Monitor Kubernetes CronJobs

This guide shows you how to monitor Kubernetes CronJobs with the SigNoz k8s-infra OpenTelemetry collection agent.

Prerequisites

• k8s-infra is already installed in your cluster. If you have not installed it yet, follow Install K8s Infra.
• You have kubectl access to the cluster where your CronJobs run.
• You have a SigNoz backend available to receive telemetry.

If you already have CronJobs running in your cluster, you can skip Step 1 and Step 2 and go directly to Default telemetry from k8s-infra and Validate.

Step 1. Create a CronJob

Apply the following manifest to create a CronJob that runs every minute and writes logs to standard output:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: batch-jobs
---
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: reporting-demo
  namespace: batch-jobs
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/name: reporting-demo
spec:
  schedule: "*/1 * * * *"
  timeZone: "Etc/UTC"
  concurrencyPolicy: Forbid
  successfulJobsHistoryLimit: 3
  failedJobsHistoryLimit: 1
  jobTemplate:
    spec:
      template:
        metadata:
          labels:
            app.kubernetes.io/name: reporting-demo
        spec:
          restartPolicy: OnFailure
          containers:
            - name: reporter
              image: busybox:1.36
              command:
                - /bin/sh
                - -c
                - |
                  echo "cronjob=reporting-demo start=$(date -Iseconds)"
                  sleep 5
                  echo "cronjob=reporting-demo finished=$(date -Iseconds)"

This example keeps the CronJob simple but still uses a few Kubernetes defaults that are useful for production:

• timeZone: Makes the schedule explicit instead of relying on the controller's local time zone
• concurrencyPolicy: Forbid: Prevents overlapping runs
• successfulJobsHistoryLimit and failedJobsHistoryLimit: Keeps recent execution history available for debugging

Apply it:

kubectl apply -f cronjob-demo.yaml

Step 2. Wait for the first execution

Check that Kubernetes creates a Job and a Pod for the CronJob:

kubectl -n batch-jobs get cronjob,jobs,pods

You should see:

• The reporting-demo CronJob
• A Job created from that CronJob
• A completed Pod for that Job after the run finishes

Default telemetry from k8s-infra

No extra CronJob-specific Helm values are required for the default monitoring flow. If k8s-infra is already installed with metrics and logs collection enabled, it automatically collects CronJob pod logs and Kubernetes Job metrics when the CronJob runs.

Default logs

All logs emitted by CronJob pods are captured automatically in Logs Explorer with Kubernetes resource attributes such as:

• k8s.namespace.name
• k8s.cronjob.name
• k8s.job.name
• k8s.pod.name

Use:

• k8s.cronjob.name to see all executions for one CronJob
• k8s.job.name to inspect one specific execution

Default metrics

In the validated k8s-infra setup for this guide, these CronJob-related Kubernetes metrics were emitted by default:

• k8s.cronjob.active_jobs
• k8s.job.active_pods
• k8s.job.successful_pods
• k8s.job.failed_pods
• k8s.job.desired_successful_pods
• k8s.job.max_parallel_pods

These metrics come from the OpenTelemetry k8sclusterreceiver. They are attached to Kubernetes Job resources, so k8s.job.name is the main dimension to use when you want to inspect one CronJob run in Metrics Explorer.

Validate

Validate logs in SigNoz

Open Logs Explorer and filter with these resource attributes:

• k8s.cluster.name = <your-cluster-name>
• k8s.namespace.name = batch-jobs
• k8s.cronjob.name = reporting-demo

Replace <your-cluster-name> with the clusterName you set when you installed k8s-infra.

You should see log lines from every run of the CronJob.

Use k8s.job.name when you want to inspect one specific execution, because Kubernetes creates a new Job name for every schedule.

Validate metrics in SigNoz

Open Metrics Explorer and query one or more of these metrics:

• k8s.job.active_pods
• k8s.job.successful_pods
• k8s.job.failed_pods
• k8s.job.desired_successful_pods
• k8s.job.max_parallel_pods
• k8s.cronjob.active_jobs

Filter with:

• k8s.cluster.name = <your-cluster-name>
• k8s.namespace.name = batch-jobs

Replace <your-cluster-name> with the clusterName you set when you installed k8s-infra.

Group by k8s.job.name to see each CronJob execution separately.

presets:
  logsCollection:
    whitelist:
      enabled: true
      namespaces:
        - batch-jobs

helm upgrade <release-name> signoz/k8s-infra -n <namespace> -f override-values.yaml

presets:
  logsCollection:
    blacklist:
      enabled: true
      namespaces:
        - kube-system
        - default

helm upgrade <release-name> signoz/k8s-infra -n <namespace> -f override-values.yaml

kubectl get deployments -n <k8s-infra-namespace>
kubectl get pods -n <k8s-infra-namespace>

Next steps

• Use Logs Explorer to search CronJob executions across namespaces and filter by k8s.cronjob.name
• Use Query Builder to group CronJob metrics by k8s.job.name and compare recent runs
• Set up alerts to notify on failed CronJob runs or missing expected executions