.
You can claim a node during the Cloud onboarding process, or after you created a Space by clicking on the USER's Space dropdown, then Manage Claimed Nodes.
Only the administrators of a Space in Netdata Cloud can view the claiming token and accompanying script generated by Netdata Cloud.
To claim a node, copy the script given by Cloud. You must run this script as the user running the netdata
service, which is usually the netdata
user. You have two options: Switch to the appropriate user yourself, or run
the command using sudo
to automatically manage permissions.
By switching to the netdata
user:
sudo su -s /bin/bash netdata
netdata-claim.sh -token=TOKEN -rooms=ROOM1,ROOM2 -url=https://app.netdata.cloud
With sudo
:
sudo netdata-claim.sh -token=TOKEN -rooms=ROOM1,ROOM2 -url=https://app.netdata.cloud
Hit Enter. The script should return Agent was successfully claimed.
. If the claiming script returns errors, see
the troubleshooting information.
Your node may need up to 60 seconds to connect to Netdata Cloud after finishing the claiming process. Please be patient!
The claiming process works with Agents running inside of Docker containers. You can use docker exec
to run the
claiming script on containers already running, or append the claiming script to docker run
to create a new container
and immediately claim it.
Claim a running Agent container by appending the script offered by Cloud to a docker exec ...
command, replacing netdata
with the name of your running container:
docker exec -it netdata netdata-claim.sh -token=TOKEN -rooms=ROOM1,ROOM2 -url=https://app.netdata.cloud
The script should return Agent was successfully claimed.
. If the claiming script returns errors, see the
troubleshooting information.
Claim a newly-created container with docker run ...
.
In the example below, the last line calls the daemon binary, sets essential variables, and then
executes claiming using the information after -W "claim...
. You should copy the relevant token, rooms, and URL from
Cloud.
docker run -d --name=netdata \
-p 19999:19999 \
-v /etc/passwd:/host/etc/passwd:ro \
-v /etc/group:/host/etc/group:ro \
-v /proc:/host/proc:ro \
-v /sys:/host/sys:ro \
-v /etc/os-release:/host/etc/os-release:ro \
--cap-add SYS_PTRACE \
--security-opt apparmor=unconfined \
netdata/netdata \
/usr/sbin/netdata -D -W set global "netdata cloud" enable -W set cloud "cloud base url" "https://app.netdata.cloud" -W "claim -token=TOKEN -rooms=ROOM1,ROOM2 -url=https://app.netdata.cloud"
The container runs in detached mode, so you won't see any output. If the node does not appear in your Space, you can run
the following to find any error output and use that to guide your troubleshooting. Replace netdata
with the name of your container if different.
docker logs netdata 2>&1 | grep -E --line-buffered 'ACLK|claim|cloud'
A Space's administrator can claim a node through a SOCKS5 or HTTP(S) proxy.
You should first configure the proxy in the [cloud]
section of netdata.conf
. The proxy settings you specify here
will also be used to tunnel the ACLK. The default proxy
setting is none
.
[cloud]
proxy = none
The proxy
setting can take one of the following values:
none
: Do not use a proxy, even if the system configured otherwise.env
: Try to read proxy settings from set environment variableshttp_proxy
/socks_proxy
.socks5[h]://[user:pass@]host:ip
: The ACLK and claiming will use the specified SOCKS5 proxy.http://[user:pass@]host:ip
: The ACLK and claiming will use the specified HTTP(S) proxy.
For example, a SOCKS5 proxy setting may look like the following:
[cloud]
proxy = socks5h://203.0.113.0:1080 # With an IP address
proxy = socks5h://proxy.example.com:1080 # With a URL
You can now move on to claiming. Be sure to switch to the netdata
user or use sudo
as explained in the step
above.
When you claim with the netdata-claim.sh
script, add the -proxy=
parameter and append the same proxy setting you
added to netdata.conf
.
netdata-claim.sh -token=MYTOKEN1234567 -rooms=room1,room2 -url=https://app.netdata.cloud -proxy=socks5h://203.0.113.0:1080
Hit Enter. The script should return Agent was successfully claimed.
. If the claiming script returns errors, see
the troubleshooting information.
If you're having trouble claiming a node, this may be because the ACLK cannot connect to Cloud.
With the Netdata Agent running, visit http://localhost:19999/api/v1/info
in your browser. The returned JSON contains
four keys that will be helpful to diagnose any issues you might be having with the ACLK or claiming process.
"cloud-enabled"
"cloud-available"
"agent-claimed"
"aclk-available"
Use these keys and the information below to troubleshoot the ACLK.
If cloud-enabled
is false
, you probably ran the installer with --disable-cloud
option.
