Tanzu Application Catalog services

Bitnami package for Kube State Metrics

Last Updated March 07, 2025

kube-state-metrics is a simple service that listens to the Kubernetes API server and generates metrics about the state of the objects.

Overview of Kube State Metrics

Trademarks: This software listing is packaged by Bitnami. The respective trademarks mentioned in the offering are owned by the respective companies, and use of them does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.

TL;DR

helm install my-release oci://REGISTRY_NAME/REPOSITORY_NAME/kube-state-metrics

Note: You need to substitute the placeholders REGISTRY_NAME and REPOSITORY_NAME with a reference to your Helm chart registry and repository.

Introduction

This chart bootstraps kube-state-metrics on Kubernetes using the Helm package manager.

Bitnami charts can be used with Kubeapps for deployment and management of Helm Charts in clusters.

Prerequisites

  • Kubernetes 1.23+
  • Helm 3.8.0+

Installing the Chart

To install the chart with the release name my-release:

helm install my-release oci://REGISTRY_NAME/REPOSITORY_NAME/kube-state-metrics

Note: You need to substitute the placeholders REGISTRY_NAME and REPOSITORY_NAME with a reference to your Helm chart registry and repository. For example, in the case of Bitnami, you need to use REGISTRY_NAME=registry-1.docker.io and REPOSITORY_NAME=bitnamicharts.

The command deploys kube-state-metrics on the Kubernetes cluster in the default configuration. The configuration section lists the parameters that can be configured during installation.

Configuration and installation details

Resource requests and limits

Bitnami charts allow setting resource requests and limits for all containers inside the chart deployment. These are inside the resources value (check parameter table). Setting requests is essential for production workloads and these should be adapted to your specific use case.

To make this process easier, the chart contains the resourcesPreset values, which automatically sets the resources section according to different presets. Check these presets in the bitnami/common chart. However, in production workloads using resourcesPreset is discouraged as it may not fully adapt to your specific needs. Find more information on container resource management in the official Kubernetes documentation.

Rolling vs Immutable tags

It is strongly recommended to use immutable tags in a production environment. This ensures your deployment does not change automatically if the same tag is updated with a different image.

Bitnami will release a new chart updating its containers if a new version of the main container, significant changes, or critical vulnerabilities exist.

Backup and restore

To back up and restore Helm chart deployments on Kubernetes, you need to back up the persistent volumes from the source deployment and attach them to a new deployment using Velero, a Kubernetes backup/restore tool. Find the instructions for using Velero in this guide.

Use Sidecars and Init Containers

If additional containers are needed in the same pod (such as additional metrics or logging exporters), they can be defined using the sidecars config parameter.

sidecars:
- name: your-image-name
  image: your-image
  imagePullPolicy: Always
  ports:
  - name: portname
    containerPort: 1234

If these sidecars export extra ports, extra port definitions can be added using the service.extraPorts parameter (where available), as shown in the example below:

service:
  extraPorts:
  - name: extraPort
    port: 11311
    targetPort: 11311

NOTE: This Helm chart already includes sidecar containers for the Prometheus exporters (where applicable). These can be activated by adding the --enable-metrics=true parameter at deployment time. The sidecars parameter should therefore only be used for any extra sidecar containers.

If additional init containers are needed in the same pod, they can be defined using the initContainers parameter. Here is an example:

initContainers:
  - name: your-image-name
    image: your-image
    imagePullPolicy: Always
    ports:
      - name: portname
        containerPort: 1234

Learn more about sidecar containers and init containers.

Set Pod affinity

This chart allows you to set custom Pod affinity using the affinity parameter. Find more information about Pod’s affinity in the Kubernetes documentation.

As an alternative, use one of the preset configurations for pod affinity, pod anti-affinity, and node affinity available at the bitnami/common chart. To do so, set the podAffinityPreset, podAntiAffinityPreset, or nodeAffinityPreset parameters.

