How to install Prometheus and Grafana on Kubernetes with Helm

Installing Prometheus and Grafana on Kubernetes using Helm is a straightforward way to set up robust monitoring and visualization tools for your cluster. Helm charts simplify deployment, making configuring and managing these tools easy.

Prerequisites

1. A running Kubernetes cluster.
2. kubectl CLI configured to access your cluster.
3. Helm installed on your local system.

Step 1: Add the Helm repository

Add the Prometheus Community Helm charts repository:

helm repo add prometheus-community https://prometheus-community.github.io/helm-charts
helm repo update

Step 2: Install Prometheus

1. Install the Prometheus Helm chart:

   helm install prometheus prometheus-community/prometheus --namespace monitoring --create-namespace

• prometheus: The release name.
• --namespace monitoring: Creates a namespace for Prometheus.

1. Verify the installation:

   kubectl get all -n monitoring

You should see resources like pods, services, and deployments related to Prometheus.

1. Access Prometheus:

   • Get the Prometheus server service details:
    

   Copied!

    kubectl get svc -n monitoring
   

• Use kubectl port-forward to access it locally:

   

  Copied!

   kubectl port-forward svc/prometheus-server -n monitoring 9090:80
  

• Access Prometheus at http://localhost:9090.

Step 3: Install Grafana

1. Install the Grafana Helm chart:

   helm install grafana prometheus-community/grafana --namespace monitoring

1. Verify the installation:

   kubectl get all -n monitoring

You should see Grafana-related pods, services, and deployments.

1. Access Grafana:

   • Get the Grafana admin password:
    

   Copied!

    kubectl get secret --namespace monitoring grafana -o jsonpath="{.data.admin-password}" | base64 --decode
   

• Forward the Grafana service port:

   

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   kubectl port-forward svc/grafana -n monitoring 3000:80
  

• Open Grafana in your browser at http://localhost:3000 and log in with:

  • Username: admin
  • Password: The value retrieved above.

Step 4: Connect Prometheus to Grafana

1. Open Grafana and go to Configuration > Data Sources.
2. Click Add Data Source and select Prometheus.
3. Configure the Prometheus URL:
   • If Prometheus is accessible within the cluster, use http://prometheus-server:80.
   • Otherwise, use http://localhost:9090 if you are using port forwarding.
4. Click Save & Test to verify the connection.

Step 5: Import pre-built dashboards

1. In Grafana, go to Dashboards > Import.
2. Enter a dashboard ID from Grafana's dashboard repository, such as 1860 for a Kubernetes cluster monitoring dashboard.
3. Select the Prometheus data source and click Import.

Step 6: Customize configurations (optional)

Customize Prometheus and Grafana configurations using Helm values:

1. Create a values.yaml file:

   prometheus:
     alertmanager:
       enabled: true
     server:
       persistentVolume:
         size: 10Gi

   grafana:
     adminPassword: "customPassword"
     persistence:
       enabled: true
       size: 5Gi

1. Install with custom values:

   helm install prometheus prometheus-community/prometheus -f values.yaml --namespace monitoring
   helm install grafana prometheus-community/grafana -f values.yaml --namespace monitoring

Step 7: Monitor your cluster

• Access pre-configured dashboards in Grafana for metrics like resource usage, pod health, and cluster performance.
• Use Prometheus for querying detailed metrics directly.

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