Kubernetes Resources - Metoro Documentation

Overview

Metoro provides comprehensive tracking of Kubernetes resources, capturing every update to give you a complete history of your cluster’s state. This “time-travel” capability allows you to view your cluster’s state at any point in time, not just its current state.

Resource Tracking

The cluster agent watches and exports the following Kubernetes resources:

Pods
Deployments
StatefulSets
ReplicaSets
DaemonSets
Nodes
Namespaces
ConfigMaps
Services
ServiceAccounts
Jobs
CronJobs
Endpoints
Events
Horizontal Pod Autoscalers
Ingresses
NetworkPolicies
PersistentVolumeClaims
PersistentVolumes
MetoroNamespaceTelemetryRules
MetoroClusterTelemetryRules
MetoroNamespaceResourceRules
MetoroClusterResourceRules
MetoroAlerts
MetoroDashboards
MetoroWebhooks

Metoro explicitly does not export secrets. If you have resources you want to exclude from exporting, you can remove them from the service account permissions given to the cluster agent. See the permissions here.

Metoro RBAC Resources

Metoro groups and access rules can be declared as Kubernetes custom resources: MetoroGroup, MetoroNamespaceTelemetryRule, MetoroClusterTelemetryRule, MetoroNamespaceResourceRule, and MetoroClusterResourceRule. On on-prem installs, MetoroGroup exists only in the Metoro Hub cluster so group creation stays centralized. The rule resources live in monitored clusters; the exporter watches them and exports their YAML through the Kubernetes resource history pipeline like any other resource, and Metoro syncs them into roles and permissions. See Kubernetes RBAC Resources for the full reference and worked examples.

Metoro Alert Resources

Metoro alerts can be declared with the namespaced MetoroAlert custom resource. The exporter watches these resources and exports their YAML through the Kubernetes resource history pipeline. The apiserver syncs active MetoroAlert resources into Metoro alerts under /alerts/kubernetes-managed/<cluster>/<namespace>/. Kubernetes-managed alerts are visible in Metoro, but cannot be edited or deleted from the UI or API because the Kubernetes resource is the source of truth. To change one of these alerts, update or delete the MetoroAlert resource in Kubernetes, then use the Kubernetes alert sync if you need an immediate refresh.

Exporting existing alerts

You can export an existing alert as a ready-to-apply MetoroAlert manifest from the alert page: open the alert, choose Export, then Metoro CRD Format. Alerts using deprecated alert types or aggregate conditions cannot be exported; convert them to the current timeseries format first. The exported manifest omits metadata.namespace, so apply it to the namespace of your choice:

kubectl apply -n <namespace> -f my-alert-metoroalert.yaml

Exporting does not change the original alert. Once the applied MetoroAlert resource has synced, delete the original alert in the UI to avoid firing duplicate alerts.

Metoro Dashboard Resources

Metoro dashboards can be declared with the namespaced MetoroDashboard custom resource. The exporter watches these resources and exports their YAML through the Kubernetes resource history pipeline. The apiserver syncs active MetoroDashboard resources into Metoro dashboards under /dashboards/kubernetes-managed/<cluster>/<namespace>/. Each MetoroDashboard resource manages one Metoro dashboard. Kubernetes-managed dashboards are visible in Metoro, but cannot be edited or deleted from the UI or API because the Kubernetes resource is the source of truth. To change one of these dashboards, update or delete the MetoroDashboard resource in Kubernetes, then use the dashboard sync if you need an immediate refresh.

Metoro Webhook Resources

Metoro webhook integrations can be declared with the namespaced MetoroWebhook custom resource. The exporter watches these resources and exports their YAML through the Kubernetes resource history pipeline. The apiserver syncs active MetoroWebhook resources into Metoro webhook integrations under /webhooks/kubernetes-managed/<cluster>/<namespace>/ with deterministic IDs like kubernetes-managed.<cluster>.<namespace>.<name>. Kubernetes-managed webhooks are visible in Metoro, but cannot be edited or deleted from the UI or API because the Kubernetes resource is the source of truth. To change one of these webhooks, update or delete the MetoroWebhook resource in Kubernetes.

