---
title: How to monitor your Kubernetes cluster with Cockpit
description: Learn how to set up comprehensive monitoring for your Kubernetes cluster using Scaleway Cockpit. This guide presents three installation methods to deploy Grafana Alloy collectors that forward metrics and logs to Cockpit for centralized visualization.
tags: kubernetes cockpit monitoring observability metrics logs grafana alloy kapsule
dates:
  validation: 2026-03-20
  posted: 2026-03-20
---
import Requirements from '@macros/iam/requirements.mdx'

Scaleway provides the [k8s-monitoring](https://github.com/scaleway/k8s-monitoring) repository with three ready-to-use installation methods to monitor your Kubernetes cluster with [Cockpit](/cockpit/concepts/#cockpit). Each method deploys [Grafana Alloy](https://grafana.com/docs/alloy/latest/) collectors on your Kapsule cluster to scrape Prometheus metrics and gather Loki logs, then forwards everything to Cockpit for visualization through Grafana dashboards.

<Requirements />

 - A Scaleway account logged into the [console](https://console.scaleway.com)
 - [Owner](/iam/concepts/#owner) status or [IAM permissions](/iam/concepts/#permission) allowing you to perform actions in the intended Organization

<Message type="important">
 Sending metrics and logs for Scaleway resources or personal data using an external path is a billable feature. In addition, any data that you push yourself is billed, even if you send data from Scaleway products. Refer to the [product pricing](https://www.scaleway.com/en/pricing/?tags=available,managedservices-observability-cockpit) page for more information.
</Message>

## What gets collected

The monitoring stack collects the following data from your cluster:

- **Cluster metrics** — nodes, pods, deployments, and volumes
- **Node metrics** — CPU, memory, disk, and network statistics via node-exporter
- **Kubernetes state metrics** — resource states via kube-state-metrics
- **Pod logs** — application logs with annotation-based autodiscovery
- **Node logs** — systemd journal logs
- **Cluster events** — Kubernetes event logs
- **Custom application metrics** — through Prometheus annotations
- **Prometheus Operator CRDs** — ServiceMonitor, PodMonitor, and Probe support

The deployment also includes seven preconfigured Grafana dashboards: four for Kubernetes metrics (cluster, namespace, node, and pod views) and three for logs (cluster events, node logs, and pod logs).

## Choose your installation method

Scaleway provides three methods to deploy the monitoring stack, depending on your existing infrastructure and preferred workflow.

### Terraform - Complete setup

This method creates everything from scratch, including a new Scaleway Project, VPC, Kapsule cluster, and the full monitoring stack. It is best suited for new environments where you do not yet have a running cluster.

**Prerequisites:** Terraform >= 1.0, a Scaleway account with API credentials

Refer to the [terraform-complete guide](https://github.com/scaleway/k8s-monitoring/tree/main/terraform-complete) for step-by-step instructions.

### Terraform - Existing cluster

This method deploys the monitoring stack to an already-running Kapsule cluster using Terraform. It does not create any cluster infrastructure — it only provisions Cockpit resources, Helm charts, and dashboards. It is best suited for teams who already have a cluster and want to manage monitoring as Infrastructure as Code.

**Prerequisites:** Terraform >= 1.0, a running Kapsule cluster, a valid kubeconfig file

Refer to the [terraform-existing-cluster guide](https://github.com/scaleway/k8s-monitoring/tree/main/terraform-existing-cluster) for step-by-step instructions.

### Helm only

This method uses the Scaleway CLI and Helm to manually provision Cockpit resources and install the monitoring stack. Dashboards are imported through the Grafana UI. It is best suited for users who prefer direct CLI control without Terraform.

**Prerequisites:** Helm >= 3.0, Scaleway CLI (`scw`), `kubectl`, `jq`

Refer to the [helm-only guide](https://github.com/scaleway/k8s-monitoring/tree/main/helm-only) for step-by-step instructions.

## Going further

If you need more granular control over what data you send to Cockpit, refer to our dedicated guides:

- [Send logs from your Kubernetes cluster to Cockpit](/cockpit/how-to/send-logs-from-k8s-to-cockpit/) — configure log forwarding using the k8s-monitoring Helm chart directly
- [Send metrics from your Kubernetes cluster to Cockpit](/cockpit/how-to/send-metrics-from-k8s-to-cockpit/) — configure metric collection with annotation-based autodiscovery