Docker Monitoring Stack - VictoriaMetrics & VictoriaLogs Cluster

Overview

A comprehensive monitoring and logging stack built with Docker Compose featuring high-performance VictoriaMetrics and VictoriaLogs clusters. This stack provides:

Core Components

• Grafana: Advanced dashboarding and visualization
• VictoriaMetrics Cluster: High-performance time-series database (replaces Prometheus)
• VictoriaLogs Cluster: Fast log aggregation and search
• VMagent: Metrics collection and forwarding
• VMAuth: Authentication proxy and load balancer
• VMAlert: Alerting and recording rules engine
• Alertmanager: Alert routing and management
• Uncomplicated Alert Receiver: Alert management UI

Data Collection

• Node-Exporter: Host system metrics
• cAdvisor: Container metrics
• Vector: High-performance log collector
• Log Generator: Sample log generation for testing

Additional Tools

• SQL-to-LogsQL: Query VictoriaLogs using SQL syntax

Architecture

VictoriaMetrics Cluster

The VictoriaMetrics cluster consists of multiple components for high availability and performance:

• 2x VMInsert (vminsert-1, vminsert-2): Handle metrics ingestion
• 2x VMStorage (vmstorage-1, vmstorage-2): Store time-series data with 15-day retention
• 2x VMSelect (vmselect-1, vmselect-2): Query time-series data.
• VMAuth: Authentication proxy and load balancer.

VictoriaLogs Cluster

The VictoriaLogs cluster provides fast log aggregation and search capabilities:

• VLInsert: Handles log ingestion
• 2x VLStorage (vlstorage-1, vlstorage-2): Store log data with 4-week retention
• 2x VLSelect (vlselect-1, vlselect-2): Query log data
• Vector: High-performance log collector that gathers Docker container logs
• Log Generator: Generates sample logs for testing and demonstration

Setup

Environment Variables

Copy the example environment file:

cp env.example .env

⚠️ Important: If you change VMAUTH_USERNAME or VMAUTH_PASSWORD, you must also update:

1. configs/vm/auth-vm-cluster.yml
2. configs/grafana/provisioning/datasources.yml

Bootstrap

Boot the stack with docker compose.

docker-compose up -d

Ensure all containers are running:

docker-compose ps -a

Access Grafana

Access Grafana on http://localhost:3000 and you should see the pre-configured dashboards:

• Node Metrics: Host system performance and resource usage
• Container Metrics: Docker container performance and health
• VMagent: Metrics collection and forwarding status
• VMAuth: Authentication proxy and load balancer metrics
• VMAlert: Alerting rules and evaluation status
• VM Cluster: VictoriaMetrics cluster health and performance
• VictoriaLogs: Log aggregation and search metrics
• VictoriaLogs Cluster: VictoriaLogs cluster health and performance

Service Endpoints

The following services are available:

Service	Internal Endpoint	External Endpoint	Description
Grafana	http://grafana:3000	http://localhost:3000	Main dashboard interface
VMAuth	http://vmauth:8427	http://localhost:8427	Authentication proxy & load balancer
VMagent	http://vmagent:8429	http://localhost:8429	Metrics collection agent
VMAlert	http://vmalert:8880	http://localhost:8880	Alerting rules engine
Alertmanager	http://alertmanager:9093	http://localhost:9093	Alert routing & management
Alert Receiver	http://uncomplicated-alert-receiver:9094	http://localhost:9094	Alert management UI
SQL-to-LogsQL	http://sql-to-logsql:8080	http://localhost:8080	SQL interface for logs
Node-Exporter	http://node-exporter:9100	N/A	Host metrics (internal)
cAdvisor	http://cadvisor:8080	N/A	Container metrics (internal)
Vector	http://vector:8686	N/A	Log collector (healthcheck)
Vector Metrics	http://vector:9598	N/A	Vector metrics (internal)
Log Generator	N/A	N/A	Sample log generation (internal)

Cleanup

To remove the containers using docker compose (or make clean):

docker-compose down

To remove containers and volumes (complete cleanup):

docker-compose down -v