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Configure Kubernetes Monitoring

You have many options for configuration, depending on your circumstances and the technologies you prefer.

Note

Kubernetes Monitoring is available only in Grafana Cloud, and only supports data sources hosted in Grafana Cloud.

Prepare for configuration

The following items can be part of your configuration, depending on your needs:

  • kube-state-metrics: A service that generated metrics from Kubernetes API objects, and uses client-go to communicate with Clusters. For Kubernetes client-go version compatibility and any other related details, refer to kube-state-metrics.
  • Node exporter: Exports Prometheus metrics that indicate the health and state of Nodes in a Cluster. For details, refer to Node exporter.
  • OpenCost: Calculates Kubernetes infrastructure and container costs. Requires Kubernetes 1.8+ clusters.
  • Windows Exporter: Exports Prometheus metrics for Windows machines. Requires Kubernetes 1.22+. Refer to windows_exporter on Kubernetes for any additional requirements.

Configure with Grafana Kubernetes Monitoring Helm chart

To send infrastructure data to Grafana Cloud, it is easiest to configure with the Grafana Kubernetes Monitoring Helm chart. With this method, you can send metrics, logs, events, traces, and cost metrics.

Note

Configuration with Grafana Kubernetes Monitoring Helm chart is recommended. However, you can also configure with Grafana Agent or Grafana Agent Operator manually.

Upgrade from Grafana Agent or Agent Operator

If you have already configured with either Agent static mode or Agent Operator, you can upgrade and migrate to Grafana Kubernetes Monitoring Helm chart with the appropriate method:

Configure manually for infrastructure data

If you are already collecting telemetry data for your infrastructure and want to send it to Grafana Cloud, refer to the options available in Configure manually for infrastructure.

Note

You should have only one job scraping kube-state-metrics. If you have multiple scrape jobs running at the same time, you might see an error similar to this error when you try to view objects in Cluster navigation: execution: found duplicate series for the match group...

Other configuration options for infrastructure

If you want to monitor Windows Nodes within an AWS EKS cluster, refer to Configure Windows Exporter to monitor Windows Nodes.

To configure Kubernetes Monitoring on your EKS Cluster, refer to Configure Kubernetes Monitoring as an Add-on with an AWS EKS Cluster.

Configure manually for application data

To receive and send telemetry data to Grafana Cloud for an application in Kubernetes, refer to Configure manually for applications.