Resource Metrics

Kubernetes resources can be analyzed using the kubernetes_resource metric type. This allows you to:

Count Resources

Track the number of resources by various attributes:

# Count pods by service
kubernetes_resource{kind="Pod"}
| group_by(service_name)

# Count resources by namespace
kubernetes_resource{kind="Deployment"}
| group_by(namespace)

Resource Attributes

Common attributes available for filtering and grouping:

Environment
Namespace
Kind
Resource name
Service name
Additional attributes specific to resource types

Track Resource State

Monitor specific resource attributes over time:

# Track HPA expected replicas
kubernetes_resource{kind="HorizontalPodAutoscaler"}
| select(max(status.expectedReplicas))

# Compare current vs desired replicas
kubernetes_resource{kind="HorizontalPodAutoscaler"}
| select(
    max(status.currentReplicas),
    max(status.desiredReplicas)
)

JSON Path Queries

When querying Kubernetes resources metrics, you can use JSON Path expressions to extract specific values from the resource manifests. This is particularly useful when you want to aggregate or analyze specific fields within your Kubernetes resources.

Using JSON Path in Metrics

The JSON Path functionality allows you to:

Extract specific fields from Kubernetes resource manifests
Aggregate values from nested structures
Query array elements and complex objects

For example, you can:

Get the number of replicas from a Deployment: spec.replicas
Extract resource limits: spec.template.spec.containers[*].resources.limits.cpu
Count available ports: spec.ports[*].port

Syntax

The JSON Path syntax follows the standard format:

. is used for child operator
[*] is used for array iteration
[?()] supports filters

Examples

Here are some common use cases:

Deployment Resource Requests and Limits

spec.template.spec.containers[*].resources.requests.memory
spec.template.spec.containers[*].resources.limits.cpu

Pod Image

spec.template.spec.containers[*].image

Deployment Configuration

spec.replicas
spec.strategy.type

Service Configuration

$.spec.ports[*].port
$.spec.type

Deployment Pod Template

$.spec.template.spec.containers[*].image
$.spec.template.spec.containers[*].name

Usage in Metoro

An example of a JSON Path query in Metoro:

Metric Explorer showing kubernetes_resource query with JSON path spec.replicas filter

Note: If no JSON Path is specified or the path doesn’t match any values, the metric will return null values.

Viewing Resources

The primary way to explore Kubernetes resources in Metoro is Resource Viewer, a K9s-style interface for navigating resource state across time. You can use it to:

Browse resources across the cluster by kind
Filter by namespace and search text
Inspect point-in-time resource state, manifests, and events

You can also access a scoped, embedded Resource Viewer from service and infrastructure pages when you want to stay focused on a single service or node context.

Use Cases

Change Tracking:

Track configuration changes
Monitor scaling events
Debug resource modifications

Resource Analysis:

Count resources by type
Monitor replica counts
Track resource distribution

Historical Debugging:

View past cluster states
Analyze resource evolution
Investigate incidents

Best Practices

Resource Monitoring:

Track critical resource counts
Monitor scaling patterns
Set up alerts for unexpected changes

Historical Analysis:

Use time-travel for debugging
Compare states across time periods
Track configuration evolution

Metric Usage:

Group resources meaningfully
Track relevant attributes
Combine with other metric types

​Overview

​Resource Tracking

​Metoro RBAC Resources

​Metoro Alert Resources

​Exporting existing alerts

​Metoro Dashboard Resources

​Metoro Webhook Resources

​Resource Metrics

​Count Resources

​Resource Attributes

​Track Resource State

​JSON Path Queries

​Using JSON Path in Metrics

​Syntax

​Examples

​Usage in Metoro

​Viewing Resources

​Use Cases

​Best Practices

Overview

Resource Tracking

Metoro RBAC Resources

Metoro Alert Resources

Exporting existing alerts

Metoro Dashboard Resources

Metoro Webhook Resources

Resource Metrics

Count Resources

Resource Attributes

Track Resource State

JSON Path Queries

Using JSON Path in Metrics

Syntax

Examples

Usage in Metoro

Viewing Resources

Use Cases

Best Practices