What is a "host"? - Mackerel Docs

In Mackerel, a host is "the smallest unit that makes up the system". It can be a physical server, a virtual server, or even a managed service.

In order to begin monitoring with Mackerel, the monitoring target must first be registered as a host. Registering a host in Mackerel can be done several ways depending on the type of monitoring target.

Host registration methods for different types of monitoring targets

Below are three typical methods for registering monitoring targets as hosts in Mackerel.

Register a host in Mackerel to monitor physical and virtual servers

To monitor a physical or virtual server with Mackerel, mackerel-agent must be installed onto your OS. mackerel-agent is the official monitoring agent software of Mackerel. See the help page below.

Installing the agent - Mackerel Docs

If the installed mackerel-agent works properly, host information will be registered in Mackerel as a "Standard host". For more information, see Host types.

Register a host in Mackerel to monitor container environments such as Kubernetes

To monitor a container environment such as Kubernetes with Mackerel, mackerel-container-agent must be run as a sidecar container in your target environment. mackerel-container-agent is Mackerel's official monitoring agent software for container environments. See the help page below.

Monitoring Containers - Mackerel Docs

If mackerel-container-agent is successfully run as a sidecar, host information will be registered in Mackerel as a "Micro host". For more information, see Host types.

Register a host in Mackerel to monitor public cloud provided managed services

The following services can also be registered as hosts in Mackerel for integrated monitoring.

Managed services provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) such as Amazon RDS, etc.
Managed services provided by Microsoft Azure such as Azure App Service, etc.

Mackerel uses cloud integration to monitor these managed services.

If successfully integrated, host information will be registered in Mackerel as either a "Standard host" or a "Micro host". For more information, see Host types.

Host types

A host registered in Mackerel is automatically classified as either a "Standard host" or a "Micro host". You cannot choose the host type when registering.

Host features

Standard hosts

The cost of a "Standard host" is applied as listed in pricing.
The cost of 1 standard host includes 200 metrics associated with that host.
- See also How usage fees are calculated.

Micro hosts

The cost of a "Micro host" is applied as listed in pricing.
The cost of 1 micro host includes 30 metrics associated with that host.
- See also How usage fees are calculated.