Fluentd Logging¶

Overview¶

The Service Proxy for Kubernetes (SPK) Fluentd logging Pod is an open source data collector that can be configured to receive logging data from the SPK Controller, Service Proxy Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM), and Distributed Session State Managment (dSSM) Pods. To create log file directories for each of the SPK Pods, Fluentd must bind to a Kubernetes persistence volume.

This document guides you through understanding, configuring and deploying the f5-fluentd logging container.

Fluentd Service¶

After installing Fluentd, a Service object is created to receive logging data on TCP service port 54321, and forward the data to Fluentd on TCP service port 24224. Ensure the Service port is available, and the cluster has CoreDNS enabled. In this example, the SPK components will need to resolve the f5-toda-fluentd.spk-utilities hostname:

Example Fluentd Service:

Name:              f5-toda-fluentd
Namespace:         spk-utilities
IP:                10.109.102.215
Port:              <unset>  54321/TCP
Endpoints:         10.244.1.75:24224

Example Fluentd integration:

_images/spk-fluentd-logging.png

Log file locations¶

Fluentd collects logging data in the following log files:

Container	Log file
f5-dssm-sentinel	/var/log/f5/f5-dssm-sentinel-0/sentinel.log
f5-dssm-db	/var/log/f5/f5-dssm-db-0/dssm.log
f5ingress	/var/log/f5/helm_release-f5ingress/pod_name/f5ingress.log
f5-tmm	/var/log/f5/f5-tmm/pod_name/f5-fsm-tmm.log
f5-tmm-routing	/var/log/f5/f5-tmm/pod_name/f5-tmm-routing.log

_images/spk_info.png Note: To modify the TMM logging level, review the bdt_cli section of the Debug Sidecar overview.

Requirements¶

Prior to installing Fluentd, ensure you have:

An OpenShift cluster.
An available persistence volume.
Installed the SPK software.
A Linux based workstation with Helm installed.

Procedures¶

Installation¶

Use the following steps to the install the f5-fluentd container.

Change into local directory with the SPK files, and list the files in the tar directory:

In this example, the SPK files are in the spkinstall directory:

cd spkinstall

ls -1 tar

In this example, Fluentd Helm chart is named f5-toda-fluentd-3.0.16.tgz:

csrc-v0.3.7.tgz
cwc-v2.0.8.tgz
f5-cert-gen-0.5.2.tgz
f5-cert-manager-0.5.12.tgz
f5-dssm-3.0.25.tgz
f5-toda-fluentd-3.0.16.tgz
f5ingress-v10.0.60.tgz
rabbitmq-2.0.5.tgz
spk-docker-images.tgz

Create a new Project for the f5-fluentd container:

Note: This Project can also be used by the dSSM Database Pods in the next integration stage.
```
oc new-project <project>
```
In this example, a new Project named spk-utilities is created:
```
oc new-project spk-utilities
```
Create a Helm values file named fluentd-values.yaml, and set the image.repository and the persistence.storageClass parameters:
```
image:
  repository: "<registry>"

persistence:
  enabled: true
  storageClass: "<name>"
```
In this example, Helm pulls the f5-fluentd image from registry.com, and the container will bind to the storageClass named managed-nfs-storage:
```
image:
  repository: "local.registry.com"

persistence:
  enabled: true
  storageClass: "managed-nfs-storage"
```
In fluentd-values.yaml file set the serviceAccount.create parameter:

Note: The serviceAccount will not be created by default.
```
serviceAccount:
  create: false
  name: default
```
Required: Add the following parameters to the values file to collect logging data from the each of the enabled SPK Pods:

Important: The Fluentbit and Fluentd configurations are mandatory for proper log file recovery in the event of pod or container restarts; without this configuration, the users will not be able to recover their log files.
```
f5ingress_logs:
  enabled: true
  stdout: true
dssm_logs:
  enabled: true
  stdout: true
dssm_sentinel_logs:
  enabled: true
  stdout: true
cm_logs:
## Enable Cert manager logging
  enabled: true
  stdout: true
```
Install the f5-fluentd container and reference the fluentd-values.yaml values file. Be certain to save the Fluentd hostname for the Controller installation:

In this example, the Fluentd Pod installs to the spk-utilities Project.
```
helm install f5-fluentd tar/f5-toda-fluentd-3.0.16.tgz -f fluentd-values.yaml -n spk-utilities
```
Note: In this example, the Fluentd hostname is f5-toda-fluentd.spk-utilities.svc.cluster.local.:
```
FluentD hostname: f5-toda-fluentd.spk-utilities.svc.cluster.local.
FluentD port: "54321"
```

The f5-fluentd container should now be successfully installed:

oc get pods

In this example, the Fluentd Pod STATUS is Running:

NAME                              READY   STATUS    
f5-toda-fluentd-8cf96967b-jxckr   1/1     Running  

Fluentd should also be bound to the persistent volume:

oc get pvc

In this example, the Fluentd Pod PVC displays STATUS as Bound:

NAME              STATUS   VOLUME                                     STORAGECLASS
f5-toda-fluentd   Bound    pvc-7d36b530-b718-466c-9b6e-895e8f1079a2   managed-nfs-storage

Viewing logs¶

After installing the Controller and dSSM Pods, you can use the following steps to view the logs in the f5-fluentd container:

oc exec -it deploy/f5-toda-fluentd -n <project> -- sh

In this example, the container is in the spk-utilities Project:

oc exec -it deploy/f5-toda-fluentd -n spk-utilities -- sh

Change to the main logging directory, and list the subdirectories:
```
cd /var/log/f5; ls
```
In this example, logging directories are present for the f5ingress, f5-tmm, f5-dssm-db, and f5-dssm-sentinel Pods:
```
f5-dssm-db-0  f5-dssm-db-1  f5-dssm-db-2  f5-dssm-sentinel-0  
f5-dssm-sentinel-1  f5-dssm-sentinel-2  f5-ingress-f5ingress  f5-tmm  
```
Change into one of the subdirectories, for example f5-dssm-db-0:
```
cd f5-dssm-db-0
```
View the logs using the more command:
```
more -d dssm.log
```

Next step¶

Continue to one of the following steps listed by installation precedence:

Optional: Install the dSSM Database to store session-state information.
Required: Install the SPK Controller and Service Proxy TMM Pods.

Feedback¶

Provide feedback to improve this document by emailing spkdocs@f5.com.

Supplemental¶

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