How to Install Uptime-Kuma Self-Hosted Uptime Robot Alternative on Ubuntu 20.04

Uptime-Kuma is a free, open-source, self-hosted monitoring tool written in Nodejs. It provides a web-based interface and supports multiple notification methods including Webhooks, Telegram, Discord, Gotify, Slack, Pushover, Email (SMTP), and more. Uptime-Kumacan monitor the uptime of remote hosts or servers via TCP, Ping, and HTTPS. If you are looking for a tool to monitor the uptime of remote servers, then Uptime-Kuma is the best tool for you.

In this post, we will show you how to install the Uptime-Kuma uptime monitoring tool on Ubuntu 20.04.

Step 1 – Install Nodejs

Uptime-Kuma is written in Node.js, so you will need to install Node.js to your server.

First, install the necessary dependencies using the following command.

apt-get install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg

Next, download the Node.js GPG key.

mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/gpgkey/nodesource-repo.gpg.key | gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg

Next, add the NodeSource repo to the APT source list.

echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg] https://deb.nodesource.com/node_18.x nodistro main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list

Then, update the repository index and install the Ndoe.js with the following command.

apt update
apt-get install -y nodejs

Next, verify the Node.js version using the following command.

node -v

Output.

v18.19.0

Step 2 – Install Uptime-Kuma

You can download the latest version of Uptime-Kuma from the GitHub repository using the following command:

git clone https://github.com/louislam/uptime-kuma.git

Once the download is completed, change the directory to uptime-kuma and set up it with the following command:

cd uptime-kuma/
npm run setup

Step 3 – Run Uptime-Kuma with pm2

pm2 is a process manager for Node.js. It allows you to run Node.js applications and keep them alive. You can install pm2 using the NPM as shown below:

npm install pm2@latest -g

Once the pm2 is installed, change the directory to uptime-kuma and run it using the following command:

pm2 start npm --name uptime-kuma -- run start-server -- --port=3001 --hostname=127.0.0.1

You will get the following output:

[PM2] Spawning PM2 daemon with pm2_home=/root/.pm2
[PM2] PM2 Successfully daemonized
[PM2] Starting /usr/bin/npm in fork_mode (1 instance)
[PM2] Done.
┌─────┬────────────────┬─────────────┬─────────┬─────────┬──────────┬────────┬──────┬───────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
│ id  │ name           │ namespace   │ version │ mode    │ pid      │ uptime │ ↺    │ status    │ cpu      │ mem      │ user     │ watching │
├─────┼────────────────┼─────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────────┼────────┼──────┼───────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤
│ 0   │ uptime-kuma    │ default     │ N/A     │ fork    │ 14381    │ 0s     │ 0    │ online    │ 0%       │ 20.2mb   │ root     │ disabled │
└─────┴────────────────┴─────────────┴─────────┴─────────┴──────────┴────────┴──────┴───────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘

You can check the application logs using the following command:

pm2 logs

You will get the following output:

0|uptime-k | Database Patched Successfully
0|uptime-k | JWT secret is not found, generate one.
0|uptime-k | Stored JWT secret into database
0|uptime-k | No user, need setup
0|uptime-k | Adding route
0|uptime-k | Adding socket handler
0|uptime-k | Init the server
0|uptime-k | Listening on 3001

Next, enable the Node.js application to start after the system reboot:

pm2 startup

Output:

/etc/systemd/system/pm2-root.service
Command list
[ 'systemctl enable pm2-root' ]
[PM2] Writing init configuration in /etc/systemd/system/pm2-root.service
[PM2] Making script booting at startup...
[PM2] [-] Executing: systemctl enable pm2-root...
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/pm2-root.service → /etc/systemd/system/pm2-root.service.
[PM2] [v] Command successfully executed.
+---------------------------------------+
[PM2] Freeze a process list on reboot via:
$ pm2 save

[PM2] Remove init script via:
$ pm2 unstartup systemd

Next, save your application state using the following command:

pm2 save

Step 4 – Configure Apache as a Reverse Proxy for Uptime-Kuma

Next, you will need to install and configure the Apache as a reverse proxy for Uptime-Kuma.

First, install the Apache package with the following command:

apt-get install apache2 -y

Once the Apache web server is installed, enable the required modules with the following command:

a2enmod ssl proxy proxy_ajp proxy_wstunnel proxy_http rewrite deflate headers proxy_balancer proxy_connect proxy_html

Next, create a virtual host configuration file for Uptime-Kuma:

nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/uptime-kuma.conf

Add the following lines:

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName kuma.example.com

  ProxyPass / http://localhost:3001/
  RewriteEngine on
  RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade} websocket [NC]
  RewriteCond %{HTTP:Connection} upgrade [NC]
  RewriteRule ^/?(.*) "ws://localhost:3001/$1" [P,L]
</VirtualHost>

Save and close the file, then activate the Apache virtual host configuration file with the following command:

a2ensite uptime-kuma

Finally, restart the Apache service to apply the changes:

systemctl restart apache2

Step 5 – Access Uptime-Kuma Web Interface

Now, open your web browser and access the Uptime-Kuma web interface using the URL http://kuma.example.com. You should see the following screen:

Here, create your administrative user, set your password, and click on the Create button. You will be redirected to the Kuma dashboard screen:

Now, click on the Add New Monitor to add a remote host that you want to monitor. You should see the following screen:

Provide all necessary information and click on the Save button. You should see the Uptime of your remote host on the following screen:

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Uptime-Kuma uptime monitoring tool on Ubuntu 20.04. You can now add more remote hosts and monitor them from a single location. Try it on dedicated hosting from Atlantic.Net!