[Helm] Enable leader election by default for Fleet Managed agent installation with perNode preset

[eedugon]

When following the instructions at https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/fleet/current/example-kubernetes-fleet-managed-agent-helm.html and installing a Fleet Managed with preset perNode with something like:

helm install demo ./deploy/helm/elastic-agent \
--set agent.fleet.enabled=true \
--set agent.fleet.url=https://fleet-svc.default.svc \
--set agent.fleet.token=myToken \
--set agent.fleet.preset=perNode \
--set agent.fleet.insecure=true

We get the following agent.yml generated in a secret:

  agent.yml: |-
    fleet:
      enabled: true
    providers:
      kubernetes:
        node: ${NODE_NAME}
        scope: node
      kubernetes_leaderelection:
        enabled: false
        leader_lease: demo-pernode

If the helm chart disables the leader election then we shouldn't continue with the documentation instructions as the kubernetes integration default settings are intended for agents with the leader mechanism enabled.

I suggest to keep leader election enabled for this use case: fleet.enabled=true and fleet.preset=perNode

Of course the user could disable leaderElection if not needed / wanted.

cc: @pkoutsovasilis

[elasticmachine]

Pinging @elastic/elastic-agent-control-plane (Team:Elastic-Agent-Control-Plane)

[strawgate]

In this case, do we need to touch the providers configuration at all?

    providers:
      kubernetes:
        node: ${NODE_NAME}
        scope: node
      kubernetes_leaderelection:
        enabled: false
        leader_lease: demo-pernode

Wouldn't leader election and the k8s provider be enabled by the Kubernetes integration if it was in the agent policy?

[eedugon]

The kubernetes integration is not capable of enabling / disabling the provider or leader election mechanism, neither to influence the name of the lease used for leader election. All that is configured at agent level regardless of the integrations used. I wish it could, it’s something I have said a few times it would be ideal in my opinion, but probably not straight forward. Edu González de la Herrán Senior Technical Writer @ Elastic *Please note: Emails may be stored and shared to provide a better customer experience. To learn more about how we use your information, please review Elastic’s **Privacy Statement. * <https://www.elastic.co/legal/privacy-statement> El El vie, 13 dic 2024 a las 23:10, William Easton ***@***.***> escribió:

…

In this case, do we need to touch the providers configuration at all? providers: kubernetes: node: ${NODE_NAME} scope: node kubernetes_leaderelection: enabled: false leader_lease: demo-pernode Wouldn't leader election and the k8s provider be enabled by the Kubernetes integration if it was in the agent policy? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#6284 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AGBFXJPRC7VGX66UITKRXYT2FNLMLAVCNFSM6AAAAABTNRDKHCVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDKNBSGQ3DEMZSGI> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[strawgate]

Is the part about provider enablement still true with #6169 having been merged?

[eedugon]

Oh! That’s awesome! I didn’t know about that change. Thanks! When that’s implemented there will be a few things to consider, definitely. Anyway, the scope of this issue is to confirm that when the user is planning to use the kubernetes integration in a DS (per node)**for kubernetes monitoring**, to ensure by default that the leader election is enabled and with the expected lease name. That will align with the integration policy default configuration of retrieving almost everything (including cluster level events and metrics). I don’t know if the PR you mentioned also influences the leader election and lease name or just the provider.

[pkoutsovasilis]

@blakerouse please help us here; With this PR merged does it mean that even if we pass at the agent a providers config like the one below

...
providers:
  kubernetes_leaderelection:
    enabled: true
...

when we don't have an input with a condition like the one below

condition: '${kubernetes_leaderelection.leader} == true'

the agent won't try to acquire a lease?

[pkoutsovasilis]

ok I tested this out and I can confirm that a lease is created only when there ${kubernetes_leaderelection.leader} in the agent config. Amazing stuff 🙂 Then this is already resolved for 8.17.x agent versions?