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+<!--
+title: "Daemon configuration"
+description: "The Netdata Agent's daemon is installed preconfigured to collect thousands of metrics every second, but is highly configurable for real-world workloads."
+custom_edit_url: "https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/daemon/config/README.md"
+sidebar_label: "Daemon"
+learn_status: "Published"
+learn_rel_path: "Configuration"
+learn_doc_purpose: "Explain the daemon options, the log files, the process scheduling, virtual memory, explain how the netdata.conf is used and backlink to the netdata.conf file reference"
+-->
+
+# Daemon configuration
+
+<details>
+<summary>The daemon configuration file is read from /etc/netdata/netdata.conf.</summary>
+
+Depending on your installation method, Netdata will have been installed either directly under `/`, or
+under `/opt/netdata`. The paths mentioned here and in the documentation in general assume that your installation is
+under `/`. If it is not, you will find the exact same paths under `/opt/netdata` as well. (i.e. `/etc/netdata` will
+be `/opt/netdata/etc/netdata`).
+
+</details>
+
+This config file **is not needed by default**. Netdata works fine out of the box without it. But it does allow you to
+adapt the general behavior of Netdata, in great detail. You can find all these settings, with their default values, by
+accessing the URL `https://netdata.server.hostname:19999/netdata.conf`. For example check the configuration file
+of [netdata.firehol.org](http://netdata.firehol.org/netdata.conf). HTTP access to this file is limited by default to
+[private IPs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_network), via
+the [web server access lists](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/web/server/README.md#access-lists).
+
+`netdata.conf` has sections stated with `[section]`. You will see the following sections:
+
+1. `[global]` to [configure](#global-section-options) the [Netdata daemon](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/daemon/README.md).
+2. `[db]` to [configure](#db-section-options) the database of Netdata.
+3. `[directories]` to [configure](#directories-section-options) the directories used by Netdata.
+4. `[logs]` to [configure](#logs-section-options) the Netdata logging.
+5. `[environment variables]` to [configure](#environment-variables-section-options) the environment variables used
+ Netdata.
+6. `[sqlite]` to [configure](#sqlite-section-options) the [Netdata daemon](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/daemon/README.md) SQLite settings.
+7. `[ml]` to configure settings for [machine learning](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/ml/README.md).
+8. `[health]` to [configure](#health-section-options) general settings for [health monitoring](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/health/README.md).
+9. `[web]` to [configure the web server](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/web/server/README.md).
+10. `[registry]` for the [Netdata registry](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/registry/README.md).
+11. `[global statistics]` for the [Netdata registry](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/registry/README.md).
+12. `[statsd]` for the general settings of the [stats.d.plugin](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/collectors/statsd.plugin/README.md).
+13. `[plugins]` to [configure](#plugins-section-options) which [collectors](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/collectors/README.md) to use and PATH
+ settings.
+14. `[plugin:NAME]` sections for each collector plugin, under the
+ comment [Per plugin configuration](#per-plugin-configuration).
+
+The configuration file is a `name = value` dictionary. Netdata will not complain if you set options unknown to it. When
+you check the running configuration by accessing the URL `/netdata.conf` on your Netdata server, Netdata will add a
+comment on settings it does not currently use.
+
+## Applying changes
+
+After `netdata.conf` has been modified, Netdata needs to be [restarted](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/configure/start-stop-restart.md) for
+changes to apply:
+
+```bash
+sudo systemctl restart netdata
+```
+
+If the above does not work, try the following:
+
+```bash
+sudo killall netdata; sleep 10; sudo netdata
+```
+
+Please note that your data history will be lost if you have modified `history` parameter in section `[global]`.
