Kiali
Introduction
Table of contents
Description
A Microservice Architecture breaks up the monolith into many smaller pieces that are composed together. Patterns to secure the communication between services like fault tolerance (via timeout, retry, circuit breaking, etc.) have come up as well as distributed tracing to be able to see where calls are going.
A service mesh can now provide these services on a platform level and frees the application writers from those tasks. Routing decisions are done at the mesh level.
Kiali works with Istio to visualise the service mesh topology, features like circuit breakers or request rates.
Kiali also includes Jaeger Tracing to provide distributed tracing out of the box.
Getting Started
If you are not a developer but just want to run something to see Kiali, then go to https://www.kiali.io for some instructions.
You could also try to use our hack script to quickly install OpenShift, Istio, and Kiali like this:
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kiali/kiali/master/hack/cluster-openshift.sh
sh cluster-openshift.sh --kiali-enabled true up
If you do not already have an Istio-enabled application to test with, you can install one using the Bookinfo Demo install script provided here as a convenience.
There are other demo applications to choose from as well: see some examples.
Docker Image
Kiali is published as a docker image on Docker hub at kiali/kiali
License and Copyright
See the LICENSE file.
Building
Note
|
These build instructions assume you have the following installed on your system: (1) Go Programming Language which must be at least version 1.8.3, (2) git, (3) Docker, and (4) make. To run Kiali on OpenShift after you build it, it is assumed you have a running OpenShift environment available to you. If you do not, you can find a set of instructions on how to set up OpenShift below. To run Kiali on Kubernetes after you built it, it is assumed you have a running Kubernetes environment available to you. |
To build Kiali:
-
Clone this repository inside a GOPATH. These instructions will use the example GOPATH of "/source/kiali/kiali" but you can use whatever you want. Just change the first line of the below instructions to use your GOPATH.
export GOPATH=/source/kiali/kiali
mkdir -p $GOPATH
cd $GOPATH
mkdir -p src/github.com/kiali
cd src/github.com/kiali
git clone git@github.com:kiali/kiali
export PATH=${PATH}:${GOPATH}/bin
-
Install Glide - the Go dependency management tool that Kiali uses to build itself
cd ${GOPATH}/src/github.com/kiali/kiali
make dep-install
-
Tell the dependency manager tool to update the Kiali dependencies
NoteYou should only run this command if you add, remove, or modify a dependency. If you are simply git cloning and building from source, you should skip this step.
cd ${GOPATH}/src/github.com/kiali/kiali
make dep-update
-
Build Kiali
cd ${GOPATH}/src/github.com/kiali/kiali
make build
-
At this point you can run the Kiali tests
cd ${GOPATH}/src/github.com/kiali/kiali
make test
Running
Note
|
If you want to quickly get up and running to play with Kiali and do not wish to git clone the repository, or build anything, see https://kiali.org for instructions. If you do not have a cluster environment (e.g. OpenShift) yet, grab the cluster-openshift.sh convenience script and run it to quickly start an OpenShift cluster environment with Istio installed. If you do not have a service mesh to test with, grab the install-bookinfo-demo.sh convenience script to download and install the Istio Bookinfo Demo service mesh. |
Secrets
Note: There is a secret variable in the configuration called TOKEN_SECRET, be careful with this secret.
Running on OpenShift
Setting up OpenShift
The following section assumes that the user has OpenShift Origin installed.
The OpenShift Origin Documentation will outline all the steps required.
Building the Docker Image
Create the Kiali docker image through the "docker-build" make target:
cd ${GOPATH}/src/github.com/kiali/kiali
make docker-build
Deploying Kiali to OpenShift
Note
|
Before deploying and running Kiali, you must first install and deploy Istio. Required Istio Version: 1.0. There are a few places that you can reference in order to learn how to do this such as here, here, and here. |
Note
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The following make targets assume that the oc command is available in the user’s PATH and that the user is logged in. If you have istiooc instead, create a symlink in your PATH pointing oc to your istiooc binary.
|
The deploy and undeploy commands are automated in the Makefile. The following will undeploy an old installation of Kiali, if available, and deploy a new one:
make openshift-deploy
If you need to set the JAEGER or GRAFANA services, set the URL in the environment variable JAEGER_URL and GRAFANA_URL
Deploying Kiali to OpenShift with commands
Undeploying Kiali from OpenShift
If you want to remove Kiali from your OpenShift environment, you can do so by running the following command:
make openshift-undeploy
Reloading Kiali image in OpenShift
If you already have Kiali installed but you want to recreate the pod with a new docker image, you can run the following command:
make openshift-reload-image
Running on Kubernetes
Setting up Kubernetes
The following section assumes that the user has Kubernetes installed.
