Version: 4.10.0

Networking

N|Solid Console

The 3.x N|Solid Console is the component that provides data persistence for your measurements and artifacts, such as heap snapshots and CPU profiles. It communicates directly with N|Solid Agent processes, and provides the web interface and the API interface for nsolid-cli.

Command Line Arguments

These are the supported command line arguments if N|Solid Console is started explicitly.

Parameter	Description
`--config=config.toml`	The configuration file for Console. The default config will be used if none is specified
`--relay`	Run Console in Relay mode. This allows you to place an instance in a segment of your network that can aid connectivity and uptime

Configuration File

N|Solid Console can be configured via a configuration file if the --config argument is specified. This file is formatted as TOML (similar to ini file format). A sample file is available in the file config-sample.toml in the root directory of the nsolid-console server. The contents of the file are also listed below.

To run with a customized configuration, copy the file and edit it so that it contains your customized values. You can omit keys from any section which you don't want to override, and omit entire sections if no keys in that section are overridden.

Alternatively, or in addition, you can set environment variables for every configuration key and value. The names of the environment variables are listed with the configuration keys and values below.

For more information on the TOML language used here, please see the TOML spec.

# config-sample.toml

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# This is a sample configuration file for nsolid-console.  It shows the
# configuration keys and default values for those keys.
#
# To run with a customized configuration, copy this file and edit it so that it
# contains your customized values.  You can omit keys from any section which
# you don't want to override, and omit entire sections if no keys in that
# section are overridden.
#
# Then invoke nsolid-console with the -c or --config command line parameter
# and the name of the customized file.
#
# For example:
#    nsolid-console --config <your-config-file.toml>
#
# Alternatively, or in addition, you can set environment variables for
# every configuration key and value.  The names of the environment variables
# are listed with the configuration keys and values below.
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# For more information on N|Solid, please see:
#    https://docs.nodesource.com/docs/
#
# For more information on the TOML language used here, please see:
#    https://github.com/toml-lang/toml
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Properties that are file or directory names can be absolute or relative file
# names. When relative, the names are considered relative to the configuration
# file they were specified in.  When using relative file names as environment
# variables, they will be considered relative to the current working directory.
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# set the logging level - "info" or "debug" - debug is more verbose
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_LOG_LEVEL

logLevel = "info"

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# settings for licensing
#
# key = "the-license-key"
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[license]

# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_LICENSE_KEY

key = ""

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# settings for authentication
#
# requireLogin - If the console should require users to authenticate. This
#                is only enforced with accounts-generated license keys
# adminToken   - A random token that can be used by nsolid-cli for auth
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_AUTH_REQUIRE_LOGIN
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_AUTH_ADMIN_TOKEN

[auth]

requireLogin = true
adminToken = ""

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# settings for the API HTTP server
#
# proto  - "http" or "https"
# server - "<ip addr | hostname>:<port>"
#
# If the environment variable PORT is set, that value, prefixed with ':', will
# be set to the server property. Eg, using PORT=42 will set web.server to ':42'.
#
# httpProxy and httpsProxy are used to set an explicit HTTP/S proxy for HTTP/S
# requests that console makes to the public internet.  You can also set the
# environment variables HTTP_PROXY or http_proxy, and HTTPS_PROXY or https_proxy
# as the value to use.
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[web]

# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_WEB_PROTO
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_WEB_SERVER
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_WEB_HTTP_PROXY
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_WEB_HTTPS_PROXY

proto      = "http"
server     = "0.0.0.0:6753" # 0.0.0.0 allows access on all network interfaces
httpProxy  = ""
httpsProxy = ""

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# settings for running the API HTTP server in https mode
#
# key and cert are file names, as from Node.js https.createServer() options
#
# when set to blank, the files inside the nsolid-console/etc folder will be used:
#   key:  nsolid-self-signed.key
#   cert: nsolid-self-signed.crt
#
# See note above concerning relative paths.
#
# note: generate new default credentials with ./gen-https-creds.sh
# note: default credentials files shipped with nsolid-console expire in 08/2026
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[web.https]

# If set, secureOptions is a bitmask-formatted string of any crypto constants
# documented at https://nodejs.org/api/crypto.html#crypto_openssl_options, eg:
#    "SSL_OP_NO_SSLv2 | SSL_OP_NO_SSLv3 | SSL_OP_NO_TLSv1 | SSL_OP_NO_TLSv1_1"
# ciphers should be an OpenSSL cipher list formatted string, see
# https://www.openssl.org/docs/man1.0.2/apps/ciphers.html#CIPHER-LIST-FORMAT

# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_WEB_HTTPS_KEY
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_WEB_HTTPS_CERT
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_WEB_HTTPS_SECURE_OPTIONS
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_WEB_HTTPS_CIPHERS

key           = ""
cert          = ""
secureOptions = ""
ciphers       = ""


