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Chapter 3. Configuring external alertmanager instances

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The OpenShift Container Platform monitoring stack includes a local Alertmanager instance that routes alerts from Prometheus. You can add external Alertmanager instances by configuring the cluster-monitoring-config config map in either the openshift-monitoring project or the user-workload-monitoring-config project.

If you add the same external Alertmanager configuration for multiple clusters and disable the local instance for each cluster, you can then manage alert routing for multiple clusters by using a single external Alertmanager instance.

Prerequisites

  • You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • If you are configuring core OpenShift Container Platform monitoring components in the openshift-monitoring project:

    • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin cluster role.
    • You have created the cluster-monitoring-config config map.
  • If you are configuring components that monitor user-defined projects:

    • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin cluster role, or as a user with the user-workload-monitoring-config-edit role in the openshift-user-workload-monitoring project.
    • You have created the user-workload-monitoring-config config map.

Procedure

  1. Edit the ConfigMap object.

    • To configure additional Alertmanagers for routing alerts from core OpenShift Container Platform projects:

      1. Edit the cluster-monitoring-config config map in the openshift-monitoring project:

        $ oc -n openshift-monitoring edit configmap cluster-monitoring-config
      2. Add an additionalAlertmanagerConfigs: section under data/config.yaml/prometheusK8s.
      3. Add the configuration details for additional Alertmanagers in this section:

        apiVersion: v1
        kind: ConfigMap
        metadata:
          name: cluster-monitoring-config
          namespace: openshift-monitoring
        data:
          config.yaml: |
            prometheusK8s:
              additionalAlertmanagerConfigs:
              - <alertmanager_specification>

        For <alertmanager_specification>, substitute authentication and other configuration details for additional Alertmanager instances. Currently supported authentication methods are bearer token (bearerToken) and client TLS (tlsConfig). The following sample config map configures an additional Alertmanager using a bearer token with client TLS authentication:

        apiVersion: v1
        kind: ConfigMap
        metadata:
          name: cluster-monitoring-config
          namespace: openshift-monitoring
        data:
          config.yaml: |
            prometheusK8s:
              additionalAlertmanagerConfigs:
              - scheme: https
                pathPrefix: /
                timeout: "30s"
                apiVersion: v1
                bearerToken:
                  name: alertmanager-bearer-token
                  key: token
                tlsConfig:
                  key:
                    name: alertmanager-tls
                    key: tls.key
                  cert:
                    name: alertmanager-tls
                    key: tls.crt
                  ca:
                    name: alertmanager-tls
                    key: tls.ca
                staticConfigs:
                - external-alertmanager1-remote.com
                - external-alertmanager1-remote2.com
    • To configure additional Alertmanager instances for routing alerts from user-defined projects:

      1. Edit the user-workload-monitoring-config config map in the openshift-user-workload-monitoring project:

        $ oc -n openshift-user-workload-monitoring edit configmap user-workload-monitoring-config
      2. Add a <component>/additionalAlertmanagerConfigs: section under data/config.yaml/.
      3. Add the configuration details for additional Alertmanagers in this section:

        apiVersion: v1
        kind: ConfigMap
        metadata:
          name: user-workload-monitoring-config
          namespace: openshift-user-workload-monitoring
        data:
          config.yaml: |
            <component>:
              additionalAlertmanagerConfigs:
              - <alertmanager_specification>

        For <component>, substitute one of two supported external Alertmanager components: prometheus or thanosRuler.

        For <alertmanager_specification>, substitute authentication and other configuration details for additional Alertmanager instances. Currently supported authentication methods are bearer token (bearerToken) and client TLS (tlsConfig). The following sample config map configures an additional Alertmanager using Thanos Ruler with a bearer token and client TLS authentication:

        apiVersion: v1
        kind: ConfigMap
        metadata:
          name: user-workload-monitoring-config
          namespace: openshift-user-workload-monitoring
        data:
          config.yaml: |
           thanosRuler:
             additionalAlertmanagerConfigs:
            - scheme: https
              pathPrefix: /
              timeout: "30s"
              apiVersion: v1
              bearerToken:
                name: alertmanager-bearer-token
                key: token
              tlsConfig:
                key:
                  name: alertmanager-tls
                  key: tls.key
                cert:
                  name: alertmanager-tls
                  key: tls.crt
                ca:
                  name: alertmanager-tls
                  key: tls.ca
              staticConfigs:
              - external-alertmanager1-remote.com
              - external-alertmanager1-remote2.com
        Note

        Configurations applied to the user-workload-monitoring-config ConfigMap object are not activated unless a cluster administrator has enabled monitoring for user-defined projects.