Building the Docker Image
Create the Kiali docker image through the "docker-build" make target:
cd ${GOPATH}/src/github.com/kiali/kiali
make docker-build
Note that if you are using minikube, you can build the docker image and push it directly into the minikube docker daemon using the alternative make target minikube-docker
:
cd ${GOPATH}/src/github.com/kiali/kiali
make minikube-docker
Deploying Kiali to Kubernetes
Note
|
Before deploying and running Kiali, you must first install and deploy Istio. Required Istio Version: 1.0. There are a few places that you can reference in order to learn how to do this such as here, here, and here. |
Note
|
The following make targets assume that the kubectl command is available in the user’s PATH.
|
Note
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In order to deploy on Kubernetes and to be able to access the deployed service, you must ensure you have Ingress support. If you are using minikube, you need to run minikube addons enable ingress and add kiali as a hostname in your /etc/hosts via something like this command: echo "$(minikube ip) kiali" | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts
|
The deploy and undeploy commands are automated in the Makefile. The following will undeploy an old installation of Kiali, if available, and deploy a new one:
make k8s-deploy
If you need to set the JAEGER or GRAFANA services, set the URL in the environment variable JAEGER_URL and GRAFANA_URL
Undeploying Kiali from Kubernetes
If you want to remove Kiali from your Kubernetes environment, you can do so by running the following command:
make k8s-undeploy
Reloading Kiali image in Kubernetes
If you already have Kiali installed but you want to recreate the pod with a new docker image, you can run the following command:
make k8s-reload-image
Running Standalone
Sometimes you may want to run Kiali outside of any container environment, perhaps for debugging purposes. To do this, run:
cd ${GOPATH}/src/github.com/kiali/kiali
make install
make run
The "install" target installs the Kiali executable in your GOPATH /bin directory so you can run it outside of the Makefile:
cd ${GOPATH}/src/github.com/kiali/kiali
make install
${GOPATH}/bin/kiali -config <your-config-file>
Environment Variables
Many configuration settings can optionally be set via environment variables. If one of the environment variables below are set, they serve as the default value for its associated YAML configuration setting. The following are currently supported:
Environment Variable Name | Description and YAML Setting |
---|---|
|
Defines how users are to be authenticated. There are three strategies available: "anonymous" (which allows anyone to log in without needing credentials), "login" (which requires users to log in with the credentials found in the Kiali secret), and "openshift" (which requires users to log in with valid OpenShift user credentials). (Default: login) auth:
strategy: VALUE |
|
Tag used to identify a particular instance/installation of the kiali server installation_tag: VALUE |
|
Certificate file used to identify the file server. If set, you must go over https to retrieve content from the file server. identity:
cert_file: VALUE |
|
Private key file used to identify the server. If set, you must go over https to retrieve content from the file server. identity:
private_key_file: VALUE |
|
The namespace where Istio is installed. (Default: istio-system) istio_namespace: VALUE |
|
The label name of app required by Istio. (Default: app) istio_labels:
app_label_name: VALUE |
|
The label name of version required by Istio. (Default: version) istio_labels:
version_label_name: VALUE |
|
Where the http server is bound to. server:
address: VALUE |
|
Where the http server is listening. server:
port: VALUE |
|
Context root path to serve Kiali API and webapp from. (Default: /) server:
web_root: /VALUE |
|
When true, allows the web console to send requests to other domains other than where the console came from. Typically used for development environments only. server:
cors_allow_all: (true|false) |
|
When true, allows additional audit logging on Write operations. (default is true) server:
audit_log: (true|false) |
|
The file server will serve all static content found under this root directory. server:
static_content_root_directory: VALUE |
|
When true, Kiali will expose internal metrics for Prometheus. (default is true) server:
metrics_enabled: VALUE |
|
When server metrics are enabled, port on which the metrics server is started. (default is 9090) server:
metrics_port: VALUE |
|
The annotation used by Istio in a Deployment template. If in_cluster is false then you need to set environments: in_cluster: (true|false) |
|
The URL used to access and query the Prometheus Server. It must be accessible from Kiali pod. (default is external_services:
