---
title: Conditions based autodiscover
description: You can define autodiscover conditions in each input to allow Elastic Agent to automatically identify Pods and start monitoring them using predefined...
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5400/reference/fleet/conditions-based-autodiscover
products:
  - Elastic Agent
  - Fleet
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available
  - Elastic Stack: Generally available
---

# Conditions based autodiscover
You can define autodiscover conditions in each input to allow Elastic Agent to automatically identify Pods and start monitoring them using predefined integrations. Refer to [Inputs](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5400/reference/fleet/elastic-agent-input-configuration) to get an idea.
<important>
  Condition definition is supported both in **Elastic Agent managed by Fleet** and in **standalone** scenarios.
</important>

For more information about variables and conditions in input configurations, refer to [Variables and conditions in input configurations](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5400/reference/fleet/dynamic-input-configuration). You can find available variables of autodiscovery in [Kubernetes Provider](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5400/reference/fleet/kubernetes-provider).

## Example: Target Pods by label

To automatically identify a Redis Pod and monitor it with the Redis integration, uncomment the following input configuration inside the [Elastic Agent Standalone manifest](https://github.com/elastic/elastic-agent/blob/main/deploy/kubernetes/elastic-agent-standalone-kubernetes.yaml):
```yaml
- name: redis
  type: redis/metrics
  use_output: default
  meta:
    package:
      name: redis
      version: 0.3.6
  data_stream:
    namespace: default
  streams:
    - data_stream:
        dataset: redis.info
        type: metrics
      metricsets:
        - info
      hosts:
        - '${kubernetes.pod.ip}:6379'
      idle_timeout: 20s
      maxconn: 10
      network: tcp
      period: 10s
      condition: ${kubernetes.labels.app} == 'redis'
```

The condition `${kubernetes.labels.app} == 'redis'` will make the Elastic Agent look for a Pod with the  label `app:redis` within the scope defined in its manifest.
For a list of provider fields that you can use in conditions, refer to [Kubernetes Provider](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5400/reference/fleet/kubernetes-provider). Some examples of conditions usage are:
1. For a pod with label `app.kubernetes.io/name=ingress-nginx` the condition should be `condition: ${kubernetes.labels.app.kubernetes.io/name} == "ingress-nginx"`.
2. For a pod with annotation `prometheus.io/scrape: "true"` the condition should be `${kubernetes.annotations.prometheus.io/scrape} == "true"`.
3. For a pod with name `kube-scheduler-kind-control-plane` the condition should be `${kubernetes.pod.name} == "kube-scheduler-kind-control-plane"`.

The `redis` input defined in the Elastic Agent manifest only specifies the`info` metricset. To learn about other available metricsets and their configuration settings, refer to the [Redis module page](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/beats/tree/main/reference/metricbeat/metricbeat-module-redis).
To deploy Redis, you can apply the following example manifest:
```yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: redis
  labels:
    k8s-app: redis
    app: redis
spec:
  containers:
  - image: redis
    imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
    name: redis
    ports:
    - name: redis
      containerPort: 6379
      protocol: TCP
```

You should now be able to see Redis data flowing in on index `metrics-redis.info-default`. Make sure the port in your Redis manifest file matches the port used in the Redis input.
<note>
  All assets (dashboards, ingest pipelines, and so on) related to the Redis integration are not installed. You need to explicitly [install them through Kibana](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5400/reference/fleet/install-uninstall-integration-assets).
</note>

Conditions can also be used in inputs configuration in order to set the target host dynamically for a targeted Pod based on its labels. This is useful for datasets that target specific pods like `kube-scheduler` or `kube-controller-manager`. The following configuration will enable `kubernetes.scheduler` dataset only for pods which have the label `component=kube-scheduler` defined.
```yaml
- data_stream:
    dataset: kubernetes.scheduler
    type: metrics
  metricsets:
    - scheduler
  bearer_token_file: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token
  hosts:
    - 'https://${kubernetes.pod.ip}:10259'
  period: 10s
  ssl.verification_mode: none
  condition: ${kubernetes.labels.component} == 'kube-scheduler'
```

<note>
  Pods' labels and annotations can be used in autodiscover conditions. In the case of labels or annotations that include dots(`.`), they can be used in conditions exactly as they are defined in the pods. For example `condition: ${kubernetes.labels.app.kubernetes.io/name} == 'ingress-nginx'`. This should not be confused with the dedoted (by default) labels and annotations stored into Elasticsearch([Kubernetes Provider](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5400/reference/fleet/kubernetes-provider)).
</note>

<warning>
  Before the 8.6 release, labels used in autodiscover conditions were dedoted in case the `labels.dedot` parameter was set to `true` in Kubernetes Provider configuration (by default `true`). The same did not apply for annotations. This was fixed in 8.6 release. Refer to the Release Notes section of the version 8.6.0 documentation.
</warning>

<warning>
  In some "As a Service" Kubernetes implementations, like GKE, the control plane nodes or even the Pods running on them won’t be visible. In these cases, it won’t be possible to use scheduler metricsets, necessary for this example. Refer [scheduler and controller manager](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/beats/tree/main/reference/metricbeat/metricbeat-module-kubernetes#_scheduler_and_controllermanager) to find more information.
</warning>

Following the Redis example, if you deploy another Redis Pod with a different port, it should be detected. To check this, go, for example, to the field `service.address` under `metrics-redis.info-default`. It should be displaying two different services.
To obtain the policy generated by this configuration, connect to Elastic Agent container:
```sh
kubectl exec -n kube-system --stdin --tty elastic-agent-standalone-id -- /bin/bash
```

