Blackbox Exporter Guide for the Monitoring Stack¶
Blackbox Exporter adds synthetic checks to the monitoring lab. Instead of reading host metrics, it probes endpoints to see whether they are actually reachable.
Important File¶
blackbox/blackbox.yml
What It Checks¶
- HTTP reachability
- Response success or failure
- Basic latency visibility
How It Is Used Here¶
The stack uses blackbox probes for internal targets such as:
- Grafana
- Prometheus
- cAdvisor
- Alertmanager
- Loki
Why It Matters¶
Metrics tell you whether a service is running. Synthetic checks tell you whether something can really reach and use that service. Both views are useful.
Good Metrics to Watch¶
- Probe success
- Probe duration
- HTTP status result
- Failure trends over time
Practical Improvements¶
- Add external URL probes
- Add HTTPS validation
- Add DNS and TCP modules
- Label probe targets by service and environment