Install the Insights agent

This topic describes how to use Helm to install the Insights agent. After installing the agent, the cluster is “connected” for Kubernetes resource optimization solutions.

The Insights agent (“agent”) provides visibility into your K8s cluster and workload costs, scaling performance, usage, and pattern history. With agent visibility, Kubernetes resource optimization can make recommendations for your environment.

The agent requires read-only access to the services defined in the Insights agent YAML.

VictoriaMetrics settings

Insights uses VictoriaMetrics to store and query cluster metrics.

VictoriaMetrics can run in Single-Pod mode or Cluster mode, which determines the availability, resilience, and scalability of metrics storage and queries.

Single-Pod mode (default): runs a standalone VictoriaMetrics instance. This mode is suitable for small or non-production environments and provides no redundancy if the Pod becomes unavailable.
Cluster mode: runs a multi-component VictoriaMetrics cluster (vmselect, vminsert, and vmstorage) with multiple replicas. This mode provides higher availability, fault tolerance, and scalability.

Cluster mode is recommended for:

production clusters
large clusters (for example, 100+ nodes or 1,000+ Pods)
high-churn environments, where approximately 10% or more of workloads are Jobs, CI/CD pipelines, or other short-lived Pods
KEDA-heavy environments, where KEDA manages at least 10% of workloads

You select the deployment mode by editing values.yaml, as described in the next section.

How the cluster connects to Kubernetes resource optimization

To connect a cluster, use the installation wizard. The wizard has the following steps:

Select cluster: Identify the target EKS cluster and verify credentials.
Prepare values.yaml: Configure the Helm chart.
Install Helm chart on cluster: Deploy the agent.

To see the details of how the wizard works, click here.

To connect to the agent, you install a Helm chart based on a values.yaml file.

When you click Connect from the Kompass > Clusters page, a wizard will prepare values.yaml as it guides you through the following steps:

Define specific values for the values.yaml file:
- cert-manager (Mandatory): Is it installed or not?
  If it’s not installed, it will be installed automatically during the Helm chart installation.
- PVC storage class (Mandatory): The name of the PVC StorageClass.
  The agent is installed with a PVC, so this is required.
  If you don’t know the name, you can discover it by running this command:
  kubectl get storageclass
- Auto update (Recommended): Enable automatic updating of your installed agent.
  You can change these options:
  - Version: Get bleeding edge updates instead of GA versions.
  - Time: Receive updates on a schedule instead of as soon as they are available.
- You can see the full list of YAML parameters here.

Download values.yaml to your terminal.
At this point, you can make further modifications to values.yaml.

For best performance, we recommend modifying disk usage parameters for Kompass Insights PVC size and VictoriaMetrics server volume size.

For more information, click here.

Based on our experience, setting these disk usage parameters based on workloads in the cluster yields the best performance:

Parameter	Workloads and value	Code
Kompass Insights PVC size	Up to 1,000 workloads = 1Gi From 1,000 - 5,000 workloads = 3Gi From 5,000 - 10,000 workloads = 10Gi Above 10,000 workloads = 100Gi	`kompass-insights: persistence: spec: resources: requests: storage: “1Gi”`
VictoriaMetrics server volume size	Up to 1,000 workloads = 30Gi From 1,000 - 10,000 workloads = 60Gi Above 10,000 workloads = 100Gi	`victoriaMetrics: server: persistentVolume: size: "30Gi"`

Parameter

Workloads and value

Code

Kompass Insights PVC size

Up to 1,000 workloads = 1Gi
From 1,000 - 5,000 workloads = 3Gi
From 5,000 - 10,000 workloads = 10Gi
Above 10,000 workloads = 100Gi

kompass-insights:
  persistence:
    spec:
      resources:
        requests:
          storage: “1Gi”

VictoriaMetrics server volume size

Up to 1,000 workloads = 30Gi
From 1,000 - 10,000 workloads = 60Gi
Above 10,000 workloads = 100Gi

victoriaMetrics:
  server:
    persistentVolume:
      size: "30Gi"