Parameters

Global parameters

NameDescriptionValue
global.imageRegistryGlobal Docker image registry""
global.imagePullSecretsGlobal Docker registry secret names as an array[]
global.security.allowInsecureImagesAllows skipping image verificationfalse
global.compatibility.openshift.adaptSecurityContextAdapt the securityContext sections of the deployment to make them compatible with Openshift restricted-v2 SCC: remove runAsUser, runAsGroup and fsGroup and let the platform use their allowed default IDs. Possible values: auto (apply if the detected running cluster is Openshift), force (perform the adaptation always), disabled (do not perform adaptation)auto

Common parameters

NameDescriptionValue
kubeVersionForce target Kubernetes version (using Helm capabilities if not set)""
nameOverrideString to partially override kube-state-metrics.name template with a string (will prepend the release name)""
fullnameOverrideString to fully override kube-state-metrics.fullname template with a string""
namespaceOverrideString to fully override common.names.namespace""
commonLabelsAdd labels to all the deployed resources{}
commonAnnotationsAdd annotations to all the deployed resources{}
extraDeployArray of extra objects to deploy with the release[]
diagnosticMode.enabledEnable diagnostic mode (all probes will be disabled and the command will be overridden)false
diagnosticMode.commandCommand to override all containers in the the deployment(s)/statefulset(s)["sleep"]
diagnosticMode.argsArgs to override all containers in the the deployment(s)/statefulset(s)["infinity"]

