> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://sambanova-systems.mintlify.site/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Prerequisites

## What you need before you start

| Requirement                                             | How to confirm                                                                     |
| :------------------------------------------------------ | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Kubernetes cluster running                              | `kubectl cluster-info`                                                             |
| Active kubeconfig pointing to the right cluster         | `kubectl config current-context`                                                   |
| `kube-prometheus-stack` installed (optional – see note) | `kubectl get pods -n monitoring` – Prometheus and Grafana pods should be `Running` |
| `kubectl` configured for your cluster                   | `kubectl get nodes`                                                                |
| Helm v3+ installed                                      | `helm version`                                                                     |
| `gcloud` CLI installed and authenticated                | `gcloud version` and `gcloud auth print-access-token`                              |
| SambaRack Manager (`snctl`) installed and configured    | `snctl version`                                                                    |
| Nodes labeled with `snRduArch`                          | `kubectl get nodes --show-labels` – see note below                                 |

<Note>
  `kube-prometheus-stack` is the reference architecture SambaNova recommends, but it is not required. If you already manage your own Prometheus and Grafana, you can skip installing `kube-prometheus-stack` and configure your Prometheus scrape targets directly from the exporter endpoints. Contact SambaNova support for guidance on custom monitoring setups.
</Note>

**Node labels**: SambaNova nodes must be labeled with `snRduArch` for the DaemonSets to schedule correctly. If you set up SambaStack following the [on-prem quickstart](../../../getting-started/on-prem), this label was applied during that process. If a node is missing its `snRduArch` label and DaemonSet pods become `Pending`, see [Troubleshooting](./troubleshooting) for steps to apply the label.

## Credentials you will need

You need three sets of credentials:

### 1. Google Cloud service account key file (from SambaNova)

This key file is used to create an image pull secret that allows Kubernetes to authenticate with the SambaNova artifact registry.

Contact your SambaNova representative. They provide the `.json` key file, the registry URL, and the chart version number.

### 2. XRDU BMC credentials (from your BMC configuration)

The XRDU exporter authenticates to each XRDU BMC to collect metrics. This requires a read-only user configured on your XRDU BMCs.

This user is set up on the BMC during SambaRack installation. Contact your SambaNova representative or your infrastructure team for the read-only username and password. If one has not been created yet, it must be configured on the BMC before proceeding.

You can also retrieve BMC credentials from SambaRack Manager:

```bash theme={null}
snctl secret get --device-type bmc --show-value
```

### 3. BMC and XRDU IP addresses (from snctl)

The XRDU exporter needs the management IP of every XRDU BMC it will scrape. For each rack in your system, repeat the following steps:

```bash theme={null}
# List all nodes with their details
snctl node list --output wide

# Show XRDU details for a specific node
snctl node show <node-name>
```

For each node, note down:

* The Kubernetes node name (matches `kubectl get nodes` output exactly)
* The XRDU BMC IP address(es) – a node can have multiple XRDUs attached (a standard rack has 8 XRDUs)

<Warning>
  The `.env` file and GCP key file you create during installation contain credentials. Restrict permissions after creating them:

  ```bash theme={null}
  chmod 600 .env
  chmod 600 /path/to/gcp-key.json
  echo ".env" >> .gitignore
  ```
</Warning>

<Card title="Next: Install and verification" href="./install-and-verification" icon="circle-play">
  Install the Helm chart and verify all three exporters are running
</Card>