#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# zmq sockets for access by N|Solid processes
#
# commandBindAddr, dataBindAddr, bulkBindAddr are the zmq port addresses
# that will be bound by the server.
#
# publicKey, privateKey are the keys used to encrypt the messages sent over
# zmq.  For more information see:
# https://github.com/msealand/zmq-zap.node/blob/master/examples/curve.js
#
# HWM, bulkHWM are used to set the high water mark for zmq's internal buffering.
# The value indicates the number of messages to buffer, and 0 indicates no limit.
#
# The N|Solid agent will use environment variables that correspond to these
# settings.  For the sockets, the following N|Solid agent environment variable
# should use an address that it can use to connect to the socket the server has
# bound.
#
#    N|Solid agent env vars    server configuration values
#    ----------------------    ---------------------------
#    NSOLID_COMMAND            sockets.commandBindAddr
#    NSOLID_DATA               sockets.dataBindAddr
#    NSOLID_BULK               sockets.bulkBindAddr
#    NSOLID_PUBKEY             sockets.publicKey
#    NSOLID_SAAS               sockets.saas
#
# If running the console server in server mode AND relay mode on the same host,
# the configuration values for the sockets.xxxBindAddr above must be different
# for the server mode and relay configurations.
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[sockets]

# For commandBindAddr, dataBindAddr, and bulkBindAddr, the format should be:
#    tcp://[ipAddress]:[port]
# [ipAddress] should be an ip address - host names cannot be used; use
# "*" to addresses on any available network interface.

# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_COMMAND_BIND_ADDR
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_DATA_BIND_ADDR
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_BULK_BIND_ADDR
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_PUBLIC_KEY
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_PRIVATE_KEY
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_HWM
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_BULK_HWM
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_SAAS

commandBindAddr = "tcp://*:9001"
dataBindAddr    = "tcp://*:9002"
bulkBindAddr    = "tcp://*:9003"
publicKey       = "^kvy<i^qI<r{=ZDrfK4K<#NtqY+zaH:ksm/YGE6I"
privateKey      = "2).NRO5d[JbEFli7F@hdvE1(Fv?B6iIAn>NcLLDx"
HWM             = 0
bulkHWM         = 0
saas            = ""

# The following socket address values are only relevant when running in --relay
# mode. They are analogs of their similiarly named 'xxxBindAddr' values, but
# used as the zmq sockets of the console server to connect to.  These should
# be formatted as "tcp://host:port"
#
# If you want to use a different keypair on the remote endpoint, you may
# specify a remotePublicKey matching that endpoint.  This can be used to
# perform a rolling update to keys without losing data from agents with the old
# encryption key (by using multiple relays)

# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_COMMAND_REMOTE_ADDR
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_DATA_REMOTE_ADDR
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_BULK_REMOTE_ADDR
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_REMOTE_PUBLIC_KEY

commandRemoteAddr = ""
dataRemoteAddr    = ""
bulkRemoteAddr    = ""
remotePublicKey   = ""

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Relay mode settings
#
# These settings are specific to running in relay mode.
#
# maxBufferSizeMb is the max buffering "hwm" values shared between the
# "pull/push" sockets in megabytes.
#
# flushInterval is the delay in milliseconds between message sends when the
# buffer is being flushed after a reconnect.
#
# cleanupSizeMb is the amount of megabytes of buffers to be dropped when limits
# are reached.
#
# logSizeInterval is the interval in seconds that will trigger a buffering
# status to be logged. Only happens when upstream (remote) sockets are
# disconnected.
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[relay]

# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_RELAY_MAX_BUFFER_SIZE_MB
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_RELAY_FLUSH_INTERVAL
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_RELAY_CLEANUP_SIZE_MB
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_RELAY_LOG_SIZE_INTERVAL

maxBufferSizeMb = -1
flushInterval   = 1
cleanupSizeMb   = 100
logSizeInterval = 10

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# data settings
#
# dir           - the directory where data will be persisted
# retentionDays - the number of days of metric data that will be retained
# oldDataThresholdMs - how old a record should be to be considered backfill
# backfillTimeoutMs  - after not seeing old data for this long, switch to
#                      standard mode and backfill downsampled records
# dbname        - Influxdb database name
#
# See note above concerning relative paths.
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[data]

# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_DATA_DIR
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_DATA_RETENTION_DAYS
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_DATA_OLD_DATA_THRESHOLD_MS
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_DATA_BACKFILL_TIMEOUT_MS
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_DATA_DBNAME

dir                = "~/.nsolid-console/data"
retentionDays      = 31
oldDataThresholdMs = 10000
backfillTimeoutMs  = 30000
dbname             = 'database'

