```bash helm repo add vm https://victoriametrics.github.io/helm-charts/ ```

```bash helm repo update ```

```bash helm search repo vm/ ```

```yaml cat < * By running `Helm install vmcluster vm/victoria-metrics-cluster` we install [VictoriaMetrics cluster](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html) to default [namespace](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/working-with-objects/namespaces/) inside your cluster. * By adding `podAnnotations: prometheus.io/scrape: "true"` we enable the scraping of metrics from the vmselect, vminsert and vmstorage pods. * By adding `podAnnotations:prometheus.io/port: "some_port" ` we enable the scraping of metrics from the vmselect, vminsert and vmstorage pods from their ports as well. As a result of this command you will see the following output: ```bash NAME: vmcluster LAST DEPLOYED: Thu Jul 1 09:41:57 2021 NAMESPACE: default STATUS: deployed REVISION: 1 TEST SUITE: None NOTES: Write API: The Victoria Metrics write api can be accessed via port 8480 with the following DNS name from within your cluster: vmcluster-victoria-metrics-cluster-vminsert.default.svc.cluster.local Get the Victoria Metrics insert service URL by running these commands in the same shell: export POD_NAME=$(kubectl get pods --namespace default -l "app=vminsert" -o jsonpath="{.items[0].metadata.name}") kubectl --namespace default port-forward $POD_NAME 8480 You need to update your Prometheus configuration file and add the following lines to it: prometheus.yml remote_write: - url: "http:///insert/0/prometheus/" for example - inside the Kubernetes cluster: remote_write: - url: "http://vmcluster-victoria-metrics-cluster-vminsert.default.svc.cluster.local:8480/insert/0/prometheus/" Read API: The VictoriaMetrics read api can be accessed via port 8481 with the following DNS name from within your cluster: vmcluster-victoria-metrics-cluster-vmselect.default.svc.cluster.local Get the VictoriaMetrics select service URL by running these commands in the same shell: export POD_NAME=$(kubectl get pods --namespace default -l "app=vmselect" -o jsonpath="{.items[0].metadata.name}") kubectl --namespace default port-forward $POD_NAME 8481 You will need to specify select service URL in your Grafana: NOTE: you need to use Prometheus Data Source Input this URL field in Grafana http:///select/0/prometheus/ for example - inside the Kubernetes cluster: http://vmcluster-victoria-metrics-cluster-vmselect.default.svc.cluster.local:8481/select/0/prometheus/" ``` For us it’s important to remember the url for the datasource (copy lines from the output). Verify that [VictoriaMetrics cluster](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html) pods are up and running by executing the following command:

```bash kubectl get pods ```

The expected output is: ```bash NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE vmcluster-victoria-metrics-cluster-vminsert-689cbc8f55-95szg 1/1 Running 0 16m vmcluster-victoria-metrics-cluster-vminsert-689cbc8f55-f852l 1/1 Running 0 16m vmcluster-victoria-metrics-cluster-vmselect-977d74cdf-bbgp5 1/1 Running 0 16m vmcluster-victoria-metrics-cluster-vmselect-977d74cdf-vzp6z 1/1 Running 0 16m vmcluster-victoria-metrics-cluster-vmstorage-0 1/1 Running 0 16m vmcluster-victoria-metrics-cluster-vmstorage-1 1/1 Running 0 16m ``` ## 3. Install vmagent from the Helm chart To scrape metrics from Kubernetes with a [VictoriaMetrics cluster](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html) we need to install [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html) with additional configuration. To do so, please run these commands in your terminal:

```yaml helm install vmagent vm/victoria-metrics-agent -f https://docs.victoriametrics.com/guides/guide-vmcluster-vmagent-values.yaml ```