+
+## Sections
+
+### [global] section options
+
+| setting | default | info |
+|:----------------------------------:|:-------------:|:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| process scheduling policy | `keep` | See [Netdata process scheduling policy](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/daemon/README.md#netdata-process-scheduling-policy) |
+| OOM score | `0` | |
+| glibc malloc arena max for plugins | `1` | See [Virtual memory](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/daemon/README.md#virtual-memory). |
+| glibc malloc arena max for Netdata | `1` | See [Virtual memory](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/daemon/README.md#virtual-memory). |
+| hostname | auto-detected | The hostname of the computer running Netdata. |
+| host access prefix | empty | This is used in docker environments where /proc, /sys, etc have to be accessed via another path. You may also have to set SYS_PTRACE capability on the docker for this work. Check [issue 43](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/issues/43). |
+| timezone | auto-detected | The timezone retrieved from the environment variable |
+| run as user | `netdata` | The user Netdata will run as. |
+| pthread stack size | auto-detected | |
+
+### [db] section options
+
+| setting | default | info |
+|:---------------------------------------------:|:----------:|:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| mode | `dbengine` | `dbengine`: The default for long-term metrics storage with efficient RAM and disk usage. Can be extended with `dbengine page cache size MB` and `dbengine disk space MB`. <br />`save`: Netdata will save its round robin database on exit and load it on startup. <br />`map`: Cache files will be updated in real-time. Not ideal for systems with high load or slow disks (check `man mmap`). <br />`ram`: The round-robin database will be temporary and it will be lost when Netdata exits. <br />`alloc`: Similar to `ram`, but can significantly reduce memory usage, when combined with a low retention and does not support KSM. <br />`none`: Disables the database at this host, and disables health monitoring entirely, as that requires a database of metrics. Not to be used together with streaming. |
+| retention | `3600` | Used with `mode = save/map/ram/alloc`, not the default `mode = dbengine`. This number reflects the number of entries the `netdata` daemon will by default keep in memory for each chart dimension. Check [Memory Requirements](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/database/README.md) for more information. |
+| storage tiers | `1` | The number of storage tiers you want to have in your dbengine. Check the tiering mechanism in the [dbengine's reference](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/database/engine/README.md#tiering). You can have up to 5 tiers of data (including the _Tier 0_). This number ranges between 1 and 5. |
+| dbengine page cache size MB | `32` | Determines the amount of RAM in MiB that is dedicated to caching for _Tier 0_ Netdata metric values. |
+| dbengine tier **`N`** page cache size MB | `32` | Determines the amount of RAM in MiB that is dedicated for caching Netdata metric values of the **`N`** tier. <br /> `N belongs to [1..4]` |
+| dbengine disk space MB | `256` | Determines the amount of disk space in MiB that is dedicated to storing _Tier 0_ Netdata metric values and all related metadata describing them. This option is available **only for legacy configuration** (`Agent v1.23.2 and prior`). |
+| dbengine multihost disk space MB | `256` | Same functionality as `dbengine disk space MB`, but includes support for storing metrics streamed to a parent node by its children. Can be used in single-node environments as well. This setting is only for _Tier 0_ metrics. |
+| dbengine tier **`N`** multihost disk space MB | `256` | Same functionality as `dbengine multihost disk space MB`, but stores metrics of the **`N`** tier (both parent node and its children). Can be used in single-node environments as well. <br /> `N belongs to [1..4]` |
+| update every | `1` | The frequency in seconds, for data collection. For more information see the [performance guide](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/guides/configure/performance.md). These metrics stored as _Tier 0_ data. Explore the tiering mechanism in the [dbengine's reference](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/database/engine/README.md#tiering). |
+| dbengine tier **`N`** update every iterations | `60` | The down sampling value of each tier from the previous one. For each Tier, the greater by one Tier has N (equal to 60 by default) less data points of any metric it collects. This setting can take values from `2` up to `255`. <br /> `N belongs to [1..4]` |
+| dbengine tier **`N`** back fill | `New` | Specifies the strategy of recreating missing data on each Tier from the exact lower Tier. <br /> `New`: Sees the latest point on each Tier and save new points to it only if the exact lower Tier has available points for it's observation window (`dbengine tier N update every iterations` window). <br /> `none`: No back filling is applied. <br /> `N belongs to [1..4]` |
+| memory deduplication (ksm) | `yes` | When set to `yes`, Netdata will offer its in-memory round robin database and the dbengine page cache to kernel same page merging (KSM) for deduplication. For more information check [Memory Deduplication - Kernel Same Page Merging - KSM](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/database/README.md#ksm) |
+| cleanup obsolete charts after secs | `3600` | See [monitoring ephemeral containers](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/collectors/cgroups.plugin/README.md#monitoring-ephemeral-containers), also sets the timeout for cleaning up obsolete dimensions |
+| gap when lost iterations above | `1` | |
+| cleanup orphan hosts after secs | `3600` | How long to wait until automatically removing from the DB a remote Netdata host (child) that is no longer sending data. |
+| delete obsolete charts files | `yes` | See [monitoring ephemeral containers](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/collectors/cgroups.plugin/README.md#monitoring-ephemeral-containers), also affects the deletion of files for obsolete dimensions |
+| delete orphan hosts files | `yes` | Set to `no` to disable non-responsive host removal. |
+| enable zero metrics | `no` | Set to `yes` to show charts when all their metrics are zero. |
+
+> ### Info
+>
+>The multiplication of all the **enabled** tiers `dbengine tier N update every iterations` values must be less than `65535`.