Do not forget to change the `elastic-agent-standalone-id` to your Elastic Agent Pod’s name. Moreover, make sure that your Pod is inside `kube-system`. If not, change `-n kube-system` to the correct namespace.
Inside the container [inspect the output](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5400/reference/fleet/agent-command-reference) of the configuration file you used for the Elastic Agent:
```sh
elastic-agent inspect --variables --variables-wait 1s -c /etc/elastic-agent/agent.yml
```

<dropdown title="You should now be able to see the generated policy. If you look for the scheduler, it will look similar to this.">
  ```yaml
  - bearer_token_file: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token
    hosts:
      - https://172.19.0.2:10259
    index: metrics-kubernetes.scheduler-default
    meta:
      package:
        name: kubernetes
        version: 1.9.0
    metricsets:
      - scheduler
    module: kubernetes
    name: kubernetes-node-metrics
    period: 10s
    processors:
      - add_fields:
          fields:
            labels:
              component: kube-scheduler
              tier: control-plane
            namespace: kube-system
            namespace_labels:
              kubernetes_io/metadata_name: kube-system
            namespace_uid: 03d6fd2f-7279-4db4-9a98-51e50bbe5c62
            node:
              hostname: kind-control-plane
              labels:
                beta_kubernetes_io/arch: amd64
                beta_kubernetes_io/os: linux
                kubernetes_io/arch: amd64
                kubernetes_io/hostname: kind-control-plane
                kubernetes_io/os: linux
                node-role_kubernetes_io/control-plane: ""
                node_kubernetes_io/exclude-from-external-load-balancers: ""
              name: kind-control-plane
              uid: b8d65d6b-61ed-49ef-9770-3b4f40a15a8a
            pod:
              ip: 172.19.0.2
              name: kube-scheduler-kind-control-plane
              uid: f028ad77-c82a-4f29-ba7e-2504d9b0beef
          target: kubernetes
      - add_fields:
          fields:
            cluster:
              name: kind
              url: kind-control-plane:6443
          target: orchestrator
      - add_fields:
          fields:
            dataset: kubernetes.scheduler
            namespace: default
            type: metrics
          target: data_stream
      - add_fields:
          fields:
            dataset: kubernetes.scheduler
            target: event
      - add_fields:
          fields:
            id: ""
            snapshot: false
            version: 8.3.0
          target: elastic_agent
      - add_fields:
          fields:
            id: ""
          target: agent
    ssl.verification_mode: none
  ```
</dropdown>


## Example: Dynamic logs path

To set the log path of Pods dynamically in the configuration, use a variable in the Elastic Agent policy to return path information from the provider:
```yaml
- name: container-log
  id: container-log-${kubernetes.pod.name}-${kubernetes.container.id}
  type: filestream
  use_output: default
  meta:
    package:
      name: kubernetes
      version: 1.9.0
  data_stream:
    namespace: default
  streams:
    - data_stream:
      dataset: kubernetes.container_logs
      type: logs
      prospector.scanner.symlinks: true
      parsers:
        - container: ~
      paths:
        - /var/log/containers/*${kubernetes.container.id}.log
```

<dropdown title="The policy generated by this configuration will look similar to this for every Pod inside the scope defined in the manifest.">
  ```yaml
  - id: container-log-etcd-kind-control-plane-af311067a62fa5e4d6e5cb4d31e64c1c35d82fe399eb9429cd948d5495496819
    index: logs-kubernetes.container_logs-default
    meta:
      package:
        name: kubernetes
        version: 1.9.0
    name: container-log
    parsers:
      - container: null
    paths:
      - /var/log/containers/*af311067a62fa5e4d6e5cb4d31e64c1c35d82fe399eb9429cd948d5495496819.log
    processors:
      - add_fields:
          fields:
            id: af311067a62fa5e4d6e5cb4d31e64c1c35d82fe399eb9429cd948d5495496819
            image:
              name: registry.k8s.io/etcd:3.5.4-0
            runtime: containerd
          target: container
      - add_fields:
          fields:
            container:
              name: etcd
          labels:
            component: etcd
            tier: control-plane
          namespace: kube-system
          namespace_labels:
            kubernetes_io/metadata_name: kube-system
          namespace_uid: 03d6fd2f-7279-4db4-9a98-51e50bbe5c62
          node:
            hostname: kind-control-plane
            labels:
              beta_kubernetes_io/arch: amd64
              beta_kubernetes_io/os: linux
              kubernetes_io/arch: amd64
              kubernetes_io/hostname: kind-control-plane
              kubernetes_io/os: linux
              node-role_kubernetes_io/control-plane: ""
              node_kubernetes_io/exclude-from-external-load-balancers: ""
            name: kind-control-plane
            uid: b8d65d6b-61ed-49ef-9770-3b4f40a15a8a
          pod:
            ip: 172.19.0.2
            name: etcd-kind-control-plane
            uid: 08970fcf-bb93-487e-b856-02399d81fb29
        target: kubernetes
      - add_fields:
          fields:
            cluster:
              name: kind
              url: kind-control-plane:6443
          target: orchestrator
      - add_fields:
          fields:
            dataset: kubernetes.container_logs
            namespace: default
            type: logs
          target: data_stream
      - add_fields:
          fields:
            dataset: kubernetes.container_logs
          target: event
      - add_fields:
          fields:
            id: ""
            snapshot: false
            version: 8.3.0
          target: elastic_agent
      - add_fields:
          fields:
            id: ""
          target: agent
    prospector.scanner.symlinks: true
    type: filestream
  ```
</dropdown>