openshift-docs/observability/network_observability/installing-operators.adoc

:_mod-docs-content-type: ASSEMBLY
[id="installing-network-observability-operators"]
= Installing the Network Observability Operator

include::_attributes/common-attributes.adoc[]
:context: network_observability

toc::[]

[role="_abstract"]
Installing the Loki Operator is recommended before using the Network Observability Operator. You can use network observability without Loki, but special considerations apply if you only need metrics or external exporters.

////
- Commenting out for now.
- This may need to be reworked as part of NetObserv moving to the stand alone format. Network Observability Operator without Loki may be a separate user journey to setup.

Installing Loki is a recommended prerequisite for using the Network Observability Operator. You can choose to use xref:../../observability/network_observability/installing-operators.adoc#network-observability-without-loki_network_observability[Network observability without Loki], but there are some considerations for doing this, described in the previously linked section.
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The {loki-op} integrates a gateway that implements multi-tenancy and authentication with Loki for data flow storage. The `LokiStack` resource manages Loki, which is a scalable, highly-available, multi-tenant log aggregation system, and a web proxy with {product-title} authentication. The `LokiStack` proxy uses {product-title} authentication to enforce multi-tenancy and facilitate the saving and indexing of data in Loki log stores.

include::modules/network-observability-without-loki.adoc[leveloffset=+1]

[role="_additional-resources"]
.Additional resources
* xref:../../observability/network_observability/configuring-operator.adoc#network-observability-enriched-flows_network_observability[Export enriched network flow data]

include::modules/network-observability-loki-install.adoc[leveloffset=+1]

include::modules/network-observability-loki-secret.adoc[leveloffset=+2]

[role="_additional-resources"]
.Additional resources
* xref:../../observability/network_observability/installing-operators.adoc#network-observability-lokistack-create_network_observability[Creating a LokiStack custom resource]
* xref:../../observability/network_observability/flowcollector-api.adoc#network-observability-flowcollector-api-specifications_network_observability[Flow Collector API Reference]
* xref:../../observability/network_observability/configuring-operator.adoc#network-observability-flowcollector-view_network_observability[Flow Collector sample resource]
//* xref :../../observability/logging/log_storage/installing-log-storage.adoc#logging-loki-storage_installing-log-storage[Loki object storage]

include::modules/network-observability-lokistack-create.adoc[leveloffset=+2]

include::modules/logging-creating-new-group-cluster-admin-user-role.adoc[leveloffset=+2]

include::modules/logging-loki-log-access.adoc[leveloffset=+1,tags=CustomAdmin;NetObservMode;!LokiMode]

include::modules/loki-deployment-sizing.adoc[leveloffset=+2]

include::modules/network-observability-lokistack-ingestion-query.adoc[leveloffset=+2]

include::modules/network-observability-operator-install.adoc[leveloffset=+1]

include::modules/network-observability-multitenancy.adoc[leveloffset=+1]

[role="_additional-resources"]
[id="additional-resources_configuring-flow-collector-considerations"]
== Important Flow Collector configuration considerations
Once you create the `FlowCollector` instance, you can reconfigure it, but the pods are terminated and recreated again, which can be disruptive. Therefore, you can consider configuring the following options when creating the `FlowCollector` for the first time:

* xref:../../observability/network_observability/configuring-operator.adoc#network-observability-flowcollector-kafka-config_network_observability[Configuring the Flow Collector resource with Kafka]
* xref:../../observability/network_observability/configuring-operator.adoc#network-observability-enriched-flows_network_observability[Export enriched network flow data to Kafka or IPFIX]
* xref:../../observability/network_observability/network-observability-secondary-networks.adoc#network-observability-SR-IOV-config_network-observability-secondary-networks[Configuring monitoring for SR-IOV interface traffic]
* xref:../../observability/network_observability/observing-network-traffic.adoc#network-observability-working-with-conversations_nw-observe-network-traffic[Working with conversation tracking]
* xref:../../observability/network_observability/observing-network-traffic.adoc#network-observability-dns-tracking_nw-observe-network-traffic[Working with DNS tracking]
* xref:../../observability/network_observability/observing-network-traffic.adoc#network-observability-packet-drops_nw-observe-network-traffic[Working with packet drops]

[role="_additional-resources"]
.Additional resources
* xref:../../observability/network_observability/flowcollector-api.adoc#network-observability-flowcollector-api-specifications_network_observability[Flow Collector API Reference]
* xref:../../observability/network_observability/configuring-operator.adoc#network-observability-flowcollector-view_network_observability[Flow Collector sample resource]
* xref:../../observability/network_observability/configuring-operator.adoc#network-observability-resources-table_network_observability[Resource considerations]
* xref:../../observability/network_observability/troubleshooting-network-observability.adoc#controller-manager-pod-runs-out-of-memory_network-observability-troubleshooting[Troubleshooting network observability controller manager pod runs out of memory]
* xref:../../observability/network_observability/understanding-network-observability-operator.adoc#network-observability-architecture_nw-network-observability-operator[Network observability architecture]

include::modules/network-observability-updating-migrating.adoc[leveloffset=+2]

[role="_additional-resources"]
.Additional resources
* xref:../../operators/operator-reference.adoc#cluster-kube-storage-version-migrator-operator_operator-reference[Kubernetes Storage Version Migrator Operator]

include::modules/network-observability-kafka-option.adoc[leveloffset=+1]

[role="_additional-resources"]
.Additional resources
* xref:../../observability/network_observability/configuring-operator.adoc#network-observability-flowcollector-kafka-config_network_observability[Configuring the FlowCollector resource with Kafka]

include::modules/network-observability-operator-uninstall.adoc[leveloffset=+1]