+
+### [directories] section options
+
+| setting | default | info |
+|:-------------------:|:------------------------------------------------------------------:|:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| config | `/etc/netdata` | The directory configuration files are kept. |
+| stock config | `/usr/lib/netdata/conf.d` | |
+| log | `/var/log/netdata` | The directory in which the [log files](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/daemon/README.md#log-files) are kept. |
+| web | `/usr/share/netdata/web` | The directory the web static files are kept. |
+| cache | `/var/cache/netdata` | The directory the memory database will be stored if and when Netdata exits. Netdata will re-read the database when it will start again, to continue from the same point. |
+| lib | `/var/lib/netdata` | Contains the alert log and the Netdata instance GUID. |
+| home | `/var/cache/netdata` | Contains the db files for the collected metrics. |
+| lock | `/var/lib/netdata/lock` | Contains the data collectors lock files. |
+| plugins | `"/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d" "/etc/netdata/custom-plugins.d"` | The directory plugin programs are kept. This setting supports multiple directories, space separated. If any directory path contains spaces, enclose it in single or double quotes. |
+| health config | `/etc/netdata/health.d` | The directory containing the user alert configuration files, to override the stock configurations |
+| stock health config | `/usr/lib/netdata/conf.d/health.d` | Contains the stock alert configuration files for each collector |
+| registry | `/opt/netdata/var/lib/netdata/registry` | Contains the [registry](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/registry/README.md) database and GUID that uniquely identifies each Netdata Agent |
+
+### [logs] section options
+
+| setting | default | info |
+|:----------------------------------:|:-----------------------------:|:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| debug flags | `0x0000000000000000` | Bitmap of debug options to enable. For more information check [Tracing Options](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/daemon/README.md#debugging). |
+| debug | `/var/log/netdata/debug.log` | The filename to save debug information. This file will not be created if debugging is not enabled. You can also set it to `syslog` to send the debug messages to syslog, or `none` to disable this log. For more information check [Tracing Options](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/daemon/README.md#debugging). |
+| error | `/var/log/netdata/error.log` | The filename to save error messages for Netdata daemon and all plugins (`stderr` is sent here for all Netdata programs, including the plugins). You can also set it to `syslog` to send the errors to syslog, or `none` to disable this log. |
+| access | `/var/log/netdata/access.log` | The filename to save the log of web clients accessing Netdata charts. You can also set it to `syslog` to send the access log to syslog, or `none` to disable this log. |
+| facility | `daemon` | A facility keyword is used to specify the type of system that is logging the message. |
+| errors flood protection period | `1200` | Length of period (in sec) during which the number of errors should not exceed the `errors to trigger flood protection`. |
+| errors to trigger flood protection | `200` | Number of errors written to the log in `errors flood protection period` sec before flood protection is activated. |
+| severity level | `info` | Controls which log messages are logged, with error being the most important. Supported values: `info` and `error`. |
+
+### [environment variables] section options
+
+| setting | default | info |
+|:----------:|:-----------------:|:-----------------------------------------------------------|
+| TZ | `:/etc/localtime` | Where to find the timezone |
+| PATH | `auto-detected` | Specifies the directories to be searched to find a command |
+| PYTHONPATH | | Used to set a custom python path |
+
+### [sqlite] section options
+
+| setting | default | info |
+|:------------------:|:-------------:|:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| auto vacuum | `INCREMENTAL` | The [auto-vacuum status](https://www.sqlite.org/pragma.html#pragma_auto_vacuum) in the database |
+| synchronous | `NORMAL` | The setting of the ["synchronous"](https://www.sqlite.org/pragma.html#pragma_synchronous) flag |
+| journal mode | `WAL` | The [journal mode](https://www.sqlite.org/pragma.html#pragma_journal_mode) for databases |
+| temp store | `MEMORY` | Used to determine where [temporary tables and indices are stored](https://www.sqlite.org/pragma.html#pragma_temp_store) |
+| journal size limit | `16777216` | Used to set a new [limit in bytes for the database](https://www.sqlite.org/pragma.html#pragma_journal_size_limit) |
+| cache size | `-2000` | Used to [suggest the maximum number of database disk pages](https://www.sqlite.org/pragma.html#pragma_cache_size) that SQLite will hold in memory at once per open database file |
+
+### [health] section options
+
+This section controls the general behavior of the health monitoring capabilities of Netdata.
