So, recently I spun up cAdvisor to provide some metrics for the Grafana dashboard. I created both the docker-compose.yml and prometheus.yml thusly:

prometheus.yml:

spoiler

scrape_configs: - job_name: cadvisor scrape_interval: 5s static_configs: - targets: - cadvisor:8080

docker-compose.yml

spoiler

services: prometheus: image: prom/prometheus:latest container_name: prometheus ports: - 9090:9090 command: - --config.file=/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml volumes: - ./prometheus.yml:/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml:ro depends_on: - cadvisor cadvisor: image: gcr.io/cadvisor/cadvisor:latest container_name: cadvisor ports: - 8080:8080 volumes: - /:/rootfs:ro - /var/run:/var/run:rw - /sys:/sys:ro - /var/lib/docker/:/var/lib/docker:ro depends_on: - redis redis: image: redis:latest container_name: redis ports: - 6379:6379

Placed them both in /tmp/cadvisor/ and ran docker compose up. All well and good, got some metrics to feed Grafana and all would seem jippity jippity.

Next day I notice Prometheus is off line. Hmm, check everything out. Logs complaining of a missing prometheus.yml. On a hunch I recreated the above prometheus.yml and placed it back in /tmp/cadvisor/, restart Prometheus, and it fires right up no runs, no drips, no errors. Before I uploaded the new prometheus.yml, I notice that there is a directory now named prometheus.yml in /tmp/cadvisor/, which is empty. Deleted it.

Next day, same scenario. Missing prometheus.yml, directory called prometheus.yml in /tmp/cadvisor/. I thought well, if it’s getting deleted, change the permissions, and continued my daily affairs.

Today, same exact scenario. So, wtf, over? Run some commands:

stat /tmp/cadvisor/prometheus.yml
sudo lsof /tmp/cadvisor/prometheus.yml
grep "delete" /var/log/syslog

I can see that the file IS being deleted, but I cannot seem to trace down what is deleting it. It’s like there is a cron job that fires off every day at a certain time and deletes prometheus.yml, and in it’s place, creates a directory called prometheus.yml effectively taking Prometheus offline. I have no such cron job tho.

Any ideas? Suggestions? Ancient wizardry? Any mystical incantations or tomes to consult?