# Getting started with VM Operator **The guide covers:** * The setup of a [VM Operator](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/helm-charts/tree/master/charts/victoria-metrics-operator) via Helm in [Kubernetes](https://kubernetes.io/) with Helm charts. * The setup of a [VictoriaMetrics Cluster](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html) via [VM Operator](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/helm-charts/tree/master/charts/victoria-metrics-operator). * How to add CRD for a [VictoriaMetrics Cluster](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html) via [VM Operator](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/helm-charts/tree/master/charts/victoria-metrics-operator). * How to visualize stored data * How to store metrics in [VictoriaMetrics](https://victoriametrics.com) **Preconditions** * [Kubernetes cluster 1.20.9-gke.1001](https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine). We use a GKE cluster from [GCP](https://cloud.google.com/) but this guide also applies to any Kubernetes cluster. For example, [Amazon EKS](https://aws.amazon.com/ru/eks/). * [Helm 3](https://helm.sh/docs/intro/install). * [kubectl 1.21+](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/install-kubectl). ## 1. VictoriaMetrics Helm repository See how to work with a [VictoriaMetrics Helm repository in previous guide](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/guides/k8s-monitoring-via-vm-cluster.html#1-victoriametrics-helm-repository). ## 2. Install the VM Operator from the Helm chart <div class="with-copy" markdown="1"> ```console helm install operator vm/victoria-metrics-operator ``` </div> The expected output is: ```console NAME: vmoperator LAST DEPLOYED: Thu Sep 30 17:30:30 2021 NAMESPACE: default STATUS: deployed REVISION: 1 TEST SUITE: None NOTES: victoria-metrics-operator has been installed. Check its status by running: kubectl --namespace default get pods -l "app.kubernetes.io/instance=vmoperator" Get more information on https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/helm-charts/tree/master/charts/victoria-metrics-operator. See "Getting started guide for VM Operator" on https://docs.victoriametrics.com/guides/getting-started-with-vm-operator.html. ``` Run the following command to check that VM Operator is up and running: <div class="with-copy" markdown="1"> ```console kubectl --namespace default get pods -l "app.kubernetes.io/instance=vmoperator" ``` </div> The expected output: ```console NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE vmoperator-victoria-metrics-operator-67cff44cd6-s47n6 1/1 Running 0 77s ``` ## 3. Install VictoriaMetrics Cluster > For this example we will use default value for `name: example-vmcluster-persistent`. Change it value up to your needs. Run the following command to install [VictoriaMetrics Cluster](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html) via [VM Operator](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/helm-charts/tree/master/charts/victoria-metrics-operator): <div class="with-copy" markdown="1" id="example-cluster-config"> ```console cat << EOF | kubectl apply -f - apiVersion: operator.victoriametrics.com/v1beta1 kind: VMCluster metadata: name: example-vmcluster-persistent spec: # Add fields here retentionPeriod: "12" vmstorage: replicaCount: 2 vmselect: replicaCount: 2 vminsert: replicaCount: 2 EOF ``` </div> The expected output: ```console vmcluster.operator.victoriametrics.com/example-vmcluster-persistent created ``` * By applying this CRD we install the [VictoriaMetrics cluster](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html) to the default [namespace](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/working-with-objects/namespaces/) of your k8s cluster with following params: * `retentionPeriod: "12"` defines the [retention](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Single-server-VictoriaMetrics.html#retention) to 12 months. * `replicaCount: 2` creates two replicas of vmselect, vminsert and vmstorage. Please note that it may take some time for the pods to start. To check that the pods are started, run the following command: <div class="with-copy" markdown="1" id="example-cluster-config"> ```console kubectl get pods | grep vmcluster ``` </div> The expected output: ```console NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE vminsert-example-vmcluster-persistent-845849cb84-9vb6f 1/1 Running 0 5m15s vminsert-example-vmcluster-persistent-845849cb84-r7mmk 1/1 Running 0 5m15s vmselect-example-vmcluster-persistent-0 1/1 Running 0 5m21s vmselect-example-vmcluster-persistent-1 1/1 Running 0 5m21s vmstorage-example-vmcluster-persistent-0 1/1 Running 0 5m25s vmstorage-example-vmcluster-persistent-1 1/1 Running 0 5m25s ``` There is an extra command to get information about the cluster state: <div class="with-copy" markdown="1" id="services"> ```console kubectl get vmclusters ``` </div> The expected output: ```console NAME INSERT COUNT STORAGE COUNT SELECT COUNT AGE STATUS example-vmcluster-persistent 2 2 2 5m53s operational ``` Internet traffic goes through the Kubernetes Load balancer which use the set of Pods targeted by a [Kubernetes Service](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/services-networking/service/). The service in [VictoriaMetrics Cluster architecture](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html#architecture-overview) which accepts the ingested data named `vminsert` and in Kubernetes it is a `vminsert ` service. So we need to use it for remote_write url. To get the name of `vminsert` services, please run the following command: <div class="with-copy" markdown="1" id="services"> ```console