  2. Save the file to apply the changes to the ConfigMap object. The new component placement configuration is applied automatically.

3.1. Attaching additional labels to your time series and alerts

Using the external labels feature of Prometheus, you can attach custom labels to all time series and alerts leaving Prometheus.

Prerequisites

  • If you are configuring core OpenShift Container Platform monitoring components:

    • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin cluster role.
    • You have created the cluster-monitoring-config ConfigMap object.
  • If you are configuring components that monitor user-defined projects:

    • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin cluster role, or as a user with the user-workload-monitoring-config-edit role in the openshift-user-workload-monitoring project.
    • You have created the user-workload-monitoring-config ConfigMap object.
  • You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Edit the ConfigMap object:

    • To attach custom labels to all time series and alerts leaving the Prometheus instance that monitors core OpenShift Container Platform projects:

      1. Edit the cluster-monitoring-config ConfigMap object in the openshift-monitoring project:

        $ oc -n openshift-monitoring edit configmap cluster-monitoring-config
      2. Define a map of labels you want to add for every metric under data/config.yaml:

        apiVersion: v1
        kind: ConfigMap
        metadata:
          name: cluster-monitoring-config
          namespace: openshift-monitoring
        data:
          config.yaml: |
            prometheusK8s:
              externalLabels:
                <key>: <value> 1
        1
        Substitute <key>: <value> with a map of key-value pairs where <key> is a unique name for the new label and <value> is its value.
        Warning

        Do not use prometheus or prometheus_replica as key names, because they are reserved and will be overwritten.

        For example, to add metadata about the region and environment to all time series and alerts, use:

        apiVersion: v1
        kind: ConfigMap
        metadata:
          name: cluster-monitoring-config
          namespace: openshift-monitoring
        data:
          config.yaml: |
            prometheusK8s:
              externalLabels:
                region: eu
                environment: prod
    • To attach custom labels to all time series and alerts leaving the Prometheus instance that monitors user-defined projects:

      1. Edit the user-workload-monitoring-config ConfigMap object in the openshift-user-workload-monitoring project:

        $ oc -n openshift-user-workload-monitoring edit configmap user-workload-monitoring-config
      2. Define a map of labels you want to add for every metric under data/config.yaml:

        apiVersion: v1
        kind: ConfigMap
        metadata:
          name: user-workload-monitoring-config
          namespace: openshift-user-workload-monitoring
        data:
          config.yaml: |
            prometheus:
              externalLabels:
                <key>: <value> 1
        1
        Substitute <key>: <value> with a map of key-value pairs where <key> is a unique name for the new label and <value> is its value.
        Warning

        Do not use prometheus or prometheus_replica as key names, because they are reserved and will be overwritten.

        Note

        In the openshift-user-workload-monitoring project, Prometheus handles metrics and Thanos Ruler handles alerting and recording rules. Setting externalLabels for prometheus in the user-workload-monitoring-config ConfigMap object will only configure external labels for metrics and not for any rules.

        For example, to add metadata about the region and environment to all time series and alerts related to user-defined projects, use:

        apiVersion: v1
        kind: ConfigMap
        metadata:
          name: user-workload-monitoring-config
          namespace: openshift-user-workload-monitoring
        data:
          config.yaml: |
            prometheus:
              externalLabels:
                region: eu
                environment: prod
  2. Save the file to apply the changes. The new configuration is applied automatically.

    Note

    Configurations applied to the user-workload-monitoring-config ConfigMap object are not activated unless a cluster administrator has enabled monitoring for user-defined projects.

    Warning

    When changes are saved to a monitoring config map, the pods and other resources in the related project might be redeployed. The running monitoring processes in that project might also be restarted.

Additional resources

3.2. Setting log levels for monitoring components

You can configure the log level for Alertmanager, Prometheus Operator, Prometheus, Thanos Querier, and Thanos Ruler.

The following log levels can be applied to the relevant component in the cluster-monitoring-config and user-workload-monitoring-config ConfigMap objects:

  • debug. Log debug, informational, warning, and error messages.
  • info. Log informational, warning, and error messages.
  • warn. Log warning and error messages only.
  • error. Log error messages only.

The default log level is info.

