Redbelly Node Monitoring Configuration

This guide will walk you through the process of enabling monitoring in your Redbelly Network node. The --statusserver option is part of the node's binary and allows you to monitor the health and status of your node. You can read about it in official Redbelly Developer Portal

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure that:

✅ Your Redbelly node is running and synchronized
✅ You have root or sudo access to the server
✅ You know the systemd service name (usually redbelly.service)
✅ You have basic knowledge of editing files in Linux

Backup Before Changes

Always create a backup before modifying configuration:

sudo cp /etc/systemd/system/redbelly.service /etc/systemd/system/redbelly.service.backup

Step 1: Edit Service File

Option A: Using nano (easier)

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/redbelly.service

Option B: Using vi/vim (advanced)

sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/redbelly.service

What will we see in the file?

The file should look similar to this:

[Unit]
Description=Redbelly Network Node
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=redbelly
WorkingDirectory=/opt/redbelly
ExecStart=/opt/redbelly/redbelly [other-options] --mainnet
Restart=always
RestartSec=3

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Step 2: Configure Parameters

Find the ExecStart line

Find the line starting with ExecStart=. It will look similar to:

ExecStart=/opt/redbelly/redbelly [other-options] --mainnet

Add Monitoring Parameters

IMPORTANT: Add the following parameters BEFORE --mainnet:

ExecStart=/opt/redbelly/redbelly [other-options] --statusserver.addr=0.0.0.0 --statusserver.port=6539 --prometheus.addr=127.0.0.1 --mainnet

Before/After Example

Before:

ExecStart=/opt/redbelly/redbelly [other-options] --mainnet

After:

ExecStart=/opt/redbelly/redbelly [other-options] --statusserver.addr=0.0.0.0 --statusserver.port=6539 --prometheus.addr=127.0.0.1 --mainnet

Parameter Explanation

--statusserver.addr=0.0.0.0 - Allows external connections
--statusserver.port=6539 - Port for status server
--prometheus.addr=127.0.0.1 - Prometheus metrics only locally

Step 3: Restart Service

Save File

In nano: Press Ctrl+X, then Y, then Enter
In vi/vim: Press Esc, type :wq, press Enter

Perform Restart

# Reload systemd configuration
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

# Start service again
sudo systemctl start redbelly.service

# Check status
sudo systemctl status redbelly.service

Check if service is running

sudo systemctl is-active redbelly.service

Should return: active

Step 4: Configure Firewall

Ubuntu/Debian (ufw)

# Check firewall status
sudo ufw status

# Open port 6539
sudo ufw allow 6539/tcp

# Check if rule was added
sudo ufw status numbered

OR restrict access to a specific IP:

sudo ufw allow from [Your home IP] to any port 6539 proto tcp
sudo ufw allow from [Our site IP] to any port 6539 proto tcp

Step 5: Verify Configuration

Local Test

You can use curl directly in the terminal:

# Check if status server responds
curl http://127.0.0.1:6539/status

# Check Prometheus metrics
curl http://127.0.0.1:6539/metrics

The output will appear as JSON (for /status) or in Prometheus format (for /metrics).

External Test

If you want to check remotely (e.g., from your own computer):

Make sure that port 6539 is open in the firewall (ufw allow 6539/tcp or restricted to a specific IP).

Open browser
Go to http://SERVER_IP:6539/status or http://SERVER_IP:6539/metrics