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Status Future consideration
Workspace Instana
Categories Kubernetes Tracing
Created by Guest
Created on Jul 8, 2025

Implement namespace exclusion functionality for new Kubernetes sensor (k8sensor)

Problem: Current IBM Instana Kubernetes sensor lacks namespace exclusion functionality, causing uncontrolled data collection and billing increases from system/excluded namespaces.

Business Impact: Organizations cannot control monitoring scope, leading to unnecessary costs and operational noise from unwanted namespace monitoring (kube-system, automation, management namespaces, etc.).

Current State: Both legacy and current K8s sensors fail to properly exclude namespaces - legacy sensor is EOL, current sensor missing this critical feature entirely.

Customer Need: Ability to exclude specific Kubernetes namespaces from Instana monitoring through configuration parameters (similar to legacy namespaceExcludes or environment variables like INSTANA_KUBERNETES_NAMESPACE_EXCLUDES).

Use Cases: Exclude system namespaces (kube-system)

Expected Behavior: When namespaces are configured for exclusion, they should not appear in Instana UI and no metrics/data should be collected from pods in those namespaces.

Request: Implement namespace exclusion functionality in current Kubernetes sensor with clear documentation and migration path from legacy configurations.

Priority: High - directly impacts customer billing and operational efficiency for Kubernetes deployments.

Idea priority High