---
title: "Configure Kubernetes Monitoring with Helm chart | Grafana Cloud documentation"
description: "Introduction to configuring Kubernetes Monitoring with Grafana Kubernetes Monitoring Helm chart using Alloy, including available platforms and activating your Grafana Cloud account."
---

> For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).

# Configure Kubernetes Monitoring with Helm chart

Kubernetes Monitoring deploys the most recent version of the [Grafana Kubernetes Monitoring Helm chart](https://github.com/grafana/k8s-monitoring-helm/tree/main/charts/k8s-monitoring) to your Cluster. To learn how the Helm chart configuration works, refer to [Helm chart overview](/docs/grafana-cloud/monitor-infrastructure/kubernetes-monitoring/configuration/helm-chart-config/helm-chart/).

First, activate Kubernetes Monitoring in Grafana Cloud. Then choose a configuration method, run the Helm command on your Cluster, and confirm that data is flowing. Activation alone doesn’t start billing. Billing begins when your Cluster sends `kube-state-metrics` data.

Deploy the Helm chart using one of these methods:

Expand table

| Method                                                                                                                                    | What it does                                                                                                                          | Choose this when                                                                                                                     |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| [Configuration wizard](/docs/grafana-cloud/monitor-infrastructure/kubernetes-monitoring/configuration/helm-chart-config/hc-config-steps/) | Walks you through deployment choices in Grafana Cloud, then generates the Helm values and deployment command for you to copy and run. | You want a guided setup focused on monitoring your Kubernetes infrastructure.                                                        |
| [Manual values file](/docs/grafana-cloud/monitor-infrastructure/kubernetes-monitoring/configuration/helm-chart-config/hc-manual-config/)  | You write your own `values.yaml` file, and run the Helm install command.                                                              | You want full control over your values file from the start, or you manage deployments through your own scripts or a GitOps pipeline. |

## Available platforms

You can install Kubernetes Monitoring on these platforms:

- Kubernetes, which includes Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) on Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2), Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), and Tanzu
- Amazon EKS on AWS Fargate
- Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
- Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Autopilot
- IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service
- Red Hat OpenShift

On every platform, the Helm chart scrapes [`kubelet`](/docs/grafana-cloud/monitor-infrastructure/kubernetes-monitoring/configuration/helm-chart-config/helm-chart/#infrastructure-metrics) and cAdvisor for container CPU and memory usage. Where Node CPU and memory usage comes from depends on the platform.

Expand table

| Platform                  | Source for Node CPU and memory usage                                                                                                                                                       |
|---------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Kubernetes                | [Node Exporter](/docs/grafana-cloud/monitor-infrastructure/kubernetes-monitoring/configuration/manage-configuration/#node-exporter), which the chart deploys                               |
| Amazon EKS on AWS Fargate | `kubelet` resource metrics. The chart doesn’t deploy Node Exporter because Fargate gives no access to the Node.                                                                            |
| AKS                       | Node Exporter, which the chart deploys                                                                                                                                                     |
| GKE Autopilot             | `kubelet` resource metrics. The chart doesn’t deploy Node Exporter because Autopilot doesn’t allow the privileged mounts it needs.                                                         |
| IBM Cloud                 | Node Exporter, which the chart deploys                                                                                                                                                     |
| OpenShift                 | The Node Exporter that OpenShift already runs in the `openshift-monitoring` namespace. The chart scrapes it, and the kube-state-metrics that OpenShift runs, instead of deploying its own. |

Pod logs come from the log files on each Node, except on Amazon EKS on AWS Fargate, where the chart reads them through the Kubernetes API.

## Activate and send data from your account

To configure and use Kubernetes Monitoring, you must activate the product and start sending data to your account. Refer to [Activate and send data from your account](/docs/grafana-cloud/monitor-infrastructure/kubernetes-monitoring/configuration/activate/).

## Next steps

Complete the configuration wizard on the **Cluster configuration** tab. Refer to [Configuration steps for Kubernetes Monitoring with Helm chart](/docs/grafana-cloud/monitor-infrastructure/kubernetes-monitoring/configuration/helm-chart-config/hc-config-steps/).

To write your own values file instead of using the wizard, refer to [Configure Kubernetes Monitoring with a manual values file](/docs/grafana-cloud/monitor-infrastructure/kubernetes-monitoring/configuration/helm-chart-config/hc-manual-config/).