Files and directories

Plugin: go.d.plugin Module: filecheck

Overview

This collector monitors the existence, last modification time, and size of arbitrary files and directories on the system.

This collector is supported on all platforms.

This collector supports collecting metrics from multiple instances of this integration, including remote instances.

This collector requires the DAC_READ_SEARCH capability when monitoring files not normally accessible to the Netdata user, but it is set automatically during installation, so no manual configuration is needed.

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

This integration doesn’t support auto-detection.

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 filecheck 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 filecheck, 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/filecheck.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, autodetection_retry.

Group	Option	Description	Default	Required
Collection	update_every	Data collection interval (seconds).	10	no
	autodetection_retry	Autodetection retry interval (seconds). Set 0 to disable.	0	no
Target	files	File selector. Defines which files to monitor.		yes
	dirs	Directory selector. Defines which directories to monitor.		yes
Discovery	discovery_every	Files and directories discovery interval (seconds).	60	no

files

Files matching the selector will be monitored.

Logic: (pattern1 OR pattern2) AND !(pattern3 OR pattern4)
Pattern syntax: shell file name pattern
Syntax:

files:
  includes:
    - pattern1
    - pattern2
  excludes:
    - pattern3
    - pattern4

dirs

Directories matching the selector will be monitored.

Logic: (pattern1 OR pattern2) AND !(pattern3 OR pattern4)
Pattern syntax: shell file name pattern
Syntax:

dirs:
  includes:
    - pattern1
    - pattern2
  excludes:
    - pattern3
    - pattern4

via UI

Configure the filecheck collector from the Netdata web interface:

Go to Nodes.
Select the node where you want the filecheck data-collection job to run and click the :gear: (Configure this node). That node will run the data collection.
The Collectors → Jobs view opens by default.
In the Search box, type filecheck (or scroll the list) to locate the filecheck collector.
Click the + next to the filecheck collector to add a new job.
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/filecheck.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/filecheck.conf

Examples

Files

Files monitoring example configuration.

jobs:
  - name: files_example
    files:
      include:
        - '/path/to/file1'
        - '/path/to/file2'
        - '/path/to/*.log'

Directories

Directories monitoring example configuration.

jobs:
  - name: files_example
    dirs:
      collect_dir_size: no
      include:
        - '/path/to/dir1'
        - '/path/to/dir2'
        - '/path/to/dir3*'

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 file

These metrics refer to the File.

Labels:

Label	Description
file_path	File absolute path

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
filecheck.file_existence_status	exist, not_exist	status
filecheck.file_modification_time_ago	mtime_ago	seconds
filecheck.file_size_bytes	size	bytes

Per directory

These metrics refer to the Directory.

Labels:

Label	Description
dir_path	Directory absolute path

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
filecheck.dir_existence_status	exist, not_exist	status
filecheck.dir_modification_time_ago	mtime_ago	seconds
filecheck.dir_size_bytes	size	bytes
filecheck.dir_files count	files	files

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 filecheck 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 filecheck

To debug a specific job:

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

Getting Logs

If you’re encountering problems with the filecheck 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 filecheck

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 filecheck /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 filecheck

Industry

Technology

Use cases