Why HertzBeat Could Be Your Next Agentless Monitoring Solution
This article introduces HertzBeat, an open‑source real‑time monitoring and alerting system that offers powerful template‑based monitoring without agents, explains its Docker‑quick start, demonstrates how to monitor Redis and SpringBoot services, and walks through email alarm configuration.
Product Features
HertzBeat stands out with two key features: Powerful monitoring templates and Agent‑less operation .
Powerful Monitoring Templates
Instead of creating a new data collection protocol, HertzBeat leverages existing standards such as:
SNMP for network devices
JMX for Java applications
JDBC for databases
SSH for script execution
HTTP for API parsing
These protocols are abstracted into configurable YML templates, allowing users to define any metric they need.
No Agent Required
Traditional monitoring systems often require installing agents or exporters on target hosts, which consumes time and effort. HertzBeat pulls data directly via the supported protocols in a pull model, eliminating the need for any agent deployment.
For example, to monitor a Linux host you only need to provide its IP, port, and credentials.
Docker Installation
Start HertzBeat with a single Docker command. After the container is running, open your browser at
http://localhost:1157and log in with the default credentials
admin/hertzbeat.
Monitoring Redis Database
Navigate to the Redis monitoring section, click “Add Redis Database”, and configure the connection. After confirming, the Redis monitoring list appears, and you can view detailed metrics by clicking the detail icon.
Monitoring SpringBoot Service
Configure Actuator
Spring Boot Actuator provides endpoints for runtime information, performance metrics, and health checks. Add the actuator dependency to your project, then configure it as shown in the screenshot. Access
http://localhost:8080/actuatorto see the exposed endpoints.
Application Monitoring
In the monitoring UI, select “Add SpringBoot2.0 Monitoring”, confirm, and the SpringBoot service list appears. Clicking the detail icon displays real‑time metrics for the application.
Alarm Configuration
Alarms are essential for timely incident response. The steps to set up email alerts are:
Configure the mail server.
Define the notification media (e.g., email, DingTalk, WeChat).
Create a notification strategy specifying recipients, templates, and schedule.
Test by stopping the SpringBoot service; the system will generate an email with target, alarm level, and timestamp.
Conclusion
After three days of hands‑on testing, HertzBeat feels fresh, smooth, and ready‑to‑use out of the box. It is highly recommended for anyone needing a lightweight, agent‑less monitoring solution.
macrozheng
Dedicated to Java tech sharing and dissecting top open-source projects. Topics include Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, Docker, Kubernetes and more. Author’s GitHub project “mall” has 50K+ stars.
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