kubectl get svc | grep vminsert ``` </div> The expected output: ```console vminsert-example-vmcluster-persistent ClusterIP 10.107.47.136 <none> 8480/TCP 5m58s ``` To scrape metrics from Kubernetes with a VictoriaMetrics Cluster we will need to install [VMAgent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html) with some additional configurations. Copy `vminsert-example-vmcluster-persistent` (or whatever user put into metadata.name field [https://docs.victoriametrics.com/guides/getting-started-with-vm-operator.html#example-cluster-config](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/guides/getting-started-with-vm-operator.html#example-cluster-config)) service name and add it to the `remoteWrite` URL from [quick-start example](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/operator/blob/master/docs/quick-start.MD#vmagent). Here is an example of the full configuration that we need to apply: <div class="with-copy" markdown="1"> ```console cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f - apiVersion: operator.victoriametrics.com/v1beta1 kind: VMAgent metadata: name: example-vmagent spec: serviceScrapeNamespaceSelector: {} podScrapeNamespaceSelector: {} podScrapeSelector: {} serviceScrapeSelector: {} nodeScrapeSelector: {} nodeScrapeNamespaceSelector: {} staticScrapeSelector: {} staticScrapeNamespaceSelector: {} replicaCount: 1 remoteWrite: - url: "http://vminsert-example-vmcluster-persistent.default.svc.cluster.local:8480/insert/0/prometheus/api/v1/write" EOF ``` </div> The expected output: ```console vmagent.operator.victoriametrics.com/example-vmagent created ``` >`remoteWrite.url` for VMAgent consists of the following parts: > "service_name.VMCluster_namespace.svc.kubernetes_cluster_domain" that in our case will look like vminsert-example-vmcluster-persistent.default.svc.cluster.local Verify that `VMAgent` is up and running by executing the following command: <div class="with-copy" markdown="1"> ```console kubectl get pods | grep vmagent ``` </div> The expected output is: ```console vmagent-example-vmagent-7996844b5f-b5rzs 2/2 Running 0 9s ``` > There are two containers for VMagent: the first one is a VMagent and the second one is a sidecard with a secret. VMagent use a secret with configuration wich is mounted to the special sidecar. It observes the changes with configuration and send a signal to reload configuration for the VMagent. Run the following command to make `VMAgent`'s port accessible from the local machine: <div class="with-copy" markdown="1"> </div> ```console kubectl port-forward svc/vmagent-example-vmagent 8429:8429 ``` The expected output is: ```console Forwarding from 127.0.0.1:8429 -> 8429 Forwarding from [::1]:8429 -> 8429 ``` To check that `VMAgent` collects metrics from the k8s cluster open in the browser [http://127.0.0.1:8429/targets](http://127.0.0.1:8429/targets) . You will see something like this: <p align="center"> <img src="guide-vmcluster-k8s-via-vm-operator.png" width="800" alt=""> </p> `VMAgent` connects to [kubernetes service discovery](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/services-networking/service/) and gets targets which needs to be scraped. This service discovery is controlled by [VictoriaMetrics Operator](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/operator) ## 4. Verifying VictoriaMetrics cluster See [how to install and connect Grafana to VictoriaMetrics](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/guides/k8s-monitoring-via-vm-cluster.html#4-install-and-connect-grafana-to-victoriametrics-with-helm) but with one addition - we should get the name of `vmselect` service from the freshly installed VictoriaMetrics Cluster because it will now be different. To get the new service name, please run the following command: <div class="with-copy" markdown="1" id="services"> ```console kubectl get svc | grep vmselect ``` </div> The expected output: ```console vmselect-example-vmcluster-persistent ClusterIP None <none> 8481/TCP 7m ``` The final config will look like this: <div class="with-copy" markdown="1"> ```yaml cat <<EOF | helm install my-grafana grafana/grafana -f - datasources: datasources.yaml: apiVersion: 1 datasources: - name: victoriametrics type: prometheus orgId: 1 url: http://vmselect-example-vmcluster-persistent.default.svc.cluster.local:8481/select/0/prometheus/ access: proxy isDefault: true updateIntervalSeconds: 10 editable: true dashboardProviders: dashboardproviders.yaml: apiVersion: 1 providers: - name: 'default' orgId: 1 folder: '' type: file disableDeletion: true editable: true options: path: /var/lib/grafana/dashboards/default dashboards: default: victoriametrics: gnetId: 11176 revision: 18 datasource: victoriametrics vmagent: gnetId: 12683 revision: 7 datasource: victoriametrics kubernetes: gnetId: 14205 revision: 1 datasource: victoriametrics EOF ``` </div> ## 5. Check the result you obtained in your browser To check that [VictoriaMetrics](https://victoriametrics.com) collecting metrics from the k8s cluster open in your browser [http://127.0.0.1:3000/dashboards](http://127.0.0.1:3000/dashboards) and choose the `VictoriaMetrics - cluster` dashboard. Use `admin` for login and the `password` that you previously got from kubectl. <p align="center"> <img src="guide-vmcluster-k8s-via-vm-operator-grafana1.png" width="800" alt="grafana dashboards"> </p> The expected output is: <p align="center"> <img src="guide-vmcluster-k8s-via-vm-operator-grafana2.png" width="800" alt="grafana dashboards"> </p> ## 6. Summary * We set up Kubernetes Operator for VictoriaMetrics with using CRD. * We collected metrics from all running services and stored them in the VictoriaMetrics database.