+
+Specific alerts are configured in per-collector config files under the `health.d` directory. For more info, see [health
+monitoring](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/health/README.md).
+
+[Alert notifications](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/health/notifications/README.md) are configured in `health_alarm_notify.conf`.
+
+| setting | default | info |
+|:----------------------------------------------:|:------------------------------------------------:|:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| enabled | `yes` | Set to `no` to disable all alerts and notifications |
+| in memory max health log entries | 1000 | Size of the alert history held in RAM |
+| script to execute on alarm | `/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/alarm-notify.sh` | The script that sends alert notifications. Note that in versions before 1.16, the plugins.d directory may be installed in a different location in certain OSs (e.g. under `/usr/lib/netdata`). |
+| run at least every seconds | `10` | Controls how often all alert conditions should be evaluated. |
+| postpone alarms during hibernation for seconds | `60` | Prevents false alerts. May need to be increased if you get alerts during hibernation. |
+| health log history | `432000` | Specifies the history of alert events (in seconds) kept in the agent's sqlite database. |
+| enabled alarms | * | Defines which alerts to load from both user and stock directories. This is a [simple pattern](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/libnetdata/simple_pattern/README.md) list of alert or template names. Can be used to disable specific alerts. For example, `enabled alarms = !oom_kill *` will load all alerts except `oom_kill`. |
+
+### [web] section options
+
+Refer to the [web server documentation](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/web/server/README.md)
+
+### [plugins] section options
+
+In this section you will see be a boolean (`yes`/`no`) option for each plugin (e.g. tc, cgroups, apps, proc etc.). Note
+that the configuration options in this section for the orchestrator plugins `python.d` and `charts.d` control **all the
+modules** written for that orchestrator. For instance, setting `python.d = no` means that all Python modules
+under `collectors/python.d.plugin` will be disabled.
+
+Additionally, there will be the following options:
+
+| setting | default | info |
+|:-------------------------------:|:---------------:|:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| enable running new plugins | `yes` | When set to `yes`, Netdata will enable detected plugins, even if they are not configured explicitly. Setting this to `no` will only enable plugins explicitly configured in this file with a `yes` |
+| check for new plugins every | 60 | The time in seconds to check for new plugins in the plugins directory. This allows having other applications dynamically creating plugins for Netdata. |
+| checks | `no` | This is a debugging plugin for the internal latency |
+
+### [registry] section options
+
+To understand what this section is and how it should be configured, please refer to
+the [registry documentation](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/registry/README.md).
+
+## Per-plugin configuration
+
+The configuration options for plugins appear in sections following the pattern `[plugin:NAME]`.
+
+### Internal plugins
+
+Most internal plugins will provide additional options. Check [Internal Plugins](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/collectors/README.md) for more
+information.
+
+Please note, that by default Netdata will enable monitoring metrics for disks, memory, and network only when they are
+not zero. If they are constantly zero they are ignored. Metrics that will start having values, after Netdata is started,
+will be detected and charts will be automatically added to the dashboard (a refresh of the dashboard is needed for them
+to appear though). Use `yes` instead of `auto` in plugin configuration sections to enable these charts permanently. You
+can also set the `enable zero metrics` option to `yes` in the `[global]` section which enables charts with zero metrics
+for all internal Netdata plugins.
+
+### External plugins
+
+External plugins will have only 2 options at `netdata.conf`:
+
+| setting | default | info |
+|:---------------:|:--------------------------------------------:|:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| update every | the value of `[global].update every` setting | The frequency in seconds the plugin should collect values. For more information check the [performance guide](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/guides/configure/performance.md). |
+| command options | - | Additional command line options to pass to the plugin. |
+
+External plugins that need additional configuration may support a dedicated file in `/etc/netdata`. Check their
+documentation.
+