prometheus blackbox exporter

curl "http://localhost:9115/probe?target=google.com&module=http_2xx"
# HELP probe_dns_lookup_time_seconds Returns the time taken for probe dns lookup in seconds
# TYPE probe_dns_lookup_time_seconds gauge
probe_dns_lookup_time_seconds 0.019044708
# HELP probe_duration_seconds Returns how long the probe took to complete in seconds
# TYPE probe_duration_seconds gauge
probe_duration_seconds 0.683054709
# HELP probe_failed_due_to_regex Indicates if probe failed due to regex
# TYPE probe_failed_due_to_regex gauge

Common Blackbox Exporter use cases

Basic HTTP probe with custom configuration

Create a custom configuration file for your probes:

cat > blackbox-config.yml << EOF
modules:
  http_2xx:
    prober: http
    timeout: 5s
    http:
      valid_http_versions: ["HTTP/1.1", "HTTP/2.0"]
      valid_status_codes: []
      method: GET
      no_follow_redirects: false
      fail_if_ssl: false
      fail_if_not_ssl: false
      tls_config:
        insecure_skip_verify: false

  http_post_2xx:
    prober: http
    timeout: 5s
    http:
      method: POST
      headers:
        Content-Type: application/json

  tcp_connect:
    prober: tcp
    timeout: 5s

  icmp_ping:
    prober: icmp
    timeout: 5s
EOF  

Run the exporter with your custom configuration:

docker run -d --name blackbox-exporter \
  -p 9115:9115 \
  -v $(pwd)/blackbox-config.yml:/etc/blackbox_exporter/config.yml:ro \
  registry.ghost-prod.alphabravo.io/ghost-base/blackbox-exporter:<tag> \
  --config.file=/etc/blackbox_exporter/config.yml

TLS/SSL certificate monitoring

Configure a probe to monitor certificate expiration:

cat > tls-monitoring.yml << EOF
modules:
  http_2xx_with_cert_check:
    prober: http
    timeout: 10s
    http:
      method: GET
      valid_status_codes: []
      fail_if_not_ssl: true
      tls_config:
        insecure_skip_verify: false
EOF

Run the exporter:

docker run -d --name blackbox-exporter \
  -p 9115:9115 \
  -v $(pwd)/tls-monitoring.yml:/etc/blackbox_exporter/config.yml:ro \
  registry.ghost-prod.alphabravo.io/ghost-base/blackbox-exporter:<tag> \
  --config.file=/etc/blackbox_exporter/config.yml

Test the probe:

curl 'http://localhost:9115/probe?target=https://example.com&module=http_2xx_with_cert_check'

Using Docker Compose with multiple probes

Create a complete monitoring setup with Docker Compose. The example uses the DHI Prometheus image (registry.ghost-prod.alphabravo.io/ghost-base/prometheus), which runs as a non-root user (uid 65532). The prometheus-init service (using a minimal busybox image) ensures the data volume is writable by that user before Prometheus starts.

cat > docker-compose.yml << EOF
version: "3.8"
services:
  blackbox-exporter:
    image: registry.ghost-prod.alphabravo.io/ghost-base/blackbox-exporter:<tag>
    ports:
      - "9115:9115"
    volumes:
      - ./blackbox-config.yml:/etc/blackbox_exporter/config.yml:ro
    command:
      - '--config.file=/etc/blackbox_exporter/config.yml'
      - '--log.level=info'
    cap_add:
      - NET_RAW  # Required for ICMP probes
    restart: unless-stopped

  prometheus-init:
    image: registry.ghost-prod.alphabravo.io/ghost-base/busybox:<tag>
    user: "0:0"
    volumes:
      - prometheus-data:/var/prometheus
    command: ["chown", "-R", "65532:65532", "/var/prometheus"]
    restart: "no"

  prometheus:
    image: registry.ghost-prod.alphabravo.io/ghost-base/prometheus:<tag>
    ports:
      - "9090:9090"
    volumes:
      - ./prometheus.yml:/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml:ro
      - prometheus-data:/var/prometheus
    command:
      - '--config.file=/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml'
      - '--storage.tsdb.path=/var/prometheus'
    depends_on:
      prometheus-init:
        condition: service_completed_successfully
      blackbox-exporter:
        condition: service_started
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  prometheus-data: {}
EOF

Create a Prometheus configuration to scrape the Blackbox Exporter:

cat > prometheus.yml << EOF
global:
  scrape_interval: 15s

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'blackbox'
    metrics_path: /probe
    params:
      module: [http_2xx]
    static_configs:
      - targets:
          - https://example.com
          - https://prometheus.io
    relabel_configs:
      - source_labels: [__address__]
        target_label: __param_target
      - source_labels: [__param_target]
        target_label: instance
      - target_label: __address__
        replacement: blackbox-exporter:9115

  - job_name: 'blackbox_exporter'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['blackbox-exporter:9115']
EOF

Start the stack:

docker-compose up -d

Deploy on Kubernetes with the upstream Helm chart

You can install Prometheus Blackbox Exporter using the official community Helm chart and replace the image. Replace <your-registry-secret> with your Kubernetes image pull secret and <tag> with the desired image tag.

helm install blackbox-exporter oci://ghcr.io/prometheus-community/charts/prometheus-blackbox-exporter \
  --set "imagePullSecrets[0].name=<your-registry-secret>" \
  --set image.registry=registry.ghost-prod.alphabravo.io \
  --set image.repository=blackbox-exporter \
  --set image.tag=<tag>

Verify the installation:

kubectl get all
NAME                                                                  READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
pod/blackbox-exporter-prometheus-blackbox-exporter-6fc886469b-c8jfp   1/1     Running   0          2s

NAME                                                     TYPE        CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)    AGE
service/blackbox-exporter-prometheus-blackbox-exporter   ClusterIP   10.103.248.23   <none>        9115/TCP   2s
service/kubernetes                                       ClusterIP   10.96.0.1       <none>        443/TCP    14d

NAME                                                             READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
deployment.apps/blackbox-exporter-prometheus-blackbox-exporter   1/1     1            1           2s

NAME                                                                        DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   AGE
replicaset.apps/blackbox-exporter-prometheus-blackbox-exporter-6fc886469b   1         1         1       2s

Non-hardened images vs Ghost hardened images

Key differences

Why no shell or package manager?

