I got a 'config file not found' error in kubernetes environment

[JayJay-K]

Question

Hello.

I'm trying to deploy vector on the kubernetes environment.
But I got a 'config file not found' error.

I have 10 nodes in the cluster.
Each node has specific log file (e.g. /var/log/my-service.log)
My goal is to get log data from these files in each node and send them to the remote entity.

Here is my steps.

1. Add helm repo

• Add repo

     $ helm repo add vector https://helm.vector.dev
     $ helm repo update

• Search list of vector helm-chart

     $ helm search repo vector
          NAME                            CHART VERSION   APP VERSION             DESCRIPTION
          vector/vector                   0.52.0          0.55.0-distroless-libc  A lightweight, ultra-fast tool for building obs...
          vector/vector-agent             0.21.3          0.19.3                  A Helm chart to collect Kubernetes logs with Ve...
          vector/vector-aggregator        0.21.3          0.19.3                  A Helm chart to aggregate data with Vector
          vector/vector-shared            0.2.1                                   Shared dependencies of Vector Helm charts

※ My first question:
I could see 4 different helm-chart. what is the proper helm-chart? Should I do select more than one?

2. Pull helm-chart to local

• I hope to check and manipulate helm-chart, so I pull it
  (I decided to get 'vector' helm-chart among them for test now)

     $ helm pull vector --repo https://helm.vector.dev/
     $ tar -xvzf vector-0.52.0.tgz

3. Install helm

• Just tried to install helm

     $ kubectl create ns vec
     $ helm -n vec install vector ./vector

• I could see running pod.

     $ kubectl -n vec get pod
          NAME                                 READY   STATUS    RESTARTS       AGE
          vector-0                             1/1     Running   0              59m

※ My second question:
But when I access vector with following command, I saw an error.

     $ kubectl -n tetns exec -it statefulset/vector -- vector
          2026-05-14T09:17:54.975638Z  INFO vector::app: Log level is enabled. level="info"
          2026-05-14T09:17:54.995272Z ERROR vector::config::loading: Config file not found in path. path="/etc/vector/vector.yaml" internal_log_rate_limit=false
          command terminated with exit code 78

Where should I put config file (vector.yaml)?
I tried to put vector.yaml to the host's "/etc/vector/vector.yaml" path, but it didn't work.

Thanks.

Vector Config

# I think my config's sources should be file.
# But I'm just using stdin for test
sources:
  in:
    type: "stdin"

sinks:
  out:
    inputs:
      - "in"
    type: "console"
    encoding:
      codec: "text"

Vector Logs

2026-05-14T09:17:54.975638Z  INFO vector::app: Log level is enabled. level="info"
2026-05-14T09:17:54.995272Z ERROR vector::config::loading: Config file not found in path. path="/etc/vector/vector.yaml" internal_log_rate_limit=false
command terminated with exit code 78

[pront]

Hey @JayJay-K,

I could see 4 different helm-chart. what is the proper helm-chart?

Use vector/vector, the others are legacy. For your use case you might want role: Agent so one Vector pod runs on every node. The vector-0 pod name you posted is from the default Aggregator (StatefulSet) role, which is not what you want here.

Where should I put config file (vector.yaml)?

You do not put vector.yaml on the host filesystem. The Helm chart renders the config into a Kubernetes ConfigMap and mounts it inside the pod at /etc/vector/vector.yaml. Configure it through customConfig in your Helm values and then install/upgrade with:

helm upgrade --install vector vector/vector -n vec -f values.yaml

[JayJay-K]

"Not found" config file problem has solved.
Thanks!