Here is full file content `guide-vmcluster-vmagent-values.yaml` ```yaml remoteWriteUrls: - http://vmcluster-victoria-metrics-cluster-vminsert.default.svc.cluster.local:8480/insert/0/prometheus/ config: global: scrape_interval: 10s scrape_configs: - job_name: vmagent static_configs: - targets: ["localhost:8429"] - job_name: "kubernetes-apiservers" kubernetes_sd_configs: - role: endpoints scheme: https tls_config: ca_file: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/ca.crt insecure_skip_verify: true bearer_token_file: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token relabel_configs: - source_labels: [ __meta_kubernetes_namespace, __meta_kubernetes_service_name, __meta_kubernetes_endpoint_port_name, ] action: keep regex: default;kubernetes;https - job_name: "kubernetes-nodes" scheme: https tls_config: ca_file: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/ca.crt insecure_skip_verify: true bearer_token_file: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token kubernetes_sd_configs: - role: node relabel_configs: - action: labelmap regex: __meta_kubernetes_node_label_(.+) - target_label: __address__ replacement: kubernetes.default.svc:443 - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_node_name] regex: (.+) target_label: __metrics_path__ replacement: /api/v1/nodes/$1/proxy/metrics - job_name: "kubernetes-nodes-cadvisor" scheme: https tls_config: ca_file: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/ca.crt insecure_skip_verify: true bearer_token_file: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token kubernetes_sd_configs: - role: node relabel_configs: - action: labelmap regex: __meta_kubernetes_node_label_(.+) - target_label: __address__ replacement: kubernetes.default.svc:443 - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_node_name] regex: (.+) target_label: __metrics_path__ replacement: /api/v1/nodes/$1/proxy/metrics/cadvisor metric_relabel_configs: - action: replace source_labels: [pod] regex: '(.+)' target_label: pod_name replacement: '${1}' - action: replace source_labels: [container] regex: '(.+)' target_label: container_name replacement: '${1}' - action: replace target_label: name replacement: k8s_stub - action: replace source_labels: [id] regex: '^/system\.slice/(.+)\.service$' target_label: systemd_service_name replacement: '${1}' - job_name: "kubernetes-service-endpoints" kubernetes_sd_configs: - role: endpoints relabel_configs: - action: drop source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_container_init] regex: true - action: keep_if_equal source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_annotation_prometheus_io_port, __meta_kubernetes_pod_container_port_number] - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_service_annotation_prometheus_io_scrape] action: keep regex: true - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_service_annotation_prometheus_io_scheme] action: replace target_label: __scheme__ regex: (https?) - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_service_annotation_prometheus_io_path] action: replace target_label: __metrics_path__ regex: (.+) - source_labels: [ __address__, __meta_kubernetes_service_annotation_prometheus_io_port, ] action: replace target_label: __address__ regex: ([^:]+)(?::\d+)?;(\d+) replacement: $1:$2 - action: labelmap regex: __meta_kubernetes_service_label_(.+) - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_namespace] action: replace target_label: kubernetes_namespace - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_service_name] action: replace target_label: kubernetes_name - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_node_name] action: replace target_label: kubernetes_node - job_name: "kubernetes-service-endpoints-slow" scrape_interval: 5m scrape_timeout: 30s kubernetes_sd_configs: - role: endpoints relabel_configs: - action: drop source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_container_init] regex: true - action: keep_if_equal source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_annotation_prometheus_io_port, __meta_kubernetes_pod_container_port_number] - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_service_annotation_prometheus_io_scrape_slow] action: keep regex: true - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_service_annotation_prometheus_io_scheme] action: replace target_label: __scheme__ regex: (https?) - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_service_annotation_prometheus_io_path] action: replace target_label: __metrics_path__ regex: (.+) - source_labels: [ __address__, __meta_kubernetes_service_annotation_prometheus_io_port, ] action: replace target_label: __address__ regex: ([^:]+)(?::\d+)?;(\d+) replacement: $1:$2 - action: labelmap regex: __meta_kubernetes_service_label_(.+) - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_namespace] action: replace target_label: kubernetes_namespace - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_service_name] action: replace target_label: kubernetes_name - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_node_name] action: replace target_label: kubernetes_node - job_name: "kubernetes-services" metrics_path: /probe params: module: [http_2xx] kubernetes_sd_configs: - role: service relabel_configs: - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_service_annotation_prometheus_io_probe] action: keep regex: true - source_labels: [__address__] target_label: __param_target - target_label: __address__ replacement: blackbox - source_labels: [__param_target] target_label: instance - action: labelmap regex: __meta_kubernetes_service_label_(.+) - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_namespace] target_label: kubernetes_namespace - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_service_name] target_label: kubernetes_name - job_name: "kubernetes-pods" kubernetes_sd_configs: - role: pod relabel_configs: - action: drop source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_container_init] regex: true - action: keep_if_equal source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_annotation_prometheus_io_port, __meta_kubernetes_pod_container_port_number] - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_annotation_prometheus_io_scrape] action: keep regex: true - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_annotation_prometheus_io_path] action: replace target_label: __metrics_path__ regex: (.+) - source_labels: [__address__, __meta_kubernetes_pod_annotation_prometheus_io_port] action: replace regex: ([^:]+)(?::\d+)?;(\d+) replacement: $1:$2 target_label: __address__ - action: labelmap regex: __meta_kubernetes_pod_label_(.+) - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_namespace] action: replace target_label: kubernetes_namespace - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_name] action: replace target_label: kubernetes_pod_name ``` * By adding `remoteWriteUrls: - http://vmcluster-victoria-metrics-cluster-vminsert.default.svc.cluster.local:8480/insert/0/prometheus/` we configuring [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html) to write scraped metrics into the `vmselect service`. * The second part of this yaml file is needed to add the `metric_relabel_configs` section that helps us to show Kubernetes metrics on the Grafana dashboard. Verify that `vmagent`'s pod is up and running by executing the following command:

```bash kubectl get pods | grep vmagent ```

The expected output is: ```bash vmagent-victoria-metrics-agent-69974b95b4-mhjph 1/1 Running 0 11m ``` ## 4. Install and connect Grafana to VictoriaMetrics with Helm Add the Grafana Helm repository.