prometheus_service_url: VALUE |
|
The URL used to query the Prometheus Server for building the runtime metrics dashboards. It must be accessible from Kiali pod. (default is external_services:
prometheus_custom_metrics_url: VALUE |
|
The annotation used by Istio in Pods. (default is external_services:
istio:
istio_sidecar_annotation: VALUE |
|
The annotation used by Istio how Identity Domain. (default is external_services:
istio:
istio_identity_domain: VALUE |
|
The Service of Istio to check version. (default is external_services:
istio:
istio_url_service_version: VALUE |
|
When external_services:
grafana:
display_link: (true|false) |
|
The URL to the Grafana service. When not set, Kiali will report an error as it cannot generate links to Grafana. To avoid this error, either set a valid URL (it must be accessible from user browser), or turn off external_services:
grafana:
url: VALUE |
|
API key to access Grafana. API key only requires external_services:
grafana:
api_key: VALUE |
|
Username to be used when making requests to Grafana. User only requires external_services:
grafana:
username: VALUE |
|
Password to be used when making requests to Grafana. User only requires external_services:
grafana:
password: VALUE |
|
The Kubernetes namespace that holds the Grafana service. (default is external_services:
grafana:
service_namespace: VALUE |
|
The Kubernetes service name for Grafana. (default is external_services:
grafana:
service: VALUE |
|
Search pattern for Grafana Service dashboard. (default is external_services:
grafana:
service_dashboard_pattern: VALUE |
|
Search pattern for Grafana Workload dashboard. (default is external_services:
grafana:
workload_dashboard_pattern: VALUE |
|
The name of the Grafana variable that controls namespaces in dashboards. (default is external_services:
grafana:
var_namespace: VALUE |
|
The name of the Grafana variable that controls services in dashboards. (default is external_services:
grafana:
var_service: VALUE |
|
The name of the Grafana variable that controls workloads in dashboards. (default is external_services:
grafana:
var_workload: VALUE |
|
The name of the Jaeger service.(default is external_services:
jaeger:
service: VALUE |
|
The URL to the Jaeger service. When not set, Kiali throw an error when the user try request to Jaeger (/api/jaeger). external_services:
jaeger:
url: VALUE |
|
An optional list of namespaces/projects excluded from the list of namespaces provided by the API and UI. Regex is supported. This does not affect explicit namespace access. api:
namespaces:
exclude:
- namespacePattern1
- namespacePattern2
- etc.. |
|
The signing key used to generate tokens for user authentication. (default is login_token:
signing_key: VALUE |
|
The token expiration in seconds. (default is 10 hours ⇒ 36000) login_token:
expiration_seconds: VALUE |
|
The Burst value of Kubernetes client (default is 200) kubernetes_config:
burst: VALUE |
|
The QPS value of Kubernetes client (default is 175) kubernetes_config:
qps: VALUE |
|
Flag to use a Kubernetes cache for watching changes and updating pods and controllers data asynchronously. Important Kubernetes cache is not compatible with reduced permissions scenearios. (default is false) kubernetes_config:
cache_enabled: VALUE |
|
The ratio interval (expressed in nanoseconds) used for the cache to perform a full refresh. (default is 300000000) kubernetes_config:
cache_duration: VALUE |
Configure External Services
Jaeger
If you are using the Make task openshift-deploy or k8s-deploy you need to change in the configmap.yaml the value of the jaeger > url
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
name: kiali
labels:
app: kiali
version: ${VERSION_LABEL}
data:
config.yaml: |
server:
port: 20001
external_services:
jaeger:
url: http://jaeger-query-istio-system.127.0.0.1.nip.io
grafana:
url: http://grafana-istio-system.127.0.0.1.nip.io
Grafana
If you are using the Make task openshift-deploy or k8s-deploy you need to change in the configmap.yaml the value of the grafana > url
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
name: kiali
labels:
app: kiali
version: ${VERSION_LABEL}
data:
config.yaml: |
server:
port: 20001
external_services:
jaeger:
url: http://jaeger-query-istio-system.127.0.0.1.nip.io
grafana:
url: http://grafana-istio-system.127.0.0.1.nip.io
Additional Notes
Customize the UI web context root
By default Kiali UI is deployed to the top level of https://kiali-istio-system.<your_cluster_domain_or_ip>/
. In some situation such as when you want to serve Kiali UI along with other apps under the same host name, e.g., example.com/kiali
, example.com/app1
, you can edit Kiali Config Map and provide a different value for web_root
. Note: the path must begin with a /
.