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# influxdb settings
#
# url            - base url to connect to externally managed influxdb
# user           - user for the influxdb API, could de local or external influxdb
# password       - password credentials for the Influxdb API
# org            - The influxdb organization to write on
# token          - The influxdb API token
# defaultBucket  - The default bucket (where time series are stored)
# uiDisabled     - Disable/eneble the InfluxDB user interface (disabled by default)
# retentionPeriodSeconds - retention in seconds for the default bucket
# maxConcurrency - Amount of concurrent workers writting metrics
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_INFLUXDB_URL
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_INFLUXDB_USER
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_INFLUXDB_PASSWORD
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_INFLUXDB_ORG
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_INFLUXDB_TOKEN
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_INFLUXDB_DEFAULT_BUCKET
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_INFLUXDB_UI_DISABLED
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_INFLUXDB_RETENTION_PERIOD_SECONDS
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_INFLUXDB_MAX_CONCURRENCY

[influxdb]

url = ""
user = "nsolid"
password = "L+T;95cTBC}~jPnj"
org = "nsolid"
token = "nsolid-token"
defaultBucket = "agentData"
uiDisabled = true
retentionPeriodSeconds = 3600
maxConcurrency = 2

[[influxdb.policies]]
name = "agentData"
retentionHours = 1
shardRetentionHours = 1
startupRetentionHours = 24
startupShardRetentionHours = 24
default = true

[[influxdb.policies]]
name = "appAverageData"
retentionHours = 1
shardRetentionHours = 1
startupRetentionHours = 24

[[influxdb.policies]]
name = "one_minute_daily"
retentionHours = 24
shardRetentionHours = 1
startupRetentionHours = 24

[[influxdb.policies]]
name = "one_hour_monthly"
retentionDays = 31
shardRetentionDays = 7
useSettingsDuration = true

[[influxdb.policies]]
name = "rp_events"
retentionDays = 365
shardRetentionDays = 7

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# notification settings
#
# consoleURL - the base URL of the console, for use in providing links
# back to the console in notifications.
# stackFrames - the number of frames to be shown in Slack event loop blocked
# notifications
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[notification]

# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_NOTIFICATION_CONSOLE_URL
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_NOTIFICATION_STACK_FRAMES

consoleURL = "http://localhost:6753"
stackFrames = 10

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# view settings
#
# interval - how often to process saved views
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[view]

interval = 5000

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# anomaly detection settings
#
# memAnomalyTimeout - timeout for anomaly
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_MEMORY_ANOMALY_TIMEOUT

[anomaly]

timeout = 60000

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# log settings
#
# influx - the name of the file where the influxd log will be written
#
# See note above concerning relative paths.
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[logs]

# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_LOGS_INFLUX

influx = "~/.nsolid-console/influxdb.log"

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# vulnerability settings
#
# refreshMinutes - how often the vulnerability database will be refreshed
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[vulnerabilities]

# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_VULNERABILITIES_REFRESH_MINUTES

refreshMinutes = 30

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# assets settings - storage of heap snapshots, cpu profiles, etc
#
# cleanupMinutes  - how often the asset files are cleaned up; the oldest asset
#                   files are deleted to ensure constraints below are met.
# maxAssets       - maximum number of assets to retain
# maxAssetsMb     - maximum size of all assets to retain
# summaryTimeout  - Set the minutes you want the worker pool task run for
# summaryLimit    - Set to false, to let the task in the pool run indefinitely
#                   until they complete
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[assets]

# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_ASSETS_CLEANUP_MINUTES
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_ASSETS_MAX_ASSETS
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_ASSETS_MAX_ASSETS_MB
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_ASSETS_SUMMARY_TIMEOUT
# environment variable NSOLID_CONSOLE_ASSETS_SUMMARY_LIMIT

cleanupMinutes  = 5
maxAssets       = 500
maxAssetsMb     = 100
summaryTimeout  = 0
summaryLimit    = true

Relay Mode

N|Solid Console supports running in a relay mode in order to support proxying through firewalls, buffering agent data during downtime, and scaling with complex network topologies.

The relay sits between your Runtime instances and N|Solid Console. In this mode, nsolid-console looks like an N|Solid Console instance to agents but does not have any N|Solid Console functionality enabled.

Relay Configuration

To use relay mode, set the --relay flag and the three [sockets] variables described below. These can be provided via the configuration file or as environment variables. If omitted, the defaults will be used.

Changing the NSOLID_COMMAND, NSOLID_DATA, and NSOLID_BULK variables is recommended, as those will be the ones that the relay itself listens on while it uses the NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS-* variables in order to connect to N|Solid Console.

In the simplest case, set the NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_* variables to the same values that the related NSOLID_* variables were set to, picking different addresses for the NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_* variables.