```bash helm repo add grafana https://grafana.github.io/helm-charts helm repo update ```

See more information on Grafana ArtifactHUB [https://artifacthub.io/packages/helm/grafana/grafana](https://artifacthub.io/packages/helm/grafana/grafana) To install the chart with the release name `my-grafana`, add the VictoriaMetrics datasource with official dashboard and the Kubernetes dashboard:

```yaml cat < By running this command we: * Install Grafana from the Helm repository. * Provision a VictoriaMetrics data source with the url from the output above which we remembered. * Add this [https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards/11176](https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards/11176) dashboard for [VictoriaMetrics Cluster](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html). * Add this [https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards/12683](https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards/12683) dashboard for [VictoriaMetrics Agent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html). * Add this [https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards/14205](https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards/14205) dashboard to see Kubernetes cluster metrics. Please see the output log in your terminal. Copy, paste and run these commands. The first one will show `admin` password for the Grafana admin. The second and the third will forward Grafana to `127.0.0.1:3000`:

```bash kubectl get secret --namespace default my-grafana -o jsonpath="{.data.admin-password}" | base64 --decode ; echo export POD_NAME=$(kubectl get pods --namespace default -l "app.kubernetes.io/name=grafana,app.kubernetes.io/instance=my-grafana" -o jsonpath="{.items[0].metadata.name}") kubectl --namespace default port-forward $POD_NAME 3000 ```

## 5. Check the result you obtained in your browser To check that [VictoriaMetrics](https://victoriametrics.com) collects metrics from k8s cluster open in browser [http://127.0.0.1:3000/dashboards](http://127.0.0.1:3000/dashboards) and choose the `Kubernetes Cluster Monitoring (via Prometheus)` dashboard. Use `admin` for login and `password` that you previously got from kubectl.

grafana dashboards

You will see something like this:

Kubernetes metrics provided by vmcluster

The VictoriaMetrics dashboard is also available to use:

VictoriaMetrics cluster dashboard

vmagent has it’s own dashboard:

vmagent dashboard

## 6. Final thoughts * We set up TimeSeries Database for your Kubernetes cluster. * We collected metrics from all running pods,nodes, … and stored them in a VictoriaMetrics database. * We visualized resources used in the Kubernetes cluster by using Grafana dashboards.