﻿---
title: Prerequisites
description: Prerequisites and compatibility information for monitoring Kubernetes with EDOT.
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4819/solutions/observability/get-started/opentelemetry/use-cases/kubernetes/prerequisites-compatibility
products:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless
  - Elastic Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector
  - Elastic Observability
applies_to:
  - Serverless Observability projects: Generally available
  - Elastic Stack: Generally available in 9.0+
  - Elastic Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector: Generally available in 9.0+
---

# Prerequisites
Before setting up observability for Kubernetes, make sure you have the following:
- Elastic Stack (self-managed or [Elastic Cloud](https://www.elastic.co/cloud)) version 8.16.0 or higher, or an [Elasticsearch Serverless](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4819/solutions/search) project.
- A Kubernetes version supported by the OpenTelemetry Operator. Refer to the operator's [compatibility matrix](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator/blob/main/docs/compatibility.md#compatibility-matrix) for more details.
- If you opt for automatic certificate generation and renewal on the OpenTelemetry Operator, install [cert-manager](https://cert-manager.io/docs/installation/) in the Kubernetes cluster. By default, the operator uses a self-signed certificate and doesn't require cert-manager.


## Compatibility matrix

The minimum supported version of the Elastic Stack for OpenTelemetry-based monitoring on Kubernetes is `8.16.0`. Different Elastic Stack releases support specific versions of the [kube-stack Helm chart](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-helm-charts/tree/main/charts/opentelemetry-kube-stack).
You can download the values file for a specific Elastic Stack version from the following URL:
```
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elastic/elastic-agent/refs/tags/v<STACK_VERSION>/deploy/helm/edot-collector/kube-stack/values.yaml
```

Where `<STACK_VERSION>` is the version of the Elastic Stack you are using, for example `9.1.2`.
For Serverless, use the [latest version of the values file](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elastic/elastic-agent/refs/tags/v9.2.4/deploy/helm/edot-collector/kube-stack/managed_otlp/values.yaml). For version 8.16.0, use [this chart](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elastic/opentelemetry/refs/heads/8.16/resources/kubernetes/operator/helm/values.yaml).
<important>
  When [installing the release](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4819/solutions/observability/get-started/opentelemetry/use-cases/kubernetes/deployment), make sure you use the right `--version` and `-f <values-file>` parameters.The latest Helm chart version is 0.12.4.
</important>