Security Best Practices | Best Practices

Introduction

In today's digital landscape, maintaining the security of your systems is paramount. Prometheus, an open-source monitoring and alerting toolkit, is widely used for monitoring applications and infrastructure. However, like any software, it can be vulnerable if not properly secured. This tutorial outlines best practices to help secure your Prometheus installation.

1. Use HTTPS for Communication

Always encrypt communication between Prometheus and its clients using HTTPS. This prevents eavesdropping and man-in-the-middle attacks.

Example configuration for HTTPS:

web:
  tls_server_config:
    cert_file: "/etc/prometheus/server.crt"
    key_file: "/etc/prometheus/server.key"

Make sure to obtain valid SSL/TLS certificates from a trusted Certificate Authority (CA) or use self-signed certificates for internal usage.

2. Secure Access to the Prometheus UI

The Prometheus UI should not be publicly accessible. Use firewall rules or a VPN to restrict access to trusted IP addresses only.

Example firewall rule:

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s YOUR_TRUSTED_IP --dport 9090 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 9090 -j DROP

Consider implementing basic authentication or a reverse proxy (like Nginx) to add an additional layer of security.

3. Limit Data Exposure

Configure Prometheus to scrape only the necessary metrics to minimize the amount of data exposed. Use relabeling to filter out unwanted metrics.

Example relabeling configuration:

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'my_service'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['localhost:8080']
    relabel_configs:
      - source_labels: [__name__]
        action: keep
        regex: 'up|http_requests_total'

4. Regularly Update Prometheus

Keeping Prometheus updated is crucial as each release may contain important security patches. Schedule regular updates to your Prometheus deployment.

Example command to update Prometheus:

sudo systemctl stop prometheus
wget https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releases/download/v/prometheus-.linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar xvfz prometheus-.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo cp prometheus-.linux-amd64/prometheus /usr/local/bin/
sudo systemctl start prometheus

5. Monitor Access Logs

Regularly review access logs to detect unauthorized access attempts. Configure logging in Prometheus to capture important events.

Example logging configuration:

log_level: info
log_format: logfmt
log_file: "/var/log/prometheus.log"

Conclusion

By following these security best practices, you can significantly reduce the risk of security breaches in your Prometheus deployment. Always stay vigilant and adapt to new security threats as they arise.

Security Best Practices for Prometheus