# collectd Agent

### Installing and configuring collectd

* Install [collectd](https://collectd.org/documentation.shtml) on your system. It’s usually available via your normal package manager, e.g. `apt-get install collectd`
* From the Hosted Graphite Add-ons page, select collectd and download the appropriate configuration file. Version 5.4 works with most versions of collectd
* Copy the downloaded configuration file to `/etc/collect/collectd.conf`. If you want to keep the original configuration file, rename it to collectd.conf.old
* Configure optional plugins to collect data from many different technologies and running processes on your servers, see their table of plugins [here](https://collectd.org/wiki/index.php/Table_of_Plugins)
* Restart collectd so that it uses the new configuration file, and metrics will appear in your Hosted Graphite account, prefixed with `collectd`

### **Generating and viewing the collectd dashboard**

Once collectd is up and running, you can automatically generate a dashboard from our dashboard library. Navigate to Dashboards => [Dashboard Library](https://docs.hostedgraphite.com/dashboard-and-graphs/dashboard-library) and click 'Generate'.

<figure><img src="/files/l3AM9gVQhDGs6hO9uZJj" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

For more detailed information on how to manually configure collectd, see our [collectd doc](/add-ons-and-integrations-guide/collectd-add-ons.md) in the Add-Ons and Integrations Guide.


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