Last updated: July 14, 2026
About Kubernetes Monitoring
Dash0 supports multiple approaches to monitoring Kubernetes clusters, from zero-code automatic instrumentation to full manual control.
Once your cluster is instrumented, monitor your Kubernetes resources (pods, deployments, nodes, services) in the Resources Explorer, which provides real-time metrics, performance charts, and filtering across all your infrastructure.
Monitoring Approaches
Choose the approach that best fits your team's needs and existing infrastructure.
Dash0 Operator for Kubernetes (Recommended)
The Dash0 Operator Helm chart provides automatic instrumentation with no code changes. Installs an OpenTelemetry collector and instruments workloads for Java, Node.js, .NET, and Python automatically.
For complete documentation on installation, configuration, and advanced features, see the Dash0 Operator for Kubernetes section below.
OpenTelemetry Operator
Use the OpenTelemetry Operator for custom collector configurations and advanced OpenTelemetry pipelines. See the Integration Hub for details on managing OpenTelemetry collectors and enabling auto-instrumentation.
OpenTelemetry Collector
Deploy the OpenTelemetry Collector directly via Helm chart when you're manually instrumenting with SDKs.
Manual Instrumentation
Add OpenTelemetry SDKs directly to your applications for full control over instrumentation.
Dash0 Operator Documentation
Complete documentation for the Dash0 Operator for Kubernetes:
- About the Dash0 Operator - Overview, capabilities, and supported runtimes
- Installation - Install the Helm chart and configure prerequisites
- Configuration - Backend connections, namespace monitoring, and operator settings
- Automatic Workload Instrumentation - How automatic instrumentation works
- Metrics Collection and Prometheus Scraping - Configure metrics collection
- Managing Dash0 Resources - Infrastructure-as-code for dashboards, alerts, and checks
- Troubleshooting - Debug common issues
Visit the Integration Hub
The Dash0 Integration Hub provides setup guides, configuration examples, and best practices for Kubernetes-related integrations:
- Kubernetes - Comprehensive monitoring for clusters, workloads, and applications
- OpenTelemetry Operator - Manage OpenTelemetry collectors and enable auto-instrumentation in Kubernetes
- Kubernetes Cluster Autoscaler - Monitor cluster scaling events and node management
- Robusta KRR - Optimize resource allocation with Kubernetes Resource Recommender
Further Reading
- Explore Resources - Monitor Kubernetes resources in the Resources Explorer
- Kubernetes Metrics - Metrics collected by Dash0