---
title: "Get started with Netdata"
description: "Download and install the open-source Netdata monitoring agent on physical/virtual servers, Linux (Ubuntu/Debian/CentOS/etc), Docker, Kubernetes, and many others, often with one command."
type: how-to
sidebar_label: "Get started"
custom_edit_url: https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/docs/get-started.mdx
---

import { OneLineInstallWget } from '@site/src/components/OneLineInstall/'
import { Install, InstallBox } from '@site/src/components/Install/'

# Get started with Netdata

Netdata is a free and open-source (FOSS) monitoring agent that collects thousands of hardware and software metrics from
any physical or virtual system (we call them _nodes_). These metrics are organized in an easy-to-use and -navigate interface.

Together with [Netdata Cloud](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/cloud), you can monitor your entire infrastructure in
real time and troubleshoot problems that threaten the health of your nodes.

Netdata runs permanently on all your physical/virtual servers, containers, cloud deployments, and edge/IoT devices. It
runs on Linux distributions (Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, and more), container/microservice platforms (Kubernetes clusters,
Docker), and many other operating systems (FreeBSD, macOS), with no `sudo` required.

## Install on Linux with one-line installer 

The **recommended** way to install Netdata on a Linux node (physical, virtual, container, IoT) is our one-line
[kickstart script](/packaging/installer/methods/kickstart.md). This script automatically installs dependencies and
builds Netdata from its source code.

Copy the script, paste it into your node's terminal, and hit `Enter` to begin the installation process.

<OneLineInstallWget />

Jump down to [what's next](#whats-next) to learn how to view your new dashboard and take your next steps monitoring and
troubleshooting with Netdata.

## Other installation options

<Install>
  <InstallBox
    to="/docs/agent/packaging/docker"
    os="Run with Docker" 
    svg="docker" />
  <InstallBox
    to="/docs/agent/packaging/installer/methods/kubernetes"
    os="Deploy on Kubernetes" 
    svg="kubernetes" />
   <InstallBox
    to="/docs/agent/packaging/installer/methods/macos"
    os="Install on macOS" 
    svg="macos" />
  <InstallBox
    to="/docs/agent/packaging/installer/methods/manual"
    os="Linux from Git" 
    svg="linux" />
  <InstallBox
    to="/docs/agent/packaging/installer/methods/source"
    os="Linux from source"
    svg="linux" />
  <InstallBox
    to="/docs/agent/packaging/installer/methods/offline" 
    os="Linux for offline nodes"
    svg="linux" />
</Install>


## What's next?

To start using Netdata, open a browser and navigate to `http://NODE:19999`, replacing `NODE` with either `localhost` or
the hostname/IP address of a remote node.

Where you go from here is based on your use case, immediate needs, and experience with monitoring and troubleshooting.

### Dashboard

Learn more about [how the dashboard works](/docs/dashboard/how-dashboard-works.mdx), or dive directly into the many ways
to [interact with charts](/docs/dashboard/interact-charts.mdx).

### Configuration

Discover the recommended way to [configure Netdata's settings or behavior](/docs/configure/nodes.md) using our built-in
`edit-config` script, then apply that knowledge to mission-critical tweaks, such as [changing how long Netdata stores
metrics](/docs/store/change-metrics-storage.md).

### Data collection

If Netdata didn't autodetect all the hardware, containers, services, or applications running on your node, you should
learn more about [how data collectors work](/docs/collect/how-collectors-work.md). If there's a [supported
collector](/collectors/COLLECTORS.md) for metrics you need, [configure the collector](/docs/collect/enable-configure.md)
or read about its requirements to configure your endpoint to publish metrics in the correct format and endpoint.

### Alarms & notifications

Netdata comes with hundreds of preconfigured alarms, designed by our monitoring gurus in parallel with our open-source
community, but you may want to [edit alarms](/docs/monitor/configure-alarms.md) or [enable
notifications](/docs/monitor/enable-notifications.md) to customize your Netdata experience.

### Need to monitor multiple nodes in one place?

For robust multi-node monitoring from a single interface, consider [Netdata
Cloud](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/cloud), which streams, aggregates, and visualizes metrics from any number of
nodes. It's all the same out-of-the-box, zero-configuration functionality of the open-source monitoring agent, but for
any number of distributed nodes, _entirely for free_.

There is an alternative for those who aren't interested in using Netdata Cloud, albeit with some required configuration.
Each node can [stream](/streaming/README.md) its metrics to any other node, and the default
[registry](/registry/README.md) is configurable to create a private "network" of Netdata dashboards.