How to send logs from your Kubernetes cluster to your Cockpit

In this page, we will show you how to send application logs from your Kubernetes cluster to your Cockpit using either a Helm chart or deploying a Helm chart with Terraform.

We will use the k8s-monitoring Helm Chart, which installs an Alloy Daemon set to export your Kubernetes cluster’s logs to your Cockpit.

Before you start

To complete the actions presented below, you must have:

• A Scaleway account logged into the console
• Owner status or IAM permissions allowing you to perform actions in the intended Organization
• Created a custom external data source of the logs type
• Created a Cockpit token in the same region as the logs data source
• A running Kubernetes cluster containing your deployed application
• Created an API key and retrieved your API secret key

Configure the Helm chart

Create a values.yml file to configure your Helm chart, using the example below. Make sure that you replace $SCW_CLUSTER_NAME with the name of your Scaleway Kubernetes cluster, COCKPIT_CUSTOM_LOGS_DATASOURCE_URL with the URL of your custom logs data source (you can find it under the “API URL” section in the Data sources tab of the Scaleway console), and $COCKPIT_TOKEN with your Cockpit token.

cluster:
  name: "$SCW_CLUSTER_NAME"
global:
  scrape_interval: 60s
destinations:
  - name: "my-cockpit-logs"
    type: "loki"
    protocol: "http"
    logs:
      enabled: true
    url: "$COCKPIT_CUSTOM_LOGS_DATASOURCE_URL/loki/api/v1/push" ##You can find your logs URL in the **Data sources** tab of the Scaleway console under the "API URL" section of the relevant data source
    tenantId: "$COCKPIT_TOKEN"
    metrics:
      enabled: false
    traces:
      enabled: false
clusterEvents:
  enabled: true
  destinations: ["my-cockpit-logs"]
# -- Node logs.
nodeLogs:
    enabled: true
    destinations: ["my-cockpit-logs"]
# -- Pod logs.
podLogs:
  enabled: true
  destinations: ["my-cockpit-logs"]
  volumeGatherSettings:
    onlyGatherNewLogLines: true
# An Alloy instance for collecting log data.
alloy-logs:
  enabled: true
  logging:
    level: info
    format: logfmt
alloy-singleton:
  enabled: true

Send Kubernetes logs using Helm chart

Once you have configured your values.yml file, you can use Helm to deploy the log-forwarding configuration to your Kubernetes cluster. Before installing the Helm chart, ensure that your kubectl tool is properly connected to your Kubernetes cluster. kubectl is the command-line tool for interacting with Kubernetes clusters.

1. Connect kubectl to your Kubernetes cluster

2. Run the command below to install the k8s-monitoring Helm chart:

   helm install -f /your-path/to/values.yml name-of-your-choice-for-your-log-ingester k8s-monitoring --version 1.6.16
   

   The -f flag specifies the path to your values.yml file, which contains the configuration for the Helm chart. Make sure that you replace /your-path/to/values.yml with the correct path where your values.yml file is stored. Make sure that you also replace name-of-your-choice-for-your-log-ingester with a clear name (ex. alloy-logs-ingester). In our configuration, we are using alloy-lm-ingester. Helm installs the k8s-monitoring chart, which includes the Alloy DaemonSet configured to collect logs from your Kubernetes cluster. The DaemonSet ensures that a pod is running on each node in your cluster, which collects logs and forwards them to the specified Loki endpoint in your Cockpit.

3. Optionally, check the status of the release to ensure it was installed:

   helm list
   

Send Kubernetes logs using Helm chart with Terraform

You can also use Terraform to manage and deploy Helm charts, providing you with more automation and consistency to manage your Kubernetes resources.

1. Create a provider.tf file and paste the following template to set up the Helm Terraform provider:

   provider "helm" {
     kubernetes {
       host = your_k8s_cluster_host # The URL of your Kubernetes API server.
       token = your_k8s_cluster_token # Authentication token to access the cluster.
       cluster_ca_certificate = base64decode(
       your_k8s_cluster_ca_certificate # The cluster's CA certificate.
       )
     }
   }
   

2. Create a maint.tf file and paste the following template to create a Helm release resource. Make sure that you replace /your-path/to/values.yml with the actual path to your values file.

   resource "helm_release" "alloy" {
     name = "name-of-your-log-ingester"
     repository = "https://grafana.github.io/helm-charts"
     chart = "k8s-monitoring"
     version = "2.0.2"
     namespace = "log-ingester"
     create_namespace = true
     values = [file("/your-path/to/values.yml")]
   }
   

3. Save your changes.
4. Run terraform init to initialize your Terraform configuration and download any necessary providers.
5. Run terraform apply to apply your configuration.
6. Type yes when prompted to confirm the actions.

Explore your logs in Cockpit

1. Click Cockpit in the Observability section of the Scaleway console side menu. The Cockpit Overview page displays.
2. Click Open dashboards to open your managed dashboards in Grafana. You are redirected to the Grafana website.
3. Log in to Grafana using your Grafana credentials.
4. Click the Home icon, then click Explore.
5. Select your custom data source in the search drop-down on the upper left corner of your screen.
6. In the Labels filter drop-down, select the cluster label and in the Value drop-down, select your cluster.
7. Optionally, click the Clock icon on the top right corner of your screen and filter by time range.
8. Click Run query to see your logs. An output similar to the following should display.