Gremoire

Monitoring a Kubernetes Cluster with Prometheus and Grafana ​

In modern cloud-native deployments, it’s essential to have observability into your applications and cluster. Prometheus and Grafana are the perfect combo for monitoring Kubernetes workloads, like your Vite app deployed with 3 replicas.

Here’s a detailed, simple guide to get everything up and running!

Step 1️: Add the Prometheus Helm Repository ​

We’ll use Helm (the Kubernetes package manager) to quickly install everything.

Add the Prometheus Community Helm repository:

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

Update your local Helm repo:

bash
helm repo update

This makes sure you have the latest charts.

Step 2: Install the Kube-Prometheus Stack ​

The kube-prometheus-stack chart bundles:

  • Prometheus
  • Grafana
  • Node Exporter
  • Kube State Metrics
  • All auto-configured to monitor your Kubernetes cluster!

Install it:

bash
helm install monitoring prometheus-community/kube-prometheus-stack

or if issue with maximumStartupDurationSeconds remove previous installation then re-install using this:

bash
helm install monitoring prometheus-community/kube-prometheus-stack --set prometheus.prometheusSpec.maximumStartupDurationSeconds=300
  • monitoring is the release name.
  • This installs everything in your current namespace (by default, `default`).

Step 3: Access the Grafana UI ​

Grafana is the visualization dashboard where you’ll see metrics.

Get the admin password:

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

Forward Grafana to your local machine:

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

Open your browser and go to:

http://localhost:3000
  • Username: `admin`
  • Password: (the one you decoded earlier) You’re in!

Step 4: Explore Grafana Dashboards ​

In Grafana:

  • Click on Dashboards → Browse.
  • You’ll see preconfigured Kubernetes dashboards:
    • Cluster overview
    • Nodes
    • Deployments (like your 3-replica Vite app!)
    • Pods

These dashboards automatically include metrics for your deployments:

  • CPU and memory usage
  • Pod restarts
  • Deployment status
  • Replica scaling

Step 5: Verify Your Vite App Deployment Status ​

Because Prometheus scrapes Kubernetes default metrics, you’ll see:

  • How many replicas are running
  • Whether any pods are in `CrashLoopBackOff`
  • Resource usage (CPU, memory) for each Vite app pod

No extra config needed!

🔧 (Optional) Application-Level Metrics ​

If your Vite app exports custom metrics (e.g., on `/metrics` endpoint), you can configure Prometheus to scrape it:

  1. Expose the metrics endpoint on your Vite app’s service.
  2. Create a ServiceMonitor or PodMonitor resource to tell Prometheus where to scrape.

But for most cluster-level and pod-level metrics, Prometheus covers it out of the box!

Summary of Commands ​

Here’s a quick cheat sheet of what you need:

bash

# Add Helm repo

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

# Install Prometheus + Grafana stack

helm install monitoring prometheus-community/kube-prometheus-stack

# Get Grafana password

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

# Port forward Grafana to localhost:3000

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

- Final Notes ​

You’re done!
Your Vite app and Kubernetes cluster are now fully monitored with Prometheus + Grafana. You can:

  • Track deployment status
  • Monitor pod health and resource usage
  • Set up alerts for failures or high load

Would you like me to package this guide as a Markdown file or include bonus tips on setting up alerts in Grafana? Let me know – I’m here to help! 🚀✨