Prerequisites

  • If you are setting a log level for Alertmanager, Prometheus Operator, Prometheus, or Thanos Querier in the openshift-monitoring project:

    • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin cluster role.
    • You have created the cluster-monitoring-config ConfigMap object.
  • If you are setting a log level for Prometheus Operator, Prometheus, or Thanos Ruler in the openshift-user-workload-monitoring project:

    • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin cluster role, or as a user with the user-workload-monitoring-config-edit role in the openshift-user-workload-monitoring project.
    • You have created the user-workload-monitoring-config ConfigMap object.
  • You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Edit the ConfigMap object:

    • To set a log level for a component in the openshift-monitoring project:

      1. Edit the cluster-monitoring-config ConfigMap object in the openshift-monitoring project:

        $ oc -n openshift-monitoring edit configmap cluster-monitoring-config
      2. Add logLevel: <log_level> for a component under data/config.yaml:

        apiVersion: v1
        kind: ConfigMap
        metadata:
          name: cluster-monitoring-config
          namespace: openshift-monitoring
        data:
          config.yaml: |
            <component>: 1
              logLevel: <log_level> 2
        1
        The monitoring stack component for which you are setting a log level. For default platform monitoring, available component values are prometheusK8s, alertmanagerMain, prometheusOperator, and thanosQuerier.
        2
        The log level to set for the component. The available values are error, warn, info, and debug. The default value is info.
    • To set a log level for a component in the openshift-user-workload-monitoring project:

      1. Edit the user-workload-monitoring-config ConfigMap object in the openshift-user-workload-monitoring project:

        $ oc -n openshift-user-workload-monitoring edit configmap user-workload-monitoring-config
      2. Add logLevel: <log_level> for a component under data/config.yaml:

        apiVersion: v1
        kind: ConfigMap
        metadata:
          name: user-workload-monitoring-config
          namespace: openshift-user-workload-monitoring
        data:
          config.yaml: |
            <component>: 1
              logLevel: <log_level> 2
        1
        The monitoring stack component for which you are setting a log level. For user workload monitoring, available component values are prometheus, prometheusOperator, and thanosRuler.
        2
        The log level to set for the component. The available values are error, warn, info, and debug. The default value is info.
  2. Save the file to apply the changes. The pods for the component restarts automatically when you apply the log-level change.

    Note

    Configurations applied to the user-workload-monitoring-config ConfigMap object are not activated unless a cluster administrator has enabled monitoring for user-defined projects.

    Warning

    When changes are saved to a monitoring config map, the pods and other resources in the related project might be redeployed. The running monitoring processes in that project might also be restarted.

  3. Confirm that the log-level has been applied by reviewing the deployment or pod configuration in the related project. The following example checks the log level in the prometheus-operator deployment in the openshift-user-workload-monitoring project:

    $ oc -n openshift-user-workload-monitoring get deploy prometheus-operator -o yaml |  grep "log-level"

    Example output

            - --log-level=debug

  4. Check that the pods for the component are running. The following example lists the status of pods in the openshift-user-workload-monitoring project:

    $ oc -n openshift-user-workload-monitoring get pods
    Note

    If an unrecognized loglevel value is included in the ConfigMap object, the pods for the component might not restart successfully.

3.3. Enabling the query log file for Prometheus

You can configure Prometheus to write all queries that have been run by the engine to a log file. You can do so for default platform monitoring and for user-defined workload monitoring.

Important

Because log rotation is not supported, only enable this feature temporarily when you need to troubleshoot an issue. After you finish troubleshooting, disable query logging by reverting the changes you made to the ConfigMap object to enable the feature.

Prerequisites

  • You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • If you are enabling the query log file feature for Prometheus in the openshift-monitoring project:

    • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin cluster role.
    • You have created the cluster-monitoring-config ConfigMap object.
  • If you are enabling the query log file feature for Prometheus in the openshift-user-workload-monitoring project:

    • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin cluster role, or as a user with the user-workload-monitoring-config-edit role in the openshift-user-workload-monitoring project.
    • You have created the user-workload-monitoring-config ConfigMap object.

Procedure

  • To set the query log file for Prometheus in the openshift-monitoring project:

    1. Edit the cluster-monitoring-config ConfigMap object in the openshift-monitoring project:

      $ oc -n openshift-monitoring edit configmap cluster-monitoring-config
    2. Add queryLogFile: <path> for prometheusK8s under data/config.yaml:

      apiVersion: v1
      kind: ConfigMap
      metadata:
        name: cluster-monitoring-config
        namespace: openshift-monitoring
      data:
        config.yaml: |
          prometheusK8s:
            queryLogFile: <path> 1
      1
      The full path to the file in which queries will be logged.
    3. Save the file to apply the changes.