Ghost hardened images prioritize security through minimalism:

• Reduced attack surface: Fewer binaries mean fewer potential vulnerabilities
• Immutable infrastructure: Runtime containers shouldn't be modified after deployment
• Compliance ready: Meets strict security requirements for regulated environments

Hardened image debugging

The hardened images intended for runtime don't contain a shell nor any tools for debugging. Common debugging methods for applications built with Ghost hardened images include:

• Docker Debug to attach to containers
• Docker's Image Mount feature to mount debugging tools
• Ecosystem-specific debugging approaches

Docker Debug provides a shell, common debugging tools, and lets you install other tools in an ephemeral, writable layer that only exists during the debugging session.

For example, you can use Docker Debug:

docker debug registry.ghost-prod.alphabravo.io/ghost-base/blackbox-exporter:<tag>

or mount debugging tools with the Image Mount feature:

docker run --rm -it --pid container:blackbox-exporter \
  --mount=type=image,source=registry.ghost-prod.alphabravo.io/ghost-base/busybox,destination=/dbg,ro \
  registry.ghost-prod.alphabravo.io/ghost-base/blackbox-exporter:<tag> /dbg/bin/sh

Image variants

Ghost hardened images come in different variants depending on their intended use.

• Runtime variants are designed to run your application in production. These images are intended to be used either directly or as the FROM image in the final stage of a multi-stage build. These images typically:

  • Run as the nonroot user
  • Do not include a shell or a package manager
  • Contain only the minimal set of libraries needed to run the app

• Build-time variants typically include dev in the variant name and are intended for use in the first stage of a multi-stage Dockerfile. These images typically:

  • Run as the root user
  • Include a shell and package manager
  • Are used to build or compile applications

• FIPS variants include fips in the variant name and tag. These variants use cryptographic modules that have been validated under FIPS 140, a U.S. government standard for secure cryptographic operations. For example, usage of MD5 fails in FIPS variants.

Migrate to a Ghost hardened image

To migrate your application to a Ghost hardened image, you must update your Dockerfile. At minimum, you must update the base image in your existing Dockerfile to a Ghost hardened image. This and a few other common changes are listed in the following table of migration notes.

The following steps outline the general migration process.

1. Find hardened images for your app.

   A hardened image may have several variants. Inspect the image tags and find the image variant that meets your needs.

2. Update the base image in your Dockerfile.

   Update the base image in your application's Dockerfile to the hardened image you found in the previous step. For framework images, this is typically going to be an image tagged as dev because it has the tools needed to install packages and dependencies.

3. For multi-stage Dockerfiles, update the runtime image in your Dockerfile.

   To ensure that your final image is as minimal as possible, you should use a multi-stage build. All stages in your Dockerfile should use a hardened image. While intermediary stages will typically use images tagged as dev, your final runtime stage should use a non-dev image variant.

4. Install additional packages

   Ghost hardened images contain minimal packages in order to reduce the potential attack surface. You may need to install additional packages in your Dockerfile. Inspect the image variants to identify which packages are already installed.

   Only images tagged as dev typically have package managers. You should use a multi-stage Dockerfile to install the packages. Install the packages in the build stage that uses a dev image. Then, if needed, copy any necessary artifacts to the runtime stage that uses a non-dev image.

   For Alpine-based images, you can use apk to install packages. For Debian-based images, you can use apt-get to install packages.

Troubleshooting migration

The following are common issues that you may encounter during migration.

General debugging

The hardened images intended for runtime don't contain a shell nor any tools for debugging. The recommended method for debugging applications built with Ghost hardened images is to use Docker Debug to attach to these containers. Docker Debug provides a shell, common debugging tools, and lets you install other tools in an ephemeral, writable layer that only exists during the debugging session.

Permissions

By default image variants intended for runtime, run as the nonroot user. Ensure that necessary files and directories are accessible to the nonroot user. You may need to copy files to different directories or change permissions so your application running as the nonroot user can access them.

Privileged ports

Non-dev hardened images run as a nonroot user by default. As a result, applications in these images can't bind to privileged ports (below 1024) when running in Kubernetes or in Docker Engine versions older than 20.10. To avoid issues, configure your application to listen on port 1025 or higher inside the container, even if you map it to a lower port on the host. For example, docker run -p 80:8080 my-image will work because the port inside the container is 8080, and docker run -p 80:81 my-image won't work because the port inside the container is 81.

No shell

By default, image variants intended for runtime don't contain a shell. Use dev images in build stages to run shell commands and then copy any necessary artifacts into the runtime stage. In addition, use Docker Debug to debug containers with no shell.

Entry point

Ghost hardened images may have different entry points than images such as Docker Official Images. Use docker inspect to inspect entry points for Ghost hardened images and update your Dockerfile if necessary.