An example of custom web root:
server:
port: 20001
web_root: /kiali
external_services:
jaeger:
...
Running the UI Outside the Core
When developing the Kiali UI you will find it useful to run it outside of the core to make it easier to update the UI code and see the changes without having to recompile. The prefered approach for this is to use a proxy on the UI to mount the core. The process is described here.
To connect with the backend and avoid the javascript prompt requesting authentication you need to send the requests with a specific header.
X-Auth-Type-Kiali-UI: 1
The response will contain the header
WWW-Authenticate: xBasic realm="Kiali"
Otherwise the header will be
WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm="Kiali"
Running A Locally Built UI Inside the Core
If you are developing the UI on your local machine but you want to see it deployed and running inside of the core server, you can do so by setting the environment variable CONSOLE_VERSION to the value "local" when building the docker image via the docker-build
target. By default, your UI’s build/ directory is assumed to be in a directory called kiali-ui
that is a peer directory of the GOPATH root directory for the core server. If it is not, you can set the environment variable CONSOLE_LOCAL_DIR to the value of the path of the root directory for the UI such that $CONSOLE_LOCAL_DIR/build
contains the generated build files for the UI.
For example, if your GOPATH directory for the Kiali project is /source/kiali/kiali
and you have git cloned the Kiali UI repository in /source/kiali/kiali-ui
then you do not need to set CONSOLE_LOCAL_DIR. You can embed your locally built console into the core docker image via:
CONSOLE_VERSION=local make docker-build
If you git cloned the Kiali UI repository in directory /my/git/repo
and have built the UI there (such that the build files are located at /my/git/repo/build
) then you can embed that locally built console into the core docker image via:
CONSOLE_VERSION=local CONSOLE_LOCAL_DIR=/my/git/repo make docker-build
Disabling SSL
In the provided OpenShift templates, SSL is turned on by default. If you want to turn it off, you should:
-
Remove the "tls: termination: reencrypt" option from the Kiali route
-
Remove the "identity" block, with certificate paths, from the Kiali Config Map.
-
Optionally you can also remove the annotation "service.alpha.openshift.io/serving-cert-secret-name", and the related volume that is declared and mounted in Kiali Deployment (but if you don’t, they will just be ignored).
In the provided Kubernetes templates, SSL is turned on by default. If you want to turn it off, you should:
-
Remove the "identity" block, with certificate paths, from the Kiali Config Map.
-
Optionally you can also remove the volume that is declared and mounted in Kiali Deployment (the name of the volume and mount are both "kiali-cert". If you don’t remove these, they will just be ignored.
Running Kiali with commands
Note
|
Before deploying and running Kiali, you must first install and deploy Istio. Required Istio Version: 1.0. There are a few places that you can reference in order to learn how to do this such as here, here, and here. |
Note
|
The installation scripts obtained by curl below can be customized with environment variables. Read the installation scripts for details on what environment variables are used. |
Running in Openshift
Note
|
The following assumes that the oc command is available in the user’s PATH and that the user is logged in. If you have istiooc instead, create a symlink in your PATH pointing oc to your istiooc binary.
|
curl -L http://git.io/getLatestKiali | sh
Running in Kubernetes
Note
|
The following assumes kubectl command is available in the user’s PATH.
|
curl -L http://git.io/getLatestKialiKubernetes | sh
Contributing
All contributions are welcome - Kiali uses the Apache 2 license and does not require any contributor agreement to submit patches. To setup your environment, check instructions in the Building and Running sections.
Get involved by submitting pull requests on GitHub. Before you do, please talk to us.
Talk to us
Ask questions on the Kiali IRC channel (#kiali on freenode) or the Google Groups: kiali-users or kiali-dev.
Issue tracking
The Kiali team is using JIRA for issue tracking. If you do not have a JIRA account, you can also open issues here on GitHub (we are monitoring this as well) for any bugs or problems you encounter or to suggest new features.
When you are looking for issues to get started, you can use this JIRA query for good first issues. If you pick one from the list, please let us know by the above mentioned means.
Code Style Guide
See the Backend Style Guide and the Frontend Style Guide.