Installation and deployment

The ways to run Nightingale — Compose, Docker image, binaries, Helm, n9e-edge — and which fits which situation.

Method	When to use it
Docker Compose	Evaluation and small production setups — brings up its own dependencies
Docker image	You already run MySQL and a time-series store
Binary	Linux amd64 / arm64 tarballs with checksums on every GitHub release
Helm	Kubernetes
n9e-edge	Edge data centers whose link to the center is unreliable

See the download page for the exact commands per method.

Docker Compose

Bring up Nightingale with its database and time-series store in one command; what the bundle contains and how to change it.

Binary packages

Download the Linux amd64 / arm64 tarball from GitHub releases, verify the checksum, point it at your MySQL and Redis, and run n9e under systemd.

Helm / Kubernetes

A community-maintained Helm chart deploys Nightingale on Kubernetes with MySQL, Redis, Prometheus and Categraf; values can point it at databases outside the cluster.

MySQL / PostgreSQL / SQLite and Redis

The metadata store is MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQLite (testing only); the process creates the schema on first start, and Redis holds runtime state such as heartbeats.

Embedded TSDB for onboarding and small scale

Use the built-in store to get going with zero extra components; retention, capacity and the single-Center constraint.

External TSDB and dual-write migration

Move from the embedded store to Prometheus or VictoriaMetrics without a gap, using Pushgw dual write.

Configuration layout

Configuration is a directory: config.toml is read by n9e, alert and pushgw, etc/edge by n9e-edge; environment variables fill in blanks but never override set keys.

High availability

Run multiple Center and Alert instances behind a load balancer, and what still needs to be a singleton.

Offline deployment

Install on hosts without internet access: packages, images and integration templates to fetch in advance.

Edge data centers

A local alerting engine for sites whose link to the center is unreliable, and the one flag that silently breaks it.

Upgrade

Upgrade between minor versions and across v8 → v9: back up first, read the database changes, roll the binaries.

Rollback

Return to the previous version after a failed upgrade, including what to do about schema migrations that already ran.

Uninstall and data retention

Remove Nightingale cleanly, and what to keep or export before you do.