kube-state-metrics parameters

NameDescriptionValue
automountServiceAccountTokenMount Service Account token in podtrue
hostAliasesAdd deployment host aliases[]
rbac.createWhether to create & use RBAC resources or nottrue
rbac.pspEnabledWhether to create a PodSecurityPolicy and bound it with RBAC. WARNING: PodSecurityPolicy is deprecated in Kubernetes v1.21 or later, unavailable in v1.25 or latertrue
rbac.rulesCustom RBAC rules to set[]
serviceAccount.createSpecifies whether a ServiceAccount should be createdtrue
serviceAccount.nameName of the service account to use. If not set and create is true, a name is generated using the fullname template.""
serviceAccount.automountServiceAccountTokenAutomount service account token for the server service accountfalse
serviceAccount.annotationsAnnotations for service account. Evaluated as a template. Only used if create is true.{}
image.registrykube-state-metrics image registryREGISTRY_NAME
image.repositorykube-state-metrics image repositoryREPOSITORY_NAME/kube-state-metrics
image.digestkube-state-metrics image digest in the way sha256:aa…. Please note this parameter, if set, will override the tag""
image.pullPolicykube-state-metrics image pull policyIfNotPresent
image.pullSecretsSpecify docker-registry secret names as an array[]
extraArgsAdditional command line arguments to pass to kube-state-metrics{}
commandOverride default container command (useful when using custom images)[]
argsOverride default container args (useful when using custom images)[]
lifecycleHooksfor the kube-state-metrics container(s) to automate configuration before or after startup{}
extraEnvVarsArray with extra environment variables to add to kube-state-metrics nodes[]
extraEnvVarsCMName of existing ConfigMap containing extra env vars for kube-state-metrics pod(s)""
extraEnvVarsSecretName of existing Secret containing extra env vars for kube-state-metrics pod(s)""
extraVolumesOptionally specify extra list of additional volumes for the kube-state-metrics pod(s)[]
extraVolumeMountsOptionally specify extra list of additional volumeMounts for the kube-state-metrics container(s)[]
sidecarsAdd additional sidecar containers to the kube-state-metrics pod(s)[]
initContainersAdd additional init containers to the kube-state-metrics pod(s)[]
pdb.createEnable/disable a Pod Disruption Budget creationtrue
pdb.minAvailableMinimum number/percentage of pods that should remain scheduled""
pdb.maxUnavailableMaximum number/percentage of pods that may be made unavailable. Defaults to 1 if both pdb.minAvailable and pdb.maxUnavailable are empty.""
namespacesComma-separated list of namespaces to be enabled. Defaults to all namespaces. Evaluated as a template.""
kubeResources.certificatesigningrequestsEnable the certificatesigningrequests resourcetrue
kubeResources.configmapsEnable the configmaps resourcetrue
kubeResources.cronjobsEnable the cronjobs resourcetrue
kubeResources.daemonsetsEnable the daemonsets resourcetrue
kubeResources.deploymentsEnable the deployments resourcetrue
kubeResources.endpointsEnable the endpoints resourcetrue
kubeResources.horizontalpodautoscalersEnable the horizontalpodautoscalers resourcetrue
kubeResources.ingressesEnable the ingresses resourcetrue
kubeResources.jobsEnable the jobs resourcetrue
kubeResources.leasesEnable the leases resourcetrue
kubeResources.limitrangesEnable the limitranges resourcetrue
kubeResources.mutatingwebhookconfigurationsEnable the mutatingwebhookconfigurations resourcetrue
kubeResources.namespacesEnable the namespaces resourcetrue
kubeResources.networkpoliciesEnable the networkpolicies resourcetrue
kubeResources.nodesEnable the nodes resourcetrue
kubeResources.persistentvolumeclaimsEnable the persistentvolumeclaims resourcetrue
kubeResources.persistentvolumesEnable the persistentvolumes resourcetrue
kubeResources.poddisruptionbudgetsEnable the poddisruptionbudgets resourcetrue
kubeResources.podsEnable the pods resourcetrue
kubeResources.replicasetsEnable the replicasets resourcetrue
kubeResources.replicationcontrollersEnable the replicationcontrollers resourcetrue
kubeResources.resourcequotasEnable the resourcequotas resourcetrue
kubeResources.secretsEnable the secrets resourcetrue
kubeResources.servicesEnable the services resourcetrue
kubeResources.statefulsetsEnable the statefulsets resourcetrue
kubeResources.storageclassesEnable the storageclasses resourcetrue
kubeResources.validatingwebhookconfigurationsEnable the validatingwebhookconfigurations resourcefalse
kubeResources.volumeattachmentsEnable the volumeattachments resourcetrue
customResourceState.enabledEnabled custom resource state metricsfalse
customResourceState.configurationConfiguration of the CustomResourceStateMetrics to be added. Evaluated as a template.{}
podSecurityContext.enabledEnabled kube-state-metrics pods’ Security Contexttrue
podSecurityContext.fsGroupChangePolicySet filesystem group change policyAlways
podSecurityContext.sysctlsSet kernel settings using the sysctl interface[]
podSecurityContext.supplementalGroupsSet filesystem extra groups[]
podSecurityContext.fsGroupSet kube-state-metrics pod’s Security Context fsGroup1001
containerSecurityContext.enabledEnabled containers’ Security Contexttrue
containerSecurityContext.seLinuxOptionsSet SELinux options in container{}
containerSecurityContext.runAsUserSet containers’ Security Context runAsUser1001
containerSecurityContext.runAsGroupSet containers’ Security Context runAsGroup1001
containerSecurityContext.runAsNonRootSet container’s Security Context runAsNonRoottrue
containerSecurityContext.privilegedSet container’s Security Context privilegedfalse
containerSecurityContext.readOnlyRootFilesystemSet container’s Security Context readOnlyRootFilesystemtrue
containerSecurityContext.allowPrivilegeEscalationSet container’s Security Context allowPrivilegeEscalationfalse
containerSecurityContext.capabilities.dropList of capabilities to be dropped["ALL"]