      Warning

      When you save changes to a monitoring config map, pods and other resources in the related project might be redeployed. The running monitoring processes in that project might also be restarted.

    4. Verify that the pods for the component are running. The following sample command lists the status of pods in the openshift-monitoring project:

      $ oc -n openshift-monitoring get pods
    5. Read the query log:

      $ oc -n openshift-monitoring exec prometheus-k8s-0 -- cat <path>
      Important

      Revert the setting in the config map after you have examined the logged query information.

  • To set the query log file for Prometheus in the openshift-user-workload-monitoring project:

    1. Edit the user-workload-monitoring-config ConfigMap object in the openshift-user-workload-monitoring project:

      $ oc -n openshift-user-workload-monitoring edit configmap user-workload-monitoring-config
    2. Add queryLogFile: <path> for prometheus under data/config.yaml:

      apiVersion: v1
      kind: ConfigMap
      metadata:
        name: user-workload-monitoring-config
        namespace: openshift-user-workload-monitoring
      data:
        config.yaml: |
          prometheus:
            queryLogFile: <path> 1
      1
      The full path to the file in which queries will be logged.
    3. Save the file to apply the changes.

      Note

      Configurations applied to the user-workload-monitoring-config ConfigMap object are not activated unless a cluster administrator has enabled monitoring for user-defined projects.

      Warning

      When you save changes to a monitoring config map, pods and other resources in the related project might be redeployed. The running monitoring processes in that project might also be restarted.

    4. Verify that the pods for the component are running. The following example command lists the status of pods in the openshift-user-workload-monitoring project:

      $ oc -n openshift-user-workload-monitoring get pods
    5. Read the query log:

      $ oc -n openshift-user-workload-monitoring exec prometheus-user-workload-0 -- cat <path>
      Important

      Revert the setting in the config map after you have examined the logged query information.

Additional resources

3.4. Enabling query logging for Thanos Querier

For default platform monitoring in the openshift-monitoring project, you can enable the Cluster Monitoring Operator to log all queries run by Thanos Querier.

Important

Because log rotation is not supported, only enable this feature temporarily when you need to troubleshoot an issue. After you finish troubleshooting, disable query logging by reverting the changes you made to the ConfigMap object to enable the feature.

Prerequisites

  • You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin cluster role.
  • You have created the cluster-monitoring-config ConfigMap object.

Procedure

You can enable query logging for Thanos Querier in the openshift-monitoring project:

  1. Edit the cluster-monitoring-config ConfigMap object in the openshift-monitoring project:

    $ oc -n openshift-monitoring edit configmap cluster-monitoring-config
  2. Add a thanosQuerier section under data/config.yaml and add values as shown in the following example:

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ConfigMap
    metadata:
      name: cluster-monitoring-config
      namespace: openshift-monitoring
    data:
      config.yaml: |
        thanosQuerier:
          enableRequestLogging: <value> 1
          logLevel: <value> 2
    1
    Set the value to true to enable logging and false to disable logging. The default value is false.
    2
    Set the value to debug, info, warn, or error. If no value exists for logLevel, the log level defaults to error.
  3. Save the file to apply the changes.

    Warning

    When you save changes to a monitoring config map, pods and other resources in the related project might be redeployed. The running monitoring processes in that project might also be restarted.

Verification

  1. Verify that the Thanos Querier pods are running. The following sample command lists the status of pods in the openshift-monitoring project:

    $ oc -n openshift-monitoring get pods
  2. Run a test query using the following sample commands as a model:

    $ token=`oc create token prometheus-k8s -n openshift-monitoring`
    $ oc -n openshift-monitoring exec -c prometheus prometheus-k8s-0 -- curl -k -H "Authorization: Bearer $token" 'https://thanos-querier.openshift-monitoring.svc:9091/api/v1/query?query=cluster_version'
  3. Run the following command to read the query log:

    $ oc -n openshift-monitoring logs <thanos_querier_pod_name> -c thanos-query
    Note

    Because the thanos-querier pods are highly available (HA) pods, you might be able to see logs in only one pod.

  4. After you examine the logged query information, disable query logging by changing the enableRequestLogging value to false in the config map.

Additional resources

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