Monitoring Windows Server using Otel & Prometheus

This tutorial demonstrates how to monitor Windows Server – including IIS and MSSQL – for logs, metrics, and traces using OpenTelemetry Collector and Prometheus Windows Exporter.

Prerequisites

• admin user in Windows with the ability to install services
• tar.gz files unpacked

Configuration

Windows Exporter

STEP 1. Download the latest MSI from GitHub (0.22.0.msi as of 30 April ’23).

STEP 2. Open the command line and navigate to C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads or the MSI folder.

STEP 3. Select which exporter collectors you require – including MSSQL and IIS – from this verbose list: cpu,cs,logical_disk,net,os,service,system,textfile,iis,mssql.

STEP 4. Open Command Prompt.

STEP 5. Run the following command to install the MSI with the collectors chosen:

msiexec /i windows_exporter-0.22.0-amd64.msi ENABLED_COLLECTORS="os,iis”

OpenTelemetry Collector

STEP 1. Download the latest tar.gz from GitHub (0.76.1.tar.gz as of 30 April ’23).

STEP 2. Unpack the content into a C:\\cx-otel. This may require you to install a program to unpack tar.gz files.

STEP 3. Create a config.yaml based on the following configuration.

receivers:
  filelog:
    include: [ C:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles\*.* ]
  prometheus:
    config:
      scrape_configs:
        - job_name: 'windows_exporter'
          scrape_interval: 15s
          static_configs:
            - targets: ['0.0.0.0:9182']
processors:
  resourcedetection:
    detectors: [system]
    system:
      hostname_sources: ["os"]
  batch:

exporters:
  coralogix:
    metrics:
      endpoint: "ingress.coralogix.com:443"
    logs:
      endpoint: "ingress.coralogix.com:443"
    private_key: "coralogix-api-key"
    application_name: "WinServer"
    subsystem_name: "Host"

service:
  pipelines:
    metrics:
      receivers: [prometheus]
      processors: [resourcedetection, batch]
      exporters: [coralogix]
    logs:
      receivers: [filelog]
      processors: [resourcedetection, batch]
      exporters: [coralogix]

Notes:

• The example configuration captures metrics from windows_exporter and logs from IIS. Modify as necessary.
• You are required to input the following variables:
  • endpoint: Select the OpenTelemetry endpoint associated with your Coralogix domain
  • private_key: Your Coralogix private API key
  • application_name & subsystem_name: Application and subsystem names as they will appear in your Coralogix UI

STEP 4. Install the collector as a service by running the following command:

sc.exe create cx-otelcol displayname=cx-otelcol start=delayed-auto binPath="C:\cx-otel\otelcol-contrib.exe --config C:\cx-otel\config.yaml”

STEP 5. Run the service.

sc.exe start cx-otelcol 

Additional Configurations

Configure Windows exporter dashboards and the OpenTelemetry Kubernetes Extension to monitor the collector itself.

Validation & Testing

STEP 1. Open Services and check that both windows_exporter and cx-otelcol service are running.

STEP 2. To validate which metrics exist in windows_exporter, navigate to http://localhost:9182/metrics.

Notes:

• windows_exporter.exe is unsafe and may require a specific “unblock” in its settings.
• Both windows_exporter and otelcol can be run without services to check for logs in the command prompt.

STEP 3. Navigate to Grafana Explore to confirm that windows_* metrics are arriving in your Coralogix dashboard.

Additional Links

Support

Need help?

Our world-class customer success team is available 24/7 to walk you through your setup and answer any questions that may come up.

Feel free to reach out to us via our in-app chat or by sending us an email at [email protected].