Do I need a domain name for VictoriaMetrics?

Yes. Your servers send their metrics to it and Grafana queries it: VictoriaMetrics must answer over HTTPS on a stable name. No need to buy one: every ServOrbit VPS comes with a free subdomain (victoriametrics.{dns_slug}.servorbit-dns.com) with an HTTPS certificate. You can also use a subdomain of one of your domains.

How do I log in for the first time?

Open https://your-domain/vmui and enter the admin user and the password shown in your client area. These credentials also protect the query API and ingestion: your agents and Grafana use them as basic authentication.

How long are my metrics kept?

Twelve months by default. Change it with the -retentionPeriod option in the application's docker-compose.yml file, then run docker compose up -d. Size the disk accordingly: the space needed depends on the number of series and the scrape frequency, which vmui helps you measure.

Monitor your infrastructure.

VictoriaMetrics

VictoriaMetrics — keep your Prometheus metrics for months at low cost: PromQL, remote_write, the vmui interface and Grafana, on your VPS.

1 GB minimum RAM 1 vCPU Port 8428 In validation

In validation

Automatic installation for this solution is ready and currently going through our tests on a real server. Ordering will open as soon as validation is complete.

Source code

Tech stack

DockerGoVictoriaMetrics

Minimum RAM1 GB minimum

Minimum CPU1 vCPU

Default port8428

Compatible OSChoice of Linux distributions

VictoriaMetrics is an open-source time series database (Apache-2.0 licensed) built to store monitoring metrics over the long run. It speaks the language of the Prometheus ecosystem: it receives data via `remote_write`, answers the Prometheus query API and works as-is as a data source in Grafana. It also accepts InfluxDB, Graphite, OpenTSDB, OpenTelemetry and CSV or JSON imports.

Its value comes down to two numbers you can measure yourself: little disk per stored sample and little memory at rest. Where a standalone Prometheus struggles to keep more than a few weeks of history, VictoriaMetrics keeps months of metrics on a modest VPS. It ships with its vmui web interface (series exploration, MetricsQL queries, cardinality analysis) and collects its own metrics from the first start.

Key features

Prometheus-compatible — remote_write target, Prometheus query API and Grafana data source with no plugin.

PromQL and MetricsQL — existing PromQL queries work, MetricsQL adds handier functions.

Compact storage — strong series compression, several months of retention on a modest disk.

Multi-protocol — InfluxDB line protocol, Graphite, OpenTSDB, OpenTelemetry, CSV and JSON import.

Built-in vmui interface — series exploration, graphs, cardinality analysis and slowest queries.

Protected access — HTTP authentication on the interface, the query API and ingestion, configured at install time.

When to use this solution?

1

Long-term history for your Prometheus

Keep Prometheus for scraping and add a remote_write line pointing to VictoriaMetrics: your Grafana dashboards query months of history instead of a few weeks.

2

Centralise metrics from several servers

Each VPS ships its metrics (node_exporter through Prometheus, Grafana Alloy, vmagent or Telegraf) to a single instance, viewed from a single Grafana.

3

Business metrics from your application

Push application counters (orders, sign-ups, API response times) in Prometheus or InfluxDB format, and follow them in vmui or Grafana.

Deploy VictoriaMetrics on your VPS

Guide optimized for ServOrbit Cloud VPS.

01

Create the VPS and choose the address

Order an Ubuntu 24.04 VPS with 1 GB of RAM (2 GB and more disk if you centralise many servers). VictoriaMetrics requires a domain: your other servers send their metrics to it and Grafana queries it, so it must answer over HTTPS on a stable name. It opens on a subdomain of one of your domains, or on the VPS's free subdomain (victoriametrics.{dns_slug}.servorbit-dns.com), HTTPS included. No need to buy a domain name.

02

Install VictoriaMetrics from the Marketplace

In your client area, select VictoriaMetrics, choose the address and click Install. The script deploys the official container, generates the password of the admin user, enables authentication on every endpoint and configures the nginx reverse proxy over HTTPS.

03

Log in for the first time

Open https://your-domain/vmui and sign in with the admin user and the password shown in your client area. VictoriaMetrics' internal metrics appear within the first minute: type vm_rows to check that ingestion works.

04

Send your servers' metrics

In each server's prometheus.yml, add a remote_write block pointing to https://your-domain/api/v1/write with basic_auth (the admin user and the password). Grafana Alloy, vmagent and Telegraf accept the same address.

05

Connect Grafana

In Grafana, add a Prometheus-type data source with the URL https://your-domain, enable basic authentication and enter the same credentials. Your existing Prometheus dashboards work unchanged.

Frequently asked questions

Prometheus scrapes metrics and keeps them locally for a few weeks. VictoriaMetrics focuses on storage: it receives Prometheus data via remote_write, compresses it heavily and keeps it for months, while answering the same query API. They complement each other: Prometheus collects, VictoriaMetrics keeps the history.

Complementary solutions

Monitoring & Observability