# Configuring Health Checks

Bindplane has several health check endpoints. These endpoints are useful for monitoring the status of Bindplane and its dependencies.

Requests to the status endpoints should be made at most every 60 seconds. The health checks perform internal logic that may be expensive. **Do not use them for high-frequency checks**, such as Kubernetes probes or load balancer health checks.

You can use the unauthorized `/health` endpoint to determine if the service is running. This endpoint does not require authentication and is safe to call frequently. The `/health` endpoint is always available and does not require configuration.

## Configuration

Advanced health checks are disabled by default. To enable them, you must configure an API key in the Bindplane configuration file. This key is used to authenticate requests to the health check endpoints. The key should be a UUID generated using a tool like `uuidgen`. This is necessary because the health check endpoints are potentially expensive as they check the status of multiple services.

### Linux

Add the following section to the configuration file at `/etc/bindplane/config.yaml`. The value for `keys` should be generated using the `uuidgen` command.

```yaml
status:
  enabled: true
  keys:
    - <your uuid>
```

Restart the service with `sudo systemctl restart bindplane`.

### Kubernetes

If using the Helm chart, set the following `extraEnv` values. Use a UUID generated with `uuidgen`.

```yaml
- name: BINDPLANE_STATUS_ENABLED
  value: 'true'
- name: BINDPLANE_STATUS_KEYS
  value: '<your uuid>'
```

Alternatively, you can store the status key in a kube secret and reference it.

```yaml
- name: BINDPLANE_STATUS_ENABLED
  value: 'true'
- name: BINDPLANE_STATUS_KEYS
  valueFrom:
    secretKeyRef:
      name: bindplane-status-key
      key: status-key
```

Once configured, update your deployment using `helm upgrade`.

## Using the Health Check Endpoint

Once enabled, you can interact with the health check endpoint using `curl`. The `/status/v1/health` endpoint checks the following components:

* PostgreSQL
* Event Bus
* Prometheus
* Transform Agent

Example request:

```bash
curl -k -v \
 -H 'X-Bindplane-Statuscheck-Key: 735d47f0-1c4c-421d-8b56-381b4351c7d3' \
 https://my-bindplane.corp/status/v1/health
```

You can check specific services using the following endpoints:

* `/status/v1/health/store` (PostgreSQL)
* `/status/v1/health/prometheus`
* `/status/v1/health/transform-agent`
* `/status/v1health/eventbus`

All endpoints will return `200 OK` if the component is healthy.


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