I am running prometheus on a kubernetes cluster and trying to scrape pods, nodes, services. I am getting the following error when i reload the config by sending POST request-

failed to reload config: couldn't load configuration (-config.file=/etc/prometheus/conf/prometheus.yml): unknown fields in kubernetes_sd_config: api_server

While trying to follow official docs for writing config file, I am not able to understand the relabel_configs, source_labels, target_labels, action, keep, regex part. Can somebody explain these parts and also the use of labels in prometheus. Thanks in advance.

Following is the prometheus.yml file-

scrape_configs:


- job_name: 'kubernetes-nodes'

  # Default to scraping over https. If required, just disable this or change to
  # `http`.
  scheme: https

  # This TLS & bearer token file config is used to connect to the actual scrape
  # endpoints for cluster components. This is separate to discovery auth
  # configuration because discovery & scraping are two separate concerns in
  # Prometheus. The discovery auth config is automatic if Prometheus runs inside
  # the cluster. Otherwise, more config options have to be provided within the
  # <kubernetes_sd_config>.
  tls_config:
    ca_file: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/ca.crt
    # If your node certificates are self-signed or use a different CA to the
    # master CA, then disable certificate verification below. Note that
    # certificate verification is an integral part of a secure infrastructure
    # so this should only be disabled in a controlled environment. You can
    # disable certificate verification by uncommenting the line below.
    #
    # insecure_skip_verify: true
  bearer_token_file: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token

  kubernetes_sd_configs:
  - api_server: "https://kubernetes.default.svc"
  - role: node

  relabel_configs:
  - action: labelmap
    regex: __meta_kubernetes_node_label_(.+)
  - target_label: __address__
    replacement: kubernetes.default.svc:443
  - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_node_name]
    regex: (.+)
    target_label: __metrics_path__
    replacement: /api/v1/nodes/${1}/proxy/metrics

# Scrape config for service endpoints.
#
# The relabeling allows the actual service scrape endpoint to be configured
# via the following annotations:
#
# * `prometheus.io/scrape`: Only scrape services that have a value of `true`
# * `prometheus.io/scheme`: If the metrics endpoint is secured then you will need
# to set this to `https` & most likely set the `tls_config` of the scrape config.
# * `prometheus.io/path`: If the metrics path is not `/metrics` override this.
# * `prometheus.io/port`: If the metrics are exposed on a different port to the
# service then set this appropriately.


# Example scrape config for probing services via the Blackbox Exporter.
#
# The relabeling allows the actual service scrape endpoint to be configured
# via the following annotations:
#
# * `prometheus.io/probe`: Only probe services that have a value of `true`
- job_name: 'kubernetes-services'

  metrics_path: /probe
  params:
    module: [http_2xx]

  kubernetes_sd_configs:
  - api_server: "https://kubernetes.default.svc"
  - role: service

  relabel_configs:
  - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_service_annotation_prometheus_io_probe]
    action: keep
    regex: true
  - source_labels: [__address__]
    target_label: __param_target
  - target_label: __address__
    replacement: blackbox
  - source_labels: [__param_target]
    target_label: instance
  - action: labelmap
    regex: __meta_kubernetes_service_label_(.+)
  - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_namespace]
    target_label: kubernetes_namespace
  - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_service_name]
    target_label: kubernetes_name

# Example scrape config for pods
#
# The relabeling allows the actual pod scrape endpoint to be configured via the
# following annotations:
#
# * `prometheus.io/scrape`: Only scrape pods that have a value of `true`
# * `prometheus.io/path`: If the metrics path is not `/metrics` override this.
# * `prometheus.io/port`: Scrape the pod on the indicated port instead of the
# pod's declared ports (default is a port-free target if none are declared).
- job_name: 'kubernetes-pods'

  kubernetes_sd_configs:
  - api_server: "https://kubernetes.default.svc"
  - role: pod

  relabel_configs:
  - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_annotation_prometheus_io_scrape]
    action: keep
    regex: true
  - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_annotation_prometheus_io_path]
    action: replace
    target_label: __metrics_path__
    regex: (.+)
  - source_labels: [__address__, __meta_kubernetes_pod_annotation_prometheus_io_port]
    action: replace
    regex: ([^:]+)(?::\d+)?;(\d+)
    replacement: $1:$2
    target_label: __address__
  - action: labelmap
    regex: __meta_kubernetes_pod_label_(.+)
  - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_namespace]
    action: replace
    target_label: kubernetes_namespace
  - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_name]
    action: replace
    target_label: kubernetes_pod_name