Additionally, check that the netdata cloud
setting in netdata.conf
is set to enable
:
[general]
netadata cloud = enable
To fix this issue, reinstall Netdata using your preferred method and do not add the
--disable-cloud
option.
If cloud-available
is false
after you verified Cloud is enabled in the previous step, the most likely issue is that
Cloud features failed to build during installation.
If Cloud features fail to build, the installer continues and finishes the process without Cloud functionality as opposed to failing the installation altogether. We do this to ensure the Agent will always finish installing.
If you can't see an explicit error in the installer's output, you can run the installer with the --require-cloud
option. This option causes the installation to fail if Cloud functionality can't be built and enabled, and the
installer's output should give you more error details.
You may see one of the following error messages during installation:
- Failed to build libmosquitto. The install process will continue, but you will not be able to connect this node to Netdata Cloud.
- Unable to fetch sources for libmosquitto. The install process will continue, but you will not be able to connect this node to Netdata Cloud.
- Failed to build libwebsockets. The install process will continue, but you may not be able to connect this node to Netdata Cloud.
- Unable to fetch sources for libwebsockets. The install process will continue, but you may not be able to connect this node to Netdata Cloud.
One common cause of the installer failing to build Cloud features is not having one of the following dependencies on
your system: cmake
and OpenSSL, including the devel
package.
You can also look for error messages in /var/log/netdata/error.log
. Try one of the following two commands to search
for ACLK-related errors.
less /var/log/netdata/error.log
grep -i ACLK /var/log/netdata/error.log
If the installer's output does not help you enable Cloud features, contact us by creating an issue on
GitHub
with details about your system and relevant output from error.log
.
You must claim your node.
If aclk-available
is false
and all other keys are true
, your Agent is having trouble connection to the Cloud
through the ACLK. Please check your system's firewall.
If your Agent needs to use a proxy to access the internet, you must set up a proxy for claiming.
If you are certain firewall and proxy settings are not the issue, you should consult the Agent's error.log
at
/var/log/netdata/error.log
and contact us by creating an issue on
GitHub
with details about your system and relevant output from error.log
.
The best method to remove an Agent from Netdata Cloud is to unclaim it by deleting the claim.d/
directory in your
Netdata configuration directory.
cd /etc/netdata # Replace with your Netdata configuration directory, if not /etc/netdata/
rm -rf claim.d/
You may need to use
sudo
or another method of elevating your privileges.
Once you delete the claim.d/
directory, the ACLK will not connect to Cloud the next time the Agent starts, and Cloud
will then remove it from the interface.
In the sections below, you can find reference material for the claiming script, claiming via the Agent's command line
tool, and details about the files found in claim.d
.
A Space's administrator can claim an Agent by directly calling the netdata-claim.sh
script as the netdata
user
and passing the following arguments:
-token=TOKEN
where TOKEN is the Space's claiming token.
-rooms=ROOM1,ROOM2,...
where ROOMX is the War Room this node should be added to. This list is optional.
-url=URL_BASE
where URL_BASE is the Netdata Cloud endpoint base URL. By default, this is https://netdata.cloud.
-id=AGENT_ID
where AGENT_ID is the unique identifier of the Agent. This is the Agent's MACHINE_GUID by default.
-hostname=HOSTNAME
where HOSTNAME is the result of the hostname command by default.
-proxy=PROXY_URL
where PROXY_URL is the endpoint of a SOCKS5 proxy.
For example, the following command claims an Agent and adds it to rooms room1
and room2
:
netdata-claim.sh -token=MYTOKEN1234567 -rooms=room1,room2
You should then update the netdata
service about the result with netdatacli
:
netdatacli reload-claiming-state
This reloads the Agent claiming state from disk.
If a Netdata Agent is running, the Space's administrator can claim a node using the netdata
service binary with
additional command line parameters:
-W "claim -token=TOKEN -rooms=ROOM1,ROOM2"
For example:
/usr/sbin/netdata -D -W "claim -token=MYTOKEN1234567 -rooms=room1,room2"
If need be, the user can override the Agent's defaults by providing additional arguments like those described here.
Netdata stores the agent claiming-related state in the user configuration directory under claim.d
, e.g. in
/etc/netdata/claim.d
. The user can put files in this directory to provide defaults to the -token
and -rooms
arguments. These files should be owned by the netdata
user.
The claim.d/token
file should contain the claiming-token and the claim.d/rooms
file should contain the list of
war-rooms.
The user can also put the Cloud endpoint's full certificate chain in claim.d/cloud_fullchain.pem
so that the Agent
can trust the endpoint if necessary.