Unbound Exporter Lite

Introduction

An ultra‑light Prometheus unbound_exporter replacement, written in Nim. It compiles into a single static binary with zero external dependencies.

A minimal, high‑performance implementation of the standard unbound_exporter metrics with extremely low memory and CPU usage. Ideal for resource‑constrained systems, embedded devices, and environments where a compact, easy‑to‑distribute exporter is required.

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Key Features

• Small Footprint: Container images and binaries are typically around 400 kB.
• Memory (RSS): Typically under 1MB under normal load.
• CPU Usage: Negligible (<0.1% on most modern systems).
• Zero Dependencies: Statically linked against musl; runs on any Linux distro.
• Modern Nim: Leverages ARC memory management and LTO (Link Time Optimization) for maximum speed.
• Lightweight Drop‑in Replacement: Compatible with Prometheus’ standard unbound_exporter metrics, making it a seamless, ultra‑small alternative for resource‑constrained systems.

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"Official" unbound_exporter vs lite version

Aspect	Unbound Exporter	unbound_exporter-lite
Language	Go	Nim
Binary size	~11 MB	~500 kB
Footprint	~13 MB	< 1 MB
Resource usage	Higher (depends on collectors)	Low and predictable
Platform	Many *nix systems	Linux only
Complexity	Higher	Very low
Use case	General-purpose monitoring	Lightweight

The Lite version only supports HTTP, no HTTPS.

Building

This project uses a multi-stage Containerfile to ensure a consistent build environment. You do not need Nim or GCC installed on your host machine.

Build as a Container Image

To build a runnable container image for Podman or Docker, run:

podman build -t unbound_exporter .

Once the image is built, start it with:

podman run \
  --detach \
  --name unbound_exporter \
  --publish 9167:9167 \
  unbound_exporter

Build a static binary for the host

To produce a fully self‑contained static binary you can run directly on the host, build the image with:

podman build --target binary -o ./bin .

This places the compiled binary in ./bin. Run it with:

./bin/unbound_exporter

Options

Flag	Description
--web.listen-address=[ADDR]:PORT	Address and port to listen on (default: 0.0.0.0:9167)
--unbound.host=[path]	Path to the remote-control socket (default: /run/unbound.ctl)
--help	Show this help message

See also

• unbound_exporter
• node_exporter Lite