Environment Variables

Environment Variable	Description
`NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_COMMAND_REMOTE_ADDR`	This is the route to the Console command port that the relay will use. It should be formatted as "host:port" and follows the same conventions as `NSOLID_COMMAND`
`NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_DATA_REMOTE_ADDR`	This is the route to the Console data port that the relay will use. It should be formatted as "host:port" and follows the same conventions as `NSOLID_COMMAND`. Unlike `NSOLID_DATA`, this variable has to be specified or included in the config
`NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_BULK_REMOTE_ADDR`	This is the route to the Console bulk port that the relay will use. It should be formatted as "host:port" and follows the same conventions as `NSOLID_COMMAND`. Unlike `NSOLID_BULK`, this variable has to be specified or included in the config

Configuration File

The following example shows the [sockets] section of a configuration file written to support relay mode. Note that the related Bind addresses have been changed, and an explicit public key has been specified for the remote Console server.

# config-sample.toml

[sockets]
commandBindAddr = "tcp://<console-address>:8001"
dataBindAddr    = "tcp://<console-address>:8002"
bulkBindAddr    = "tcp://<console-address>:8003"

commandRemoteAddr = "tcp://<console-address>:9001"
dataRemoteAddr = "tcp://<console-address>:9002"
bulkRemoteAddr = "tcp://<console-address>:9003"
remotePublicKey = "^kvy<i^qI<r{=ZDrfK4K<#NtqY+zaH:ksm/YGE6I"

Docker Compose File

Relay mode environment variables need to be added to the console section of the Docker configuration file.

For example, in order to match the settings in the above configuration file, add the following:

# docker-compose.yml

  console:
    environment:
      - NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_COMMAND_BIND_ADDR=console:8001
      - NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_DATA_BIND_ADDR=console:8002
      - NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_BULK_BIND_ADDR=console:8003
      - NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_COMMAND_REMOTE_ADDR=console:9001
      - NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_DATA_REMOTE_ADDR=console:9002
      - NSOLID_CONSOLE_SOCKETS_BULK_REMOTE_ADDR=console:9003

See the Docker page for more information on setting up Docker Compose.

External InfluxDB

If you already maintain an instance or cluster of InfluxDB enterprise or want to use Influx Cloud and want N|Solid Console to use your database to store its own metrics, you may do so using the NSOLID_CONSOLE_INFLUXDB_URL, NSOLID_CONSOLE_INFLUXDB_USER and NSOLID_CONSOLE_INFLUXDB_PASSWORD environment variables or set the values at the corresponding configuration file section. This should point to the http(s) listener for your InfluxDB and include the correct protocol and auth credentials if needed.

This will look similar to

NSOLID_CONSOLE_INFLUXDB_URL=http://my-influx-host:8086
NSOLID_CONSOLE-INFLUXDB_USER=myuser
NSOLID_CONSOLE-INFLUXDB_PASSWORD=secret

If errors occur reading or writing to this instance, a notification banner should appear in your console as well as specific error messages in the N|Solid Console log.

N|Solid Console will create and manage its own database and retention policies in the InfluxDB and should be configured using the standard configuration options.

Note: The supported InfluxDB version is v2.x, the InfluxDB instance must be a fresh instance with no initial user, organization and bucket defined; otherwise, N|Solid Console won't set up its standard options or even work.

Advanced Environment Variables

The variables described below should only be necessary if a proxy is required in front of N|Solid Console.

If this is not needed, ignore this section as the variables will be configured by the N|Solid agent via the COMMAND interface.

Environment Variable	Description
`NSOLID_DATA`	This is the route to the Console data port. It should be formatted as "host:port", and follows the same conventions as `NSOLID_COMMAND`. If this argument is not specified, N\|Solid will attempt to discover this port from Console via the `COMMAND` interface
`NSOLID_BULK`	This is the route to the Console bulk port. It should be formatted as "host:port", and follows the same conventions as `NSOLID_COMMAND`. If this argument is not specified, N\|Solid will attempt to discover this port from Console via the `COMMAND` interface
`NSOLID_PUBKEY`	This is Console's public key. If a custom key is not configured, the default keypair that ships with N\|Solid will be used

Moving the N|Solid Console server

The data maintained in the N|Solid Console server is stored in a directory determined by the dir property of the [data] section of the configuration file. The default value is ~/.nsolid-console/data. If the contents of the directory are copied to a new machine, the N|Solid Console server can be run with its configuration pointing to the copied directory.

Networking

N|Solid Console​

Command Line Arguments​

Configuration File​

Relay Mode​

Relay Configuration​

Environment Variables​

Configuration File​

Docker Compose File​

External InfluxDB​

Advanced Environment Variables​

Moving the N|Solid Console server​

N|Solid Console

Command Line Arguments

Configuration File

Relay Mode

Relay Configuration

Environment Variables

Configuration File

Docker Compose File

External InfluxDB

Advanced Environment Variables

Moving the N|Solid Console server