containerSecurityContext.seccompProfile.typeSet container’s Security Context seccomp profileRuntimeDefault
containerPorts.httpHTTP container port8080
containerPorts.telemetryTelemetry container port8081
networkPolicy.enabledSpecifies whether a NetworkPolicy should be createdtrue
networkPolicy.kubeAPIServerPortsList of possible endpoints to kube-apiserver (limit to your cluster settings to increase security)[]
networkPolicy.allowExternalDon’t require server label for connectionstrue
networkPolicy.allowExternalEgressAllow the pod to access any range of port and all destinations.true
networkPolicy.extraIngressAdd extra ingress rules to the NetworkPolicy[]
networkPolicy.extraEgressAdd extra ingress rules to the NetworkPolicy[]
networkPolicy.ingressNSMatchLabelsLabels to match to allow traffic from other namespaces{}
networkPolicy.ingressNSPodMatchLabelsPod labels to match to allow traffic from other namespaces{}
service.typeKubernetes service typeClusterIP
service.ports.httpkube-state-metrics service port8080
service.nodePorts.httpSpecify the nodePort value for the LoadBalancer and NodePort service types.""
service.clusterIPSpecific cluster IP when service type is cluster IP. Use None for headless service""
service.loadBalancerIPloadBalancerIP if service type is LoadBalancer""
service.loadBalancerSourceRangesAddress that are allowed when svc is LoadBalancer[]
service.externalTrafficPolicykube-state-metrics service external traffic policyCluster
service.extraPortsExtra ports to expose (normally used with the sidecar value)[]
service.annotationsAdditional annotations for kube-state-metrics service{}
service.labelsAdditional labels for kube-state-metrics service{}
service.sessionAffinitySession Affinity for Kubernetes service, can be “None” or “ClientIP”None
service.sessionAffinityConfigAdditional settings for the sessionAffinity{}
hostNetworkEnable hostNetwork modefalse
priorityClassNamePriority class assigned to the Pods""
schedulerNameName of the k8s scheduler (other than default)""
terminationGracePeriodSecondsIn seconds, time the given to the kube-state-metrics pod needs to terminate gracefully""
topologySpreadConstraintsTopology Spread Constraints for pod assignment[]
resourcesPresetSet container resources according to one common preset (allowed values: none, nano, micro, small, medium, large, xlarge, 2xlarge). This is ignored if resources is set (resources is recommended for production).nano
resourcesSet container requests and limits for different resources like CPU or memory (essential for production workloads){}
replicaCountDesired number of controller pods1
podLabelsPod labels{}
podAnnotationsPod annotations{}
updateStrategyAllows setting of RollingUpdate strategy{}
minReadySecondsHow many seconds a pod needs to be ready before killing the next, during update0
podAffinityPresetPod affinity preset. Ignored if affinity is set. Allowed values: soft or hard""
podAntiAffinityPresetPod anti-affinity preset. Ignored if affinity is set. Allowed values: soft or hardsoft
nodeAffinityPreset.typeNode affinity preset type. Ignored if affinity is set. Allowed values: soft or hard""
nodeAffinityPreset.keyNode label key to match. Ignored if affinity is set.""
nodeAffinityPreset.valuesNode label values to match. Ignored if affinity is set.[]
affinityAffinity for pod assignment{}
nodeSelectorNode labels for pod assignment{}
tolerationsTolerations for pod assignment[]
livenessProbe.enabledTurn on and off liveness probetrue
livenessProbe.initialDelaySecondsDelay before liveness probe is initiated120
livenessProbe.periodSecondsHow often to perform the probe10
livenessProbe.timeoutSecondsWhen the probe times out5
livenessProbe.failureThresholdMinimum consecutive failures for the probe6
livenessProbe.successThresholdMinimum consecutive successes for the probe1
readinessProbe.enabledTurn on and off readiness probetrue
readinessProbe.initialDelaySecondsDelay before readiness probe is initiated30
readinessProbe.periodSecondsHow often to perform the probe10
readinessProbe.timeoutSecondsWhen the probe times out5
readinessProbe.failureThresholdMinimum consecutive failures for the probe6
readinessProbe.successThresholdMinimum consecutive successes for the probe1
startupProbe.enabledTurn on and off startup probefalse
startupProbe.initialDelaySecondsDelay before startup probe is initiated30
startupProbe.periodSecondsHow often to perform the probe10
startupProbe.timeoutSecondsWhen the probe times out5
startupProbe.failureThresholdMinimum consecutive failures for the probe6
startupProbe.successThresholdMinimum consecutive successes for the probe1
customStartupProbeCustom liveness probe for the Web component{}
customLivenessProbeCustom liveness probe for the Web component{}
customReadinessProbeCustom readiness probe for the Web component{}
serviceMonitor.enabledCreates a ServiceMonitor to monitor kube-state-metricsfalse
serviceMonitor.namespaceNamespace in which Prometheus is running""
serviceMonitor.jobLabelThe name of the label on the target service to use as the job name in prometheus.""
serviceMonitor.intervalScrape interval (use by default, falling back to Prometheus’ default)""
serviceMonitor.scrapeTimeoutTimeout after which the scrape is ended""
serviceMonitor.selectorServiceMonitor selector labels{}
serviceMonitor.honorLabelsHonor metrics labelsfalse
serviceMonitor.relabelingsServiceMonitor relabelings[]
serviceMonitor.metricRelabelingsServiceMonitor metricRelabelings[]
serviceMonitor.labelsExtra labels for the ServiceMonitor{}
serviceMonitor.extraParametersAny extra parameter to be added to the endpoint configured in the ServiceMonitor{}
serviceMonitor.sampleLimitPer-scrape limit on number of scraped samples that will be accepted.""
selfMonitor.enabledCreates a selfMonitor to monitor kube-state-metrics itselffalse
selfMonitor.telemetryNodePortKube-state-metrics Node Port""

