Files
home-network-k3s-impl/platform/monitoring/README.md
T
jakman85andClaude Opus 4.8 eb31d2ef58 fix(monitoring): cap Prometheus TSDB by size to stop false absent()/==0 alerts
The 7 falsely-firing platform alerts (KeycloakDown, KeycloakDatabaseDown,
KubeAPIDown, KubeletDown, VPNTunnelDown, KubeVirtControlPlaneDown,
CDINoDefaultStorageClass) share ONE root cause, not per-rule label mismatches:
the Prometheus PVC is 100% full ("no space left on device" on every WAL commit).

Evidence from the live dev cluster:
- /prometheus is 4.8G/5Gi, 0 bytes free; every scrape logs "Scrape commit
  failed ... write to WAL: no space left on device". Scrapes still return 200
  (targets show healthy, lastScrape=now) but samples are never stored, so the
  TSDB head froze at 2026-08-28 13:45 UTC while the pod clock reads ~19:33 UTC.
- Instant queries at "now" therefore return an EMPTY vector, so every
  absent()/==0 platform rule trips. Evaluated at the last-good-sample time each
  expr is correctly FALSE (keycloak-0/keycloak-db-1 ready=1, apiserver+kubelet
  up=1 x3, tun0 series present, kubevirt control-plane expr empty, CDI default
  present) — the rules are correct; the monitor was simply blind.

`retention` alone prunes only by AGE: this cluster is 3d2h old with 3d dev
retention, so time-pruning has NEVER run and 3d of block churn (~1.2Gi/day) plus
a WAL that ballooned past 1Gi overran the 5Gi disk. Fix adds a size-based
retention cap (new MONITORING_PROMETHEUS_RETENTION_SIZE knob) kept below each
env's PVC so Prometheus drops oldest blocks before the disk fills, and bumps the
dev PVC 5Gi->8Gi for real WAL/head/compaction headroom.

- platform/monitoring/kube-prometheus-stack.yaml: retentionSize: ${knob}
- clusters/base/cluster-vars.yaml: knob default 8GiB (base 10Gi PVC)
- clusters/dev/kustomization.yaml: PVC 5Gi->8Gi, retentionSize 5GiB
- clusters/prod/kustomization.yaml: retentionSize 45GiB (50Gi PVC)
- platform/monitoring/README.md: knob table + rationale

Deploy note (PM): the PVC is already 100% full, so Prometheus cannot self-prune
until it can write. The 5Gi->8Gi bump must land as a Longhorn online expansion
(operator PVC expansion / manual patch); once free space returns, retentionSize
keeps it healthy. Watchdog left untouched.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <[email protected]>
2026-08-28 14:38:12 -05:00

