Configure Agent Modes

You can choose one of the following modes to do so. Review the features available in different agent modes before determining the mode you want to opt for.

Enable Agent Modes

If you have a Platform license (Sysdig Monitor and Sysdig Secure), no configuration is required. You get all the features by default. If you are opting a subset of features, determine the agent mode corresponding to your requirement.

To enable the mode you have selected, add the corresponding configuration to the values.yaml or dragent.yaml file, and restart the agent. The following sections provide configuration snippets corresponding to each agent mode.

Monitor

The Monitor mode offers an extensive collection of metrics. We recommend this mode to monitor enterprise environments.

monitor is the default mode if you are running the Enterprise tier.

dragent.yaml

commandlines_capture:
  enabled: false
drift_control:
  enabled: false
drift_killer:
  enabled: false
falcobaseline:
  enabled: false
feature:
  mode: monitor
memdump:
  enabled: false
network_topology:
  enabled: false
secure_audit_streams:
  enabled: false
security:
  enabled: false
  k8s_audit_server_enabled: false

Helm

agent:
  monitor:
    enabled: true
  secure:
    enabled: false

Monitor Light

Monitor Light caters to the users that run agents in a resource-restrictive environment, or to those who are interested only in a limited set of metrics.

This mode provides CPU, Memory, File, File system, and Network metrics. For more information, see Metrics Available in Monitor Light.

dragent.yaml

app_checks_enabled: false
drift_control:
  enabled: false
drift_killer:
  enabled: false
falcobaseline:
  enabled: false
feature:
  mode: monitor_light
jmx:
  enabled: false
memdump:
  enabled: false
network_topology:
  enabled: false
prometheus:
  enabled: false
statsd:
  enabled: false

Helm

agent:
  monitor:
    enabled: true
  secure:
    enabled: false
  sysdig:
    settings:
      feature:
        mode: monitor_light

Secure

The secure mode supports only Sysdig Secure features.

Sysdig agent collects no metrics in the secure mode, which, in turn, minimizes network consumption and storage requirement in the Sysdig backend. Lower resource usage can help reduce costs and improve performance.

In the Secure mode, the Monitor UI shows no data because no metrics are sent to the collector.

This feature requires agent v10.5.0 or above.

dragent.yaml

app_checks_enabled: false
feature:
  mode: secure
jmx:
  enabled: false
prometheus:
  enabled: false
statsd:
  enabled: false

Helm

agent:
  monitor:
    enabled: false
  secure:
    enabled: true
  sysdig:
    settings:
      feature:
        mode: secure

Secure Light

The secure light mode supports only the following Sysdig Secure features:

• Runtime Policies
• Activity Audit
• Captures

Sysdig agent running in secure_light mode consumes fewer resources than that of running in the secure mode.

This feature requires agent v12.10.0 or above.

Note: Do not enable Monitor features in Secure Light. If you do, you might encounter configuration errors.

dragent.yaml

app_checks_enabled: false
feature:
  mode: secure_light
jmx:
  enabled: false
memdump:
  enabled: false
network_topology:
  enabled: false
prometheus:
  enabled: false
statsd:
  enabled: false

Note: falcobaseline.enabled should be set to false in agents v12.18.0 and below.

Helm

agent:
  monitor:
    enabled: false
  secure:
    enabled: true
  sysdig:
    settings:
      feature:
        mode: secure_light

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting mode offers sophisticated metrics with detailed diagnostic capabilities. Some of these metrics are heuristic in nature.

In addition to the extensive metrics available in the Monitor mode, Troubleshooting mode provides additional metrics such as net.sql and additional segmentation for file and network metrics. For more information, see Additional Metrics Values Available in Troubleshooting.

dragent.yaml

If your account is enabled for Secure, add the following:

app_checks_enabled: false
drift_control:
  enabled: false
drift_killer:
  enabled: false
falcobaseline:
  enabled: false
feature:
  mode: troubleshooting
jmx:
  enabled: false
memdump:
  enabled: false
network_topology:
  enabled: false
prometheus:
  enabled: false
statsd:
  enabled: false

If your account is enabled for Monitor, add the following:

Helm

If your account is enabled for Monitor, add the following:

agent:
  monitor:
    enabled: true
  secure:
    enabled: false
  sysdig:
    settings:
      feature:
        mode: troubleshooting

If your account is enabled for Secure, add the following:

agent:
  monitor:
    enabled: false
  secure:
    enabled: true
  sysdig:
    settings:
      feature:
        mode: troubleshooting

Custom Metrics Only Mode

Custom Metrics Only mode collects the same metrics as the Monitor Light mode, but also adds the ability to collect the following:

• Custom Metrics: StatsD, JMX, App Checks, and Prometheus
• Kubernetes State Metrics

As such, Custom Metrics Only mode is suitable if would like to use most of the features of Monitor mode but are limited in resources.

This mode is not compatible with Secure. If your account is configured for Secure, you must explicitly disable Secure in the agent configuration if you wish to use this mode.

This mode requires agent v12.4.0 or above.

Enable Custom Metrics Only Mode

1. Open the dragent.yaml file.

2. Add the following configuration parameter:

   feature:
     mode: custom-metrics-only
   

3. If your account is enabled for Secure, add the following:

   security:
     enabled: false
   secure_audit_streams:
     enabled: false
   falcobaseline:
     enabled: false
   

   This configuration explicitly disables the Secure features in the agent. If you do not disable Secure, the agent will not start due to incompatiblity issues.

4. Restart the agent.