Note, however, you can install your own instance of Prometheus, Kiali, and
Grafana dashboards according to the applicable
third-party documentation.
Enabling metrics export to Prometheus
To use the Prometheus, Grafana, or Kiali dashboards, Cloud Service Mesh must be
configured to export metrics to Prometheus.
Metrics export to Prometheus is enabled by default when you install
Cloud Service Mesh on Google Distributed Cloud or on bare metal. On these platforms, you
are all set to install your own instance of the dashboards.
You can enable metrics export to Prometheus instead of Stackdriver (now
called Google Cloud Observability) on GKE on Google Cloud clusters.
Follow the steps in the
install and
upgrade Cloud Service Mesh guide to
install or upgrade Cloud Service Mesh on GKE. When you run
asmcli install, include the following option:
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-29 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Integrating with third-party add-ons\n====================================\n\nCloud Service Mesh profiles do not include\n[Prometheus](https://prometheus.io/),\n[Kiali](https://kiali.io/), and\n[Grafana](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana/latest/) add-ons.\n\nNote, however, you can install your own instance of Prometheus, Kiali, and\nGrafana dashboards according to the applicable\n[third-party documentation](#third-party_documentation).\n\nEnabling metrics export to Prometheus\n-------------------------------------\n\nTo use the Prometheus, Grafana, or Kiali dashboards, Cloud Service Mesh must be\nconfigured to export metrics to Prometheus.\n\nMetrics export to Prometheus is enabled by default when you install\nCloud Service Mesh on Google Distributed Cloud or on bare metal. On these platforms, you\nare all set to install your own instance of the dashboards.\n\nYou can enable metrics export to Prometheus instead of Stackdriver (now\ncalled Google Cloud Observability) on GKE on Google Cloud clusters.\n\nBefore you begin\n----------------\n\nFollow the steps in [Install dependent tools and validate cluster](/service-mesh/v1.19/docs/unified-install/install-dependent-tools) to:\n\n- [Install required tools](/service-mesh/v1.19/docs/unified-install/install-dependent-tools#install_required_tools)\n- [Download `asmcli`](/service-mesh/v1.19/docs/unified-install/install-dependent-tools#download_asmcli)\n- [Grant cluster admin permissions](/service-mesh/v1.19/docs/unified-install/install-dependent-tools#grant_cluster_admin_permissions)\n- [Validate your project and cluster](/service-mesh/v1.19/docs/unified-install/install-dependent-tools#validate_project_and_cluster)\n\nEnable metrics export to Prometheus\n-----------------------------------\n\n1. Follow the steps in the\n [install](/service-mesh/v1.19/docs/unified-install/install-anthos-service-mesh) and\n [upgrade](/service-mesh/v1.19/docs/unified-install/upgrade) Cloud Service Mesh guide to\n install or upgrade Cloud Service Mesh on GKE. When you run\n `asmcli install`, include the following option:\n\n --option prometheus\n\n For example: \n\n ./asmcli install \\\n --project_id \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003ePROJECT_ID\u003c/var\u003e \\\n --cluster_name \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eCLUSTER_NAME\u003c/var\u003e \\\n --cluster_location \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eCLUSTER_LOCATION\u003c/var\u003e \\\n --output_dir \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eDIR_PATH\u003c/var\u003e \\\n --enable_all \\\n --ca mesh_ca \\\n --option prometheus\n\n | **Caution:** Using `--option prometheus` will disable metrics export to Stackdriver. You must export metrics to Stackdriver if you wish to use the Cloud Service Mesh dashboard functionality. You can enable both Stackdriver and Prometheus by using `--option prometheus-and-stackdriver`.\n | **Warning:** With installation on GKE Enterprise On-premises clusters configured with `enableStackdriverForApplications=true`, enabling Prometheus may incur extra Cloud Monitoring charges. For more information and disabling `enableStackdriverForApplications`, see [GKE Enterprise clusters on-prem known issues](/anthos/clusters/docs/on-prem/latest/known-issues#unexpected-monitoring-billing). To disable Prometheus annotations during Cloud Service Mesh installation, see [disable Prometheus metrics merging feature](https://istio.io/latest/docs/ops/integrations/prometheus/#option-1-metrics-merging).\n | Note: By default, \\`asmcli\\` doesn't install an ingress gateway, which you can use to manage inbound traffic to applications running on your service mesh. Follow the steps in [Install gateways](/service-mesh/v1.19/docs/unified-install/install-anthos-service-mesh#install_gateways) to install an ingress gateway.\n\n Be sure to specify any other [overlay files](/service-mesh/v1.19/docs/unified-install/options/enable-optional-features#about_the_overlay_files) that you need to configure Cloud Service Mesh.\n2. Complete the Cloud Service Mesh installation to enable automatic sidecar\n proxy injection on your workloads. For new installations, see\n [Deploy and redeploy workloads](/service-mesh/v1.19/docs/unified-install/install-anthos-service-mesh#deploy_and_redeploy_workloads).\n For upgrades, see\n [Switch to the new control plane](/service-mesh/v1.19/docs/unified-install/upgrade#switch_to_the_new_control_plane)\n\nThird-party documentation\n-------------------------\n\nYou can\n[deploy Prometheus and Grafana through the Cloud Marketplace](https://console.cloud.google.com/marketplace/details/google/prometheus) or\nrefer to the following documentation for installation.\n\n- Grafana:\n\n - [Getting started](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana/latest/getting-started/getting-started/)\n\n - [Import the dashboards](https://istio.io/v1.19/docs/ops/integrations/grafana/#option-2-import-from-grafana-com-into-an-existing-deployment)\n into an existing Grafana deployment.\n\n- Kiali:\n\n - [Quick Start guide](https://kiali.io/docs/installation/quick-start/)\n\n - [Installation Guide](https://kiali.io/docs/installation/installation-guide/)\n\n- Prometheus:\n\n - [Getting started](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/getting_started/)\n\nWhat's next\n-----------\n\n- [Deploying a demo version of the telemetry add-ons](/service-mesh/v1.19/docs/deploy-demo-telemetry-addons)"]]