CDEvents in Action #6: Monitor Every Kubernetes Deployment with One Helm Command

#kubernetes #cicd #monitoring

After this, every Deployment, StatefulSet, and DaemonSet change in your cluster generates a CDEvent automatically — no matter how it was deployed.

Episode #5 explained the gap. This episode closes it.

What You Need

CDviz running with cdviz-collector reachable from inside the cluster
Kubernetes v1.19+ with kubectl access
Helm 3

The Command

helm install cdviz-collector oci://ghcr.io/cdviz-dev/charts/cdviz-collector \
  --set kubewatch.enabled=true \
  --namespace cdviz \
  --create-namespace

That single flag (kubewatch.enabled=true) deploys kubewatch alongside cdviz-collector and wires them together:

kubewatch watches Deployment/StatefulSet/DaemonSet changes cluster-wide (can be configured)
cdviz-collector receives kubewatch CloudEvents and transforms them to CDEvents
RBAC is configured automatically (read-only ClusterRole)

See Kubernetes (via Kubewatch) Integration for details.

Verify It Works

1. Check both pods are running:

kubectl get pods -n cdviz
# NAME                              READY   STATUS
# cdviz-collector-xxx               1/1     Running
# kubewatch-xxx                     1/1     Running

2. Trigger a test deployment:

kubectl create deployment test-nginx --image=nginx:latest

3. Confirm the CDEvent arrived:

kubectl logs -n cdviz -l app=cdviz-collector --tail=20 | grep service.deployed

You should see a service.deployed event within a few seconds. Check your Grafana dashboard — the deployment appears there too.

4. Clean up:

kubectl delete deployment test-nginx

What Gets Captured

Kubernetes change	CDEvent type
Deployment created	`service.deployed`
Image or config updated	`service.upgraded`
Deployment deleted	`service.removed`
StatefulSet / DaemonSet changes	same as above

The provided transformer for kubewatch event defines the service ID as "{{ namespace }}/{{ resource_name }}/{{ container_name }}" (where resource_name is the name of the Deployment, StatefulSet, or DaemonSet) to avoid collisions. In our example: default/test-nginx/nginx.

Limiting Scope (Optional)

By default, kubewatch watches all namespaces. To limit to specific ones:

helm upgrade cdviz-collector oci://ghcr.io/cdviz-dev/charts/cdviz-collector \
  --set kubewatch.enabled=true \
  --set kubewatch.namespaceToWatch="production,staging" \
  --namespace cdviz