Linux Sensors icon

Linux Sensors

Linux Sensors

Plugin: go.d.plugin Module: sensors

Overview

This collector gathers real-time system sensor statistics using the sysfs interface.

Supported sensors:

  • Temperature
  • Voltage
  • Fan
  • Current
  • Power
  • Energy
  • Humidity
  • Intrusion

This collector is only supported on the following platforms:

  • Linux

This collector only supports collecting metrics from a single instance of this integration.

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

Automatically discovers and exposes all available sensors on the system through the sysfs interface.

Limits

The default configuration for this integration does not impose any limits on data collection.

Performance Impact

The default configuration for this integration is not expected to impose a significant performance impact on the system.

Setup

You can configure the sensors collector in two ways:

Method Best for How to
UI Fast setup without editing files Go to Nodes → Configure this node → Collectors → Jobs, search for sensors, then click + to add a job.
File If you prefer configuring via file, or need to automate deployments (e.g., with Ansible) Edit go.d/sensors.conf and add a job.

:::important

UI configuration requires paid Netdata Cloud plan.

:::

Prerequisites

No action required.

Configuration

Options

The following options can be defined globally: update_every.

Option Description Default Required
update_every Data collection frequency. 10 no
relabel A list used to update existing sensor labels or add labels to sensors that don’t have them. [] no
relabel[].chip Pattern to match the chip_id label value. no
relabel[].sensors A list of sensors to be relabeled for the specified chip. [] no
relabel[].sensors[].name The exact sensor name (e.g., 'temp1', 'in1', 'voltage1'). no
relabel[].sensors[].label The new label value for the sensor. no

via UI

Configure the sensors collector from the Netdata web interface:

  1. Go to Nodes.
  2. Select the node where you want the sensors data-collection job to run and click the :gear: (Configure this node). That node will run the data collection.
  3. The Collectors → Jobs view opens by default.
  4. In the Search box, type sensors (or scroll the list) to locate the sensors collector.
  5. Click the + next to the sensors collector to add a new job.
  6. Fill in the job fields, then click Test to verify the configuration and Submit to save.
    • Test runs the job with the provided settings and shows whether data can be collected.
    • If it fails, an error message appears with details (for example, connection refused, timeout, or command execution errors), so you can adjust and retest.

via File

The configuration file name for this integration is go.d/sensors.conf.

The file format is YAML. Generally, the structure is:

update_every: 1
autodetection_retry: 0
jobs:
  - name: some_name1
  - name: some_name2

You can edit the configuration file using the edit-config script from the Netdata config directory.

cd /etc/netdata 2>/dev/null || cd /opt/netdata/etc/netdata
sudo ./edit-config go.d/sensors.conf
Examples
Custom update_every

Allows you to override the default data collection interval.

jobs:
  - name: sensors
    update_every: 5  # Collect sensors statistics every 5 seconds
Renaming labels

Allows you to override/add labels.

jobs:
  - name: sensors
    relabel:
      - chip: as99127f-*
        sensors:
          - name: temp1
            label: Mobo Temp
          - name: temp2
            label: CPU0 Temp

Metrics

Metrics grouped by scope.

The scope defines the instance that the metric belongs to. An instance is uniquely identified by a set of labels.

Per sensor

These metrics refer to the system sensor.

Labels:

Label Description
chip The path to the sensor’s chip device, excluding the /sys/devices prefix. This provides a unique identifier for the physical hardware component.
chip_id A unique identifier for the sensor’s chip, formatted as chipName-busType-hash.
sensor The name of the specific sensor within the chip device. This provides a direct identifier for the individual measurement point.
label A label provided by the kernel driver to indicate the intended use or purpose of the sensor.

Metrics:

Metric Dimensions Unit
sensors.chip_sensor_temperature input Celsius
sensors.chip_sensor_temperature_alarm clear, triggered status
sensors.chip_sensor_voltage input Volts
sensors.chip_sensor_voltage_average average Volts
sensors.chip_sensor_voltage_alarm clear, triggered status
sensors.chip_sensor_fan input RPM
sensors.chip_sensor_fan_alarm clear, triggered status
sensors.chip_sensor_current input Amperes
sensors.chip_sensor_current_average average Amperes
sensors.chip_sensor_current_alarm clear, triggered status
sensors.chip_sensor_power input Watts
sensors.chip_sensor_power_average average Watts
sensors.chip_sensor_power_alarm clear, triggered status
sensors.chip_sensor_energy input Joules
sensors.chip_sensor_humidity input percent
sensors.chip_sensor_intrusion_alarm clear, triggered status

Alerts

There are no alerts configured by default for this integration.

Troubleshooting

Debug Mode

Important: Debug mode is not supported for data collection jobs created via the UI using the Dyncfg feature.

To troubleshoot issues with the sensors collector, run the go.d.plugin with the debug option enabled. The output should give you clues as to why the collector isn’t working.

  • Navigate to the plugins.d directory, usually at /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/. If that’s not the case on your system, open netdata.conf and look for the plugins setting under [directories].

    cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/

  • Switch to the netdata user.

    sudo -u netdata -s

  • Run the go.d.plugin to debug the collector:

    ./go.d.plugin -d -m sensors

    To debug a specific job:

    ./go.d.plugin -d -m sensors -j jobName

Getting Logs

If you’re encountering problems with the sensors collector, follow these steps to retrieve logs and identify potential issues:

  • Run the command specific to your system (systemd, non-systemd, or Docker container).
  • Examine the output for any warnings or error messages that might indicate issues. These messages should provide clues about the root cause of the problem.

System with systemd

Use the following command to view logs generated since the last Netdata service restart:

journalctl _SYSTEMD_INVOCATION_ID="$(systemctl show --value --property=InvocationID netdata)" --namespace=netdata --grep sensors

System without systemd

Locate the collector log file, typically at /var/log/netdata/collector.log, and use grep to filter for collector’s name:

grep sensors /var/log/netdata/collector.log

Note: This method shows logs from all restarts. Focus on the latest entries for troubleshooting current issues.

Docker Container

If your Netdata runs in a Docker container named “netdata” (replace if different), use this command:

docker logs netdata 2>&1 | grep sensors

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