operator VS lens

There is also victoriametrics-operator and victoriametrics k8s stack helm chart.

Try VictoriaMetrics operator for k8s, which would store data to VictoriaMetrics DBaaS at AWS.

For metrics there is VictoriaMetrics operator and helm chart, which can be used for monitoring Kubernetes. See this guide.

will fit both bare metals and k8s environment;

There is also https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/operator

Just use Grafana Loki for logs and victoriametrics operator for metrics.

was designed to run on premise, but also can run in k8s via k8s operator.

Lens

Generally I felt as if I was diving in the deepest of waters without the correct equipement and that was horrifying. Unfortunately to me, I had to dive even deeper before getting equiped with tools like ArgoCD, and k8slens. I had to start working with... HELM.

Indeed you can, with several "paid" features removed, like log tailing and pod shells. They deliberately hobbled the product. If you want to use Lens, my advice is pay for the supported version.

yes I know there is lens, but it does not allow me to see logs of multiple pods at same time and what is even more important it is not friendly for ephemeral clusters - in my case with help of kind I am recreating whole cluster each time from scratch

Let's wait for few seconds for the pods to become green, I am using Lens, it's awesome btw.

You probably don't need Rancher unless you need a GUI or manage multiple clusters, Lens or k9s might be a better fit for your use case.

`openlens` is now preferred over `Lens`, it has everything you need and none of the fluff that Lens wants to charge you for.