Set the VictoriaMetrics deployment mode in values.yaml:

To enable this mode	Set these values
Single mode	`victoriaMetrics:` `enabled: true` `victoriaMetricsCluster:` `enabled: false` `victoriaMetricsAuth:` `enabled: true` `useSingle: true`
Cluster mode	`victoriaMetrics:` `enabled: false` `victoriaMetricsCluster:` `enabled: true` `victoriaMetricsAuth:` `enabled: true` `useSingle: false`

To enable this mode

Set these values

Single mode

victoriaMetrics:

enabled: true

victoriaMetricsCluster:

enabled: false

victoriaMetricsAuth:

enabled: true

useSingle: true

Cluster mode

victoriaMetrics:

enabled: false

victoriaMetricsCluster:

enabled: true

victoriaMetricsAuth:

enabled: true

useSingle: false

Ensure the selected mode matches your environment’s availability and scalability requirements before running the Helm installation. For more information, see VictoriaMetrics settings.

If you edit VictoriaMetrics parameters, ensure that the values of these parameters are equal: victoriaMetricsNameOverride, victoriaMetricsRemoteUrl, and victoriaMetricsRemoteWriteUrl.
You can control the nodes on which the Insights agent runs using the nodeSelector and tolerations configurations, here.

Install the agent Helm chart, using the definitions in values.yaml.
You must be connected to the same cluster that you are connecting to the agent.
Confirm that you’re done.

Install the agent

Prerequisites

AWS account has been integrated with Zesty.
Kompass is installed in the cluster.
The administrator client on which the Insights agent will be installed must be able to use the following:
- AWS CLI
- Kubectl
- Helm v3.14, or later
- Required permissions
Agent permissions
- Cluster role permissions
- Helpers permissions

To install the Insights agent on an AWS cluster:

Select cluster and verify content:
1. From the Kompass > Clusters page, click Connect Insights agent on the row for the cluster to connect.
  To connect multiple clusters, click Connect clusters.
  The Connect cluster wizard is displayed.
2. Select the cluster on which to install the agent.
  When you start typing, matching clusters are displayed.
  Ensure your local terminal client is actively authenticated to this same AWS cluster context using the AWS CLI and kubectl.
Prepare values.yaml:
1. Define the following parameter values:
  - cert-manager: If you select No, it will be installed.
  - PVC storage class
  - Agent auto-update (optional):
    To edit the agent version and update time, click Edit auto update settings.
    For more details about the parameters, see How the cluster connects to Kubernetes resource optimization.
2. Click Next.
  The next step of the wizard is displayed.
Install Helm chart on the cluster:
1. Download values.yaml to your terminal:
  1. Click the values.yaml icon and paste the code to the terminal.
  2. Run the code to download the file.
    After you download, you can use a file editor to edit values in the file, as described in step 2 of the previous section.
    1. Configure the victoriaMetrics mode (default: Single mode).
    2. (Recommended) Edit the values of the Kompass Insights PVC size and the VictoriaMetrics server volume size.
2. Install the Helm chart:
  1. Click the install command icon and paste the code to the terminal.
    IMPORTANT
    Before installing, ensure that you are connected to the correct cluster and that the path to Helm is correct.
  2. Run the code to install the agent Helm chart.
3. When the Helm chart installation is complete, click Helm install is done.
  A confirmation message is displayed.
Verify the deployment by running the following command:
kubectl get pods -n zesty-system
All Pods should reach Running status within a few minutes.

Once the Insights agent is installed, Kubernetes resource optimization starts collecting cluster data.

For the Multi-dimensional autoscaling solution, it can take up to 24 hours before recommendations are displayed.

Documentation Index

Install the Insights agent - AWS EKS

VictoriaMetrics settings

How the cluster connects to Kubernetes resource optimization

Install the agent

Prerequisites