Datadog Agent

Datadog monitors applications and servers, by collecting metrics, logs, and other events in a central service.

To collect metrics, Datadog uses an open-source data collection agent built in Go. Usually, a Datadog user would install the collection agent on their servers or other cloud infrastructure.

You can install the Datadog agent in your Release account by following this guide.

Create a Datadog account

On the Datadog website, click the Free Trial button to sign up for a new Datadog account.

While creating your Datadog account, make sure to select the EU1 region only if your Release cluster's region name starts with eu, for example, eu-west-1. Select the Datadog US1-FED region if you're using AWS GovCloud for your cluster.

Note: Release automatically configures the agent to use EU or GOV, based on your cluster location. If you need to update the agent to use a specific site, please contact support.

Copy your Datadog API key

Your Datadog API key is a 32 character random string. During the Datadog setup process, copy your API key from one of the integration options.

You can always find your Datadog API key in Datadog's settings, under your organization settings in Datadog.

Copy the API key to your clipboard.

Set up the Datadog integration in Release

In Release, navigate to account settings, then to integrations.

Click on setup to open the Datadog agent setup dialog.

Paste the API key you copied earlier, then click save.

Release will now install the Datadog agent in all active clusters in your Release account.

Enable or disable the Datadog agent in your clusters

If you would like to manually disable the Datadog agent in any of your Release clusters, navigate to clusters in your account settings, and open your cluster's settings.

In the right sidebar, click enable Datadog agent or disable Datadog agent.

Visit your Datadog dashboard to see whether the change has applied. You should notice your cluster tracking metrics if you enabled the agent, or no longer tracking metrics if you disabled the agent.

Next steps

Once the Datadog agent is live, read our guide on Monitoring your Release clusters using Datadog

Troubleshooting and common misconfigurations

If you do not see any metrics in Datadog after installing the agent in Release, rule out the following common issues.

Incorrect Datadog API key

Datadog has multiple different keys and passwords, but the one to use for agents is the organization-wide API key. Make sure the key entered in Release matches your Datadog organization API key exactly.

No nodes in your clusters

If you're installing Datadog on a cluster with no enabled nodes, the status will update to show that it is installed, but there will be no resources to run the agent. Make sure your Release cluster has at least one node available.

Region mismatch

Make sure to use the EU1 Datadog region only if you're using an AWS or GCP region that starts with eu.

Logged into a different Datadog or Release account

Just as with AWS, some organizations use multiple Datadog accounts across their different projects. Make sure you copied the API key from the correct account, and that you were logged into the correct Release account when you set up your integration.

Viewing the agent logs in Kubernetes

If you're not seeing any logs or metrics in Datadog, you can view the logs for your Datadog agent in Release.

Use the Release command line interface on your local machine to tail the agent containers' logs.

You'll need to install and set up the Release CLI, then run the following command to view the most recent log entries.

Replace the account ID and cluster name.

release clusters exec --account 2222 --cluster release-222222 -- kubectl logs --namespace kube-system --selector app=datadog-agent-customer

If you need help resolving any errors between the agent installed Release and Datadog, contact your technical account manager at Release.