Configuring Prometheus with Helm Chart on Kubernetes

Originally published at https://spacelift.io.

In this blog post, we will install Prometheus on K8s using Helm charts. We will also customize the Prometheus configuration via Helm charts to connect various node exporter instances to expose their metrics on Prometheus.

What is Helm?

Various components that make an application run on Kubernetes are defined in the declarative format in configuration files. Depending on the complexity of applications being deployed, the number of configuration files/manifests may pose some management difficulties.

Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes that simplifies application deployment and management by providing a higher-level abstraction for manifest files. It streamlines deployment by packaging the Kubernetes manifests into a single Helm chart, which can be installed and uninstalled consistently any number of times.

The Helm architecture is based on three big concepts: chart, repository, and release. A Helm chart is a compilation of Kubernetes manifest files, a repository is a place where all the charts are versioned and maintained, and an instance is a single installation of a chart. In this blog post, we will use the community-developed Helm chart for Prometheus.