126 lines
6.3 KiB
Markdown
Raw Blame History

This file contains ambiguous Unicode characters
This file contains Unicode characters that might be confused with other characters. If you think that this is intentional, you can safely ignore this warning. Use the Escape button to reveal them.
# platform/monitoring
**Observability stack** — kube-prometheus-stack (Prometheus + Alertmanager + Grafana) + **Loki** +
**Grafana Alloy** + platform-health **PrometheusRules**.
- **Spec:** [docs/10 — Observability & Alerting](../../../home-network-k3s/docs/10-observability-and-alerting.md)
(named in [docs/01](../../../home-network-k3s/docs/01-architecture-overview.md); no dedicated ADR)
- **Serves:** R-OBS-01/02/03/04 (supports R-C2-02, R-SEC-03, R-STATE-03)
- **Owner:** WS-OBS
## Contents
| File | What |
|---|---|
| `namespace.yaml` | `monitoring` namespace |
| `helmrepositories.yaml` | `prometheus-community` + `grafana` Flux `HelmRepository`s |
| `kube-prometheus-stack.yaml` | `HelmRelease` — Prometheus, Alertmanager (→ SMTP email), Grafana, kube-state-metrics, node-exporter |
| `loki.yaml` | `HelmRelease` — Loki single-binary, filesystem, compactor-enforced retention |
| `alloy.yaml` | `HelmRelease` — Grafana Alloy DaemonSet, tails pod logs → Loki |
| `alerts.yaml` | Platform-health `PrometheusRule`s (R-OBS-04) |
| `kustomization.yaml` | builds all of the above |
## Requirement mapping
- **R-OBS-01 (what is monitored):** Prometheus + node-exporter + kube-state-metrics for metrics;
Alloy → Loki for logs. `serviceMonitorSelectorNilUsesHelmValues: false` so ServiceMonitors from
every namespace (and those rendered from ServiceDefinitions, docs/13) are scraped by default.
- **R-OBS-02 (alert delivery):** Alertmanager routes by `severity` (`critical` vs `warning`) to
**email**. SMTP creds are a SOPS secret referenced **by name only** (see below).
- **R-OBS-03 (dashboards):** Grafana, with the dashboard/datasource sidecar watching
`grafana_dashboard`-labeled ConfigMaps across all namespaces (per-service dashboards land here).
Grafana is part of the C2 UI composition (docs/12), later behind Keycloak SSO (ADR-0014).
- **R-OBS-04 (platform health):** `alerts.yaml` — first-class alerts for **nodes**, **Longhorn**,
**Flux**, **cert-manager**, **networking/VPN/Hubble**, **Velero backups**, **Keycloak/IdP**, and
the **monitor's own capacity**. Split `critical`/`warning` per the docs/10 severity model.
## SMTP secret (operator hand-off)
Alertmanager reads the SMTP **password** from a mounted SOPS-encrypted Secret — referenced by name,
never inlined. The operator must provide (out of band, SOPS-encrypted per docs/07):
```
kind: Secret
metadata:
name: alertmanager-smtp # <-- referenced in kube-prometheus-stack.yaml (alertmanagerSpec.secrets)
namespace: monitoring
stringData:
smtp-password: "<app password>" # mounted at /etc/alertmanager/secrets/alertmanager-smtp/smtp-password
```
The **non-secret** SMTP fields (`smtp_smarthost`, `smtp_from`, `smtp_auth_username`, and the
receiver `to:` address) are `REPLACE-ME` placeholders in `kube-prometheus-stack.yaml` for the
operator to fill (same convention as `velero/`). Grafana's admin bootstrap likewise references a
SOPS secret **by name** — `grafana-admin-credentials` (keys `admin-user` / `admin-password`).
## Dev trims (the ~22 GiB RAM ceiling)
This subtree is authored to stay light on the single dev workstation:
- **Loki `chunksCache`/`resultsCache` DISABLED** — the grafana/loki chart's default memcached caches
request **~8-9 GiB each**; leaving them on would blow the budget by itself. Also disabled: the
nginx `gateway`, `lokiCanary`, and `test` hooks. Loki runs **SingleBinary** (one pod).
- **Single replicas** everywhere (Prometheus, Alertmanager, Grafana, Loki).
- **Modest requests/limits** on every component (see values). Ephemeral (emptyDir) state for
Alertmanager and Grafana in dev.
- **k3s control-plane scrape jobs disabled** (`kubeControllerManager`/`kubeScheduler`/`kubeEtcd`/
`kubeProxy`) — embedded in k3s, not separately scrapable; keeps targets green and RAM down.
Approximate steady-state **memory requests** (what the scheduler reserves):
| Component | Req | Notes |
|---|---:|---|
| Prometheus | 384Mi | limit 1Gi |
| Alertmanager | 32Mi | |
| Grafana | 128Mi | |
| prometheus-operator | 96Mi | |
| kube-state-metrics | 64Mi | |
| node-exporter ×3 | 96Mi | 32Mi/node DaemonSet |
| Loki (single binary) | 192Mi | limit 512Mi |
| Alloy ×3 | 288Mi | 96Mi/node DaemonSet |
| **Total requests** | **~1.3 GiB** | working set typically ~1.5-2.5 GiB; limit ceiling ~3 GiB |
Comfortably within the 22 GiB box alongside the rest of the platform.
## Environment knobs (R-ENV-02)
Only three substitution vars touch this subtree; the dev overlay (`clusters/dev`) patches
`cluster-vars` to dev values:
| Var | base | dev |
|---|---|---|
| `${MONITORING_PROMETHEUS_RETENTION}` | `7d` | `3d` |
| `${MONITORING_PROMETHEUS_PVC_SIZE}` | `10Gi` | `8Gi` |
| `${MONITORING_PROMETHEUS_RETENTION_SIZE}` | `8GiB` | `5GiB` |
| `${MONITORING_LOKI_PVC_SIZE}` | `10Gi` | `5Gi` |
`MONITORING_PROMETHEUS_RETENTION_SIZE` is a **size-based** retention cap (Prometheus `*iB` units,
distinct from the K8s `Gi` PVC knob) and must stay **below** `MONITORING_PROMETHEUS_PVC_SIZE`. Time-only
retention prunes nothing until the age window elapses, so a young/busy cluster fills `/prometheus` first;
a full disk wedges every WAL commit (scrapes still 200 but samples are dropped, the head freezes) and
makes every `absent()`/`==0` platform alert fire falsely. The size cap drops the oldest blocks before the
disk fills. (prod overlay: PVC `50Gi`, cap `45GiB`.)
PVCs use the replicated `longhorn` StorageClass (ADR-0003).
## Notes / known gaps for bring-up
- **Loki log retention has no dedicated knob.** Only the three vars above exist. Loki's
`retention_period` is hardcoded to `72h` (compactor-enforced) to mirror dev metrics retention.
Promote to a `cluster-vars` knob (in `clusters/`, out of this subtree) if per-env log retention is
wanted.
- Several R-OBS-04 rules depend on exporters/ServiceMonitors owned by **other** workstreams (Flux,
cert-manager, Longhorn, Velero, Keycloak, Cilium/Hubble). Rules are authored to fire once those
series arrive; metric names marked `TODO(WS-*)` in `alerts.yaml` (notably the **egress VPN**
metric) need confirming against the deployed exporter.
- **Hubble** network-flow visibility itself is delivered by `platform/cilium` (docs/03); this subtree
only consumes its metrics for denied-flow alerts.
## Validate (no deploy)
```
kubectl kustomize platform/monitoring
```
Author-only — nothing here is applied to a cluster; Flux reconciles it at deploy time.