VictoriaMetrics

Key Features

• Prometheus-compatible ingestion and querying API for seamless migration from existing Prometheus setups
• MetricsQL query language with extended functions beyond standard PromQL for advanced analytics
• Ultra-efficient storage engine consuming up to 10x less RAM than Prometheus with faster query performance
• 90-day configurable data retention with efficient compression and deduplication
• Native support for high-cardinality metrics without performance degradation
• Grafana integration with pre-configured Prometheus data source connection
• Single-node deployment suitable for millions of active time series
• Built-in HTTP API for both Prometheus remote_write protocol and direct metric ingestion

Common Use Cases

• 1Infrastructure monitoring replacement for resource-constrained Prometheus deployments
• 2High-cardinality application metrics storage for microservices architectures
• 3Cost-effective monitoring solution for cloud environments with usage-based pricing
• 4Long-term metrics retention and historical analysis for capacity planning
• 5IoT and sensor data collection with high ingestion rates and efficient storage
• 6Multi-tenant monitoring environments requiring efficient resource utilization
• 7Development and testing environments needing production-like monitoring capabilities

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose installed with at least 1GB available RAM for VictoriaMetrics
• Understanding of Prometheus metrics format and PromQL query language basics
• GRAFANA_PASSWORD environment variable set for Grafana admin authentication
• Available ports 3000 (Grafana) and 8428 (VictoriaMetrics) on the host system
• Basic knowledge of time-series concepts and monitoring dashboard creation
• Sufficient disk space for metrics retention (estimate based on ingestion rate and 90-day retention)

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  victoriametrics: 
3    image: victoriametrics/victoria-metrics:latest
4    container_name: victoriametrics
5    restart: unless-stopped
6    command: 
7      - --storageDataPath=/data
8      - --httpListenAddr=:8428
9      - --retentionPeriod=90d
10    volumes: 
11      - vm_data:/data
12    ports: 
13      - "8428:8428"
14    networks: 
15      - vm-network
16
17  grafana: 
18    image: grafana/grafana:latest
19    container_name: grafana
20    restart: unless-stopped
21    environment: 
22      GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD: ${GRAFANA_PASSWORD}
23    volumes: 
24      - grafana_data:/var/lib/grafana
25    ports: 
26      - "3000:3000"
27    depends_on: 
28      - victoriametrics
29    networks: 
30      - vm-network
31
32volumes: 
33  vm_data: 
34  grafana_data: 
35
36networks: 
37  vm-network: 
38    driver: bridge

.env Template

1GRAFANA_PASSWORD=admin

Usage Notes

Individual Services(2 services)

Copy individual services to mix and match with your existing compose files.

victoriametrics:
  image: victoriametrics/victoria-metrics:latest
  container_name: victoriametrics
  restart: unless-stopped
  command:
    - "--storageDataPath=/data"
    - "--httpListenAddr=:8428"
    - "--retentionPeriod=90d"
  volumes:
    - vm_data:/data
  ports:
    - "8428:8428"
  networks:
    - vm-network

grafana:
  image: grafana/grafana:latest
  container_name: grafana
  restart: unless-stopped
  environment:
    GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD: ${GRAFANA_PASSWORD}
  volumes:
    - grafana_data:/var/lib/grafana
  ports:
    - "3000:3000"
  depends_on:
    - victoriametrics
  networks:
    - vm-network

Quick Start

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  victoriametrics:
5    image: victoriametrics/victoria-metrics:latest
6    container_name: victoriametrics
7    restart: unless-stopped
8    command:
9      - --storageDataPath=/data
10      - --httpListenAddr=:8428
11      - --retentionPeriod=90d
12    volumes:
13      - vm_data:/data
14    ports:
15      - "8428:8428"
16    networks:
17      - vm-network
18
19  grafana:
20    image: grafana/grafana:latest
21    container_name: grafana
22    restart: unless-stopped
23    environment:
24      GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD: ${GRAFANA_PASSWORD}
25    volumes:
26      - grafana_data:/var/lib/grafana
27    ports:
28      - "3000:3000"
29    depends_on:
30      - victoriametrics
31    networks:
32      - vm-network
33
34volumes:
35  vm_data:
36  grafana_data:
37
38networks:
39  vm-network:
40    driver: bridge
41EOF
42
43# 2. Create the .env file
44cat > .env << 'EOF'
45GRAFANA_PASSWORD=admin
46EOF
47
48# 3. Start the services
49docker compose up -d
50
51# 4. View logs
52docker compose logs -f

One-Liner

Run this command to download and set up the recipe in one step:

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/victoria-metrics/run | bash

Troubleshooting