Specify each parameter using the --set key=value[,key=value] argument to helm install. For example the following command sets the replicas of the kube-state-metrics Pods to 2.

helm install my-release --set replicas=2 oci://REGISTRY_NAME/REPOSITORY_NAME/kube-state-metrics

Note: You need to substitute the placeholders REGISTRY_NAME and REPOSITORY_NAME with a reference to your Helm chart registry and repository. For example, in the case of Bitnami, you need to use REGISTRY_NAME=registry-1.docker.io and REPOSITORY_NAME=bitnamicharts.

Alternatively, a YAML file that specifies the values for the parameters can be provided while installing the chart. For example,

helm install my-release -f values.yaml oci://REGISTRY_NAME/REPOSITORY_NAME/kube-state-metrics

Note: You need to substitute the placeholders REGISTRY_NAME and REPOSITORY_NAME with a reference to your Helm chart registry and repository. For example, in the case of Bitnami, you need to use REGISTRY_NAME=registry-1.docker.io and REPOSITORY_NAME=bitnamicharts. Tip: You can use the default values.yaml

Troubleshooting

Find more information about how to deal with common errors related to Bitnami’s Helm charts in this troubleshooting guide.

Upgrading

To 5.0.0

Removal of kubeResources.verticalpodautoscalers which no longer work since version 2.9.0 of kube-state-metrics. If you are using an older version and want to keep this metric, use the following configuration:

rbac:
  rules:
    - apiGroups: ["autoscaling.k8s.io"]
      resources:
        - verticalpodautoscalers
      verbs: ["list", "watch"]
extraArgs:
  resources: verticalpodautoscalers

To 4.3.0

This version introduces image verification for security purposes. To disable it, set global.security.allowInsecureImages to true. More details at GitHub issue.

helm upgrade my-release oci://REGISTRY_NAME/REPOSITORY_NAME/kube-state-metrics

Note: You need to substitute the placeholders REGISTRY_NAME and REPOSITORY_NAME with a reference to your Helm chart registry and repository. For example, in the case of Bitnami, you need to use REGISTRY_NAME=registry-1.docker.io and REPOSITORY_NAME=bitnamicharts.

To 4.0.0

This major bump changes the following security defaults:

  • runAsGroup is changed from 0 to 1001
  • readOnlyRootFilesystem is set to true
  • resourcesPreset is changed from none to the minimum size working in our test suites (NOTE: resourcesPreset is not meant for production usage, but resources adapted to your use case).
  • global.compatibility.openshift.adaptSecurityContext is changed from disabled to auto.

This could potentially break any customization or init scripts used in your deployment. If this is the case, change the default values to the previous ones.

To 3.0.0

This major release renames several values in this chart and adds missing features, in order to be aligned with the rest of the assets in the Bitnami charts repository.

Affected values:

  • service.port was renamed as service.ports.metrics.
  • service.nodePort was renamed as service.nodePorts.metrics.
  • securityContext was split in podSecurityContext and containerSecurityContext.
  • Removed unused value rbac.apiVersion.

To 2.0.0

This version updates kube-state-metrics to its new major, 2.0.0. There have been some value’s name changes to acommodate to the naming used in 2.0.0:

  • .Values.namespace -> .Values.namespaces
  • .Values.collectors -> .Values.kubeResources

For more information, please refer to kube-state-metrics 2 release notes.

To 1.1.0

This version introduces bitnami/common, a library chart as a dependency. More documentation about this new utility could be found here. Please, make sure that you have updated the chart dependencies before executing any upgrade.

To 1.0.0

On November 13, 2020, Helm v2 support formally ended. This major version is the result of the required changes applied to the Helm Chart to be able to incorporate the different features added in Helm v3 and to be consistent with the Helm project itself regarding the Helm v2 EOL.

License

Copyright © 2025 Broadcom. The term “Broadcom” refers to Broadcom Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the “License”); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an “AS IS” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.