Blackbox Exporter by Prometheus is a powerful tool for network monitoring and endpoint probing. It allows you to check the availability and performance of various network services, including TCP, HTTP, and SSH, providing detailed insights for debugging and operational awareness.

Network Service Debugging with Blackbox Exporter

Utilize Blackbox Exporter to diagnose issues with your network services. Below are examples of how to perform checks for different protocols.

TCP Connection Checks

Monitor TCP connections to ensure services are reachable on their designated ports. For example, checking a host test.mydomain.com on port 443:

curl https://blackbox-exporter.mydomain.com/probe?target=test.mydomain.com:443&module=tcp_connect&debug=true

HTTP Endpoint Monitoring

Verify the accessibility and status of HTTP(S) endpoints. This example checks the HTTP status of https://test.mydomain.com:

curl https://blackbox-exporter.mydomain.com/probe?target=https://test.mydomain.com&module=http_2xx&debug=true

SSH Service Verification

Confirm that SSH services are running and responsive. This command probes the SSH banner for test.mydomain.com:22:

curl "https://blackbox-exporter.mydomain.com/probe?target=test.mydomain.com:22&module=ssh_banner&debug=true"

External Resources

• Prometheus Blackbox Exporter Documentation
• URL Schemes Documentation
• IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry