Vector Helm Charts

To set up Vector as an aggregator for Datadog, follow these steps to install the Vector Helm chart and configure it with your Datadog API key.

1. Prerequisites

• Helm v3.0+
• kubectl installed
• Datadog and Vector Helm repositories added:

helm repo add datadog https://helm.datadoghq.com
helm repo add vector https://helm.vector.dev
helm repo update

2. Install Vector

Export your Datadog API key and install Vector into its own namespace using the provided Datadog values file:

export DATADOG_API_KEY="<REPLACE_ME>"

helm install vector vector/vector --namespace vector --create-namespace \
	--values examples/datadog-values.yaml --set secrets.generic.datadog_api_key="${DATADOG_API_KEY}"

3. Verify Installation

Tail the logs of the Vector StatefulSet to ensure the API key is correct and the healthcheck passes. You should see INFO level messages indicating Healthcheck: Passed. for each sink.

To migrate from the legacy vector-agent chart to the current vector chart, you must update your values.yaml to account for changes in deployment roles, tolerations, and default configurations.

Deploying as an Agent

To deploy the chart as a DaemonSet (the equivalent of the old agent behavior), set the role to "Agent":

role: "Agent"

Configuring Tolerations

The tolerations option no longer includes default values. If you need to match previous behavior (e.g., allowing the agent to run on master nodes), you must define them explicitly:

tolerations:
  - key: node-role.kubernetes.io/master
    effect: NoSchedule

Reverting to Legacy Default Configurations

The new chart enables the Vector API and a console sink by default, and renames the prometheus_exporter sink from prometheus_sink to prom_exporter. To maintain the exact configuration used in older versions, use the following customConfig block:

customConfig:
  data_dir: /vector-data-dir
  api:
    enabled: false
  sources:
    kubernetes_logs:
      type: kubernetes_logs
    host_metrics:
      filesystem:
        devices:
          excludes: [binfmt_misc]
        filesystems:
          excludes: [binfmt_misc]
        mountpoints:
          excludes: ["*/proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc"]
      type: host_metrics
    internal_metrics:
      type: internal_metrics
  sinks:
    prometheus_sink:
      type: prometheus_exporter
      inputs: [host_metrics, internal_metrics]
      address: 0.0.0.0:9090

The Vector chart has undergone significant changes in default configurations. By default, Vector is deployed as a StatefulSet and the role option should remain set to "Aggregator".

Default Configuration Changes

New default behaviors include:

• Vector's API is enabled by default.
• Several sources are now included by default: datadog_agent, fluent, logstash, splunk_hec, statsd, and syslog.
• A console sink is included by default.
• The prometheus_exporter sink has replaced the old prometheus_sink.

Reverting to Original Defaults

To maintain the original vector-aggregator behavior, use the following customConfig in your values.yaml:

customConfig:
  data_dir: /vector-data-dir
  api:
    enabled: false
  sources:
    vector:
      address: 0.0.0.0:9000
      type: vector
      version: "2"
    internal_metrics:
      type: internal_metrics
  sinks:
    prometheus_sink:
      type: prometheus_exporter
      inputs: [internal_metrics]
      address: 0.0.0.0:9090

By default, Datadog Agents forward data directly to Datadog. To route logs and metrics through your Vector Aggregators, you must create a dd-agent.yaml values file and use it during the Datadog Helm installation.

For Datadog Agent version 7.35/6.35 or greater

Use the customAgentConfig.vector block. Note that if using minikube, you may need to uncomment kubelet_tls_verify: false.

---
datadog:
  logs:
    enabled: true
    containerCollectAll: true
agents:
  useConfigMap: true
  customAgentConfig:
    # kubelet_tls_verify: false
    vector:
      logs:
        enabled: true
        url: http://vector-haproxy.vector:8282
      metrics:
        enabled: true
        url: http://vector-haproxy.vector:8282

For Datadog Agent version 7.34/6.34 or older

Metrics will not be routed through Vector for these versions. Use the logs_config block:

---
datadog:
  logs:
    enabled: true
    containerCollectAll: true
agents:
  useConfigMap: true
  customAgentConfig:
    # kubelet_tls_verify: false
    logs_config:
      logs_dd_url: vector-haproxy.vector:8282
      logs_no_ssl: true
      use_http: true

Install Datadog Agent

Install the Datadog chart using your generated values file:

helm install datadog datadog/datadog --namespace datadog --create-namespace \
	--values dd-agent.yaml --set datadog.apiKey="${DATADOG_API_KEY}"