Thanos 0.20: Highly Available Prometheus
K8s Guru
2 min read
Table of Contents
Introduction
Thanos 0.20 — Highly Available Prometheus — was released on November 2, 2021.
In Kubernetes, the hard part isn’t collecting data — it’s turning traces, metrics, and logs into something you can act on quickly.
In this release: Thanos 0.20 enhances highly available Prometheus deployments with improved query performance, better storage integration, and enhanced multi-cluster support for large-scale observability.
Query Performance Improvements
- Query engine optimizations reduce latency for queries across large time ranges.
- Caching enhancements improve response times for frequently accessed metrics.
- Parallel querying enables faster aggregation across multiple Prometheus instances.
- Memory management improvements reduce resource usage during query execution.
Storage Integration
- Object storage improvements provide better integration with S3, GCS, and Azure Blob Storage.
- Compaction enhancements reduce storage requirements and improve query performance.
- Retention policies enable more flexible data lifecycle management.
- Backup and restore improvements simplify disaster recovery procedures.
Multi-Cluster Support
- Global querying enables querying metrics across multiple Kubernetes clusters.
- Federation improvements simplify aggregating metrics from distributed Prometheus instances.
- Service discovery enhancements automatically discover Prometheus instances across clusters.
- Load balancing provides better distribution of query load across instances.
Operational Features
- Deployment simplifications make it easier to deploy and manage Thanos components.
- Monitoring expansion includes better metrics for Thanos component health.
- Documentation improvements provide clearer guides for common scenarios.
- Community growth demonstrates active development and adoption.
Getting Started
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thanos-io/kube-thanos/main/examples/all/manifests/thanos-querier-deployment.yaml
Summary
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Release Date | November 2, 2021 |
| Headline Features | Query performance improvements, enhanced storage integration, better multi-cluster support |
| Why it Matters | Enables highly available, long-term Prometheus deployments at enterprise scale |
Thanos 0.20 continues to evolve as the standard for highly available Prometheus, providing teams with reliable, scalable observability for Kubernetes clusters.