GKE now includes managed support for Stackdriver. Installing or updating Stackdriver support happens automatically when you select a GKE version for your cluster and a support option. There are three support options:
- Legacy Stackdriver support.
- Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring support.
- No support for Stackdriver.
These options are provided by all GKE versions presently available for new clusters and for updates to existing clusters. For installation instructions, see Installing Stackdriver support.
Which Stackdriver option should I use?
You can opt-in to use Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring or use the default Legacy Stackdriver. Both options are generally available and are provided by all GKE versions presently approved for new GKE clusters and for updates to existing clusters. For installation instructions, see Installing Stackdriver support. Here are some issues to consider:
Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring is the preferred option, starting with GKE versions 1.12.7 and 1.13.
Legacy Stackdriver remains as the default option through GKE versions 1.10 to 1.13; however, it isn't getting any improvements and lacks features present in Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring.
Only Legacy Stackdriver lets you disable Stackdriver Logging while still using Stackdriver Monitoring.
If you are using Legacy Stackdriver, then you must manually change your Stackdriver monitoring and logging configurations in order to update your existing clusters to Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring. See Migrating to Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring.
About Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring
Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring, the replacement for Legacy Stackdriver, is designed to monitor GKE clusters. It manages Stackdriver services together, including both Monitoring and Logging. It also features a Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring Console that provides a dashboard customized to GKE clusters:
- In the summary pane, you can view a cluster's key metrics, such as CPU utilization, memory utilization, and the number of open incidents.
- You can view clusters by their infrastructure, workloads, or services.
- You can inspect namespaces, nodes, workloads, services, pods, and containers.
- For pods and containers, you can view metrics as a function of time and view log entries using the Logs Viewer.
When you create or upgrade a cluster, you can choose Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring in place of Legacy Stackdriver. For more information, see Installing Stackdriver Monitoring.
Selecting your Stackdriver support for GKE
If you are using Legacy Stackdriver, then you must switch to Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring before support for Legacy Stackdriver is removed. The approximate timeline is given in the following table:
| GKE version | Choose no support | Legacy Stackdriver | Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.10, 1.11, 1.12.5 | opt-in | default (GA) | opt-in (Beta) |
| 1.12.7 | opt-in | default (GA) | opt-in (GA) |
| 1.13 | opt-in | default (GA) | opt-in (GA) |
| 1.14 | opt-in | opt-in (GA) | default (GA) |
Pricing
Both versions send chargeable metric data and log data to Stackdriver; see the Pricing page for details.
Legacy Stackdriver how-to guides
Stackdriver Monitoring: Describes how to set up Stackdriver Monitoring for your GKE clusters.
Stackdriver Logging: Describes how to set up Stackdriver Logging for your GKE clusters.
Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring how-to guides
Installing Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring: Describes how to enable Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring in new and existing clusters.
Migrating to Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring: Describes the differences between Legacy Stackdriver and Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring and what you must change in your Stackdriver configurations as part of updating your Stackdriver support.
Observing your system: Describes the Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring dashboard interface, how to organize cluster information, and how to view alerting details.
Enabling auditd logs: Describes how to enable verbose, OS level audit logging on GKE cluster nodes and how to export logs to Stackdriver.
Using Prometheus: Optional. Describes how to configure Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring for Prometheus support.
Beta release guide: Lists the progression of product capabilities and known issues during the Stackdriver Kubernetes Engine Monitoring beta period.
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