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Customizing the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh installation

You can customize your Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh by modifying the default Service Mesh custom resource or by creating a new custom resource.

Prerequisites

Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh custom resources

The istio-system project is used as an example throughout the Service Mesh documentation, but you can use other projects as necessary.

A custom resource allows you to extend the API in an Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh project or cluster. When you deploy Service Mesh it creates a default ServiceMeshControlPlane that you can modify to change the project parameters.

The Service Mesh operator extends the API by adding the ServiceMeshControlPlane resource type, which enables you to create ServiceMeshControlPlane objects within projects. By creating a ServiceMeshControlPlane object, you instruct the Operator to install a Service Mesh control plane into the project, configured with the parameters you set in the ServiceMeshControlPlane object.

This example ServiceMeshControlPlane definition contains all of the supported parameters and deploys Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 1.1.11 images based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

The 3scale Istio Adapter is deployed and configured in the custom resource file. It also requires a working 3scale account (SaaS or On-Premises).
Example istio-installation.yaml
apiVersion: maistra.io/v1
kind: ServiceMeshControlPlane
metadata:
  name: basic-install
spec:

  istio:
    global:
      proxy:
        resources:
          requests:
            cpu: 100m
            memory: 128Mi
          limits:
            cpu: 500m
            memory: 128Mi

    gateways:
      istio-egressgateway:
        autoscaleEnabled: false
      istio-ingressgateway:
        autoscaleEnabled: false
        ior_enabled: false

    mixer:
      policy:
        autoscaleEnabled: false

      telemetry:
        autoscaleEnabled: false
        resources:
          requests:
            cpu: 100m
            memory: 1G
          limits:
            cpu: 500m
            memory: 4G

    pilot:
      autoscaleEnabled: false
      traceSampling: 100

    kiali:
      enabled: true

    grafana:
      enabled: true

    tracing:
      enabled: true
      jaeger:
        template: all-in-one

ServiceMeshControlPlane parameters

The following examples illustrate use of the ServiceMeshControlPlane parameters and the tables provide additional information about supported parameters.

The resources you configure for Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh with these parameters, including CPUs, memory, and the number of pods, are based on the configuration of your OpenShift cluster. Configure these parameters based on the available resources in your current cluster configuration.

Istio global example

Here is an example that illustrates the Istio global parameters for the ServiceMeshControlPlane and a description of the available parameters with appropriate values.

In order for the 3scale Istio Adapter to work, disablePolicyChecks must be false.
Example global parameters
  istio:
    global:
      tag: 1.1.0
      hub: registry.redhat.io/openshift-service-mesh/
      proxy:
        resources:
          requests:
            cpu: 10m
            memory: 128Mi
          limits:
      mtls:
        enabled: false
      disablePolicyChecks: true
      policyCheckFailOpen: false
      imagePullSecrets:
        - MyPullSecret
Table 1. Global parameters
Parameter Description Values Default value

disablePolicyChecks

This parameter enables/disables policy checks.

true/false

true

policyCheckFailOpen

This parameter indicates whether traffic is allowed to pass through to the Envoy sidecar when the Mixer policy service cannot be reached.

true/false

false

tag

The tag that the Operator uses to pull the Istio images.

A valid container image tag.

1.1.0

hub

The hub that the Operator uses to pull Istio images.

A valid image repository.

maistra/ or registry.redhat.io/openshift-service-mesh/

mtls

This parameter controls whether to enable/disable Mutual Transport Layer Security (mTLS) between services by default.

true/false

false

imagePullSecrets

If access to the registry providing the Istio images is secure, list an imagePullSecret here.

redhat-registry-pullsecret OR quay-pullsecret

None

These parameters are specific to the proxy subset of global parameters.

Table 2. Proxy parameters
Type Parameter Description Values Default value

Resources

cpu

The amount of CPU resources requested for Envoy proxy.

CPU resources, specified in cores or millicores (for example, 200m, 0.5, 1) based on your environment’s configuration.

10m

memory

The amount of memory requested for Envoy proxy

Available memory in bytes(for example, 200Ki, 50Mi, 5Gi) based on your environment’s configuration.

1024Mi

Limits

cpu

The maximum amount of CPU resources requested for Envoy proxy.

CPU resources, specified in cores or millicores (for example, 200m, 0.5, 1) based on your environment’s configuration.

2000m

memory

The maximum amount of memory Envoy proxy is permitted to use.

Available memory in bytes (for example, 200Ki, 50Mi, 5Gi) based on your environment’s configuration.

128Mi

Istio gateway configuration

Here is an example that illustrates the Istio gateway parameters for the ServiceMeshControlPlane and a description of the available parameters with appropriate values.

Example gateway parameters
  gateways:
       istio-egressgateway:
         autoscaleEnabled: false
         autoscaleMin: 1
         autoscaleMax: 5
       istio-ingressgateway:
         autoscaleEnabled: false
         autoscaleMin: 1
         autoscaleMax: 5
         ior_enabled: true
Table 3. Istio Gateway parameters
Type Parameter Description Values Default value

istio-egressgateway

autoscaleEnabled

This parameter enables/disables autoscaling.

true/false

true

autoscaleMin

The minimum number of pods to deploy for the egress gateway based on the autoscaleEnabled setting.

A valid number of allocatable pods based on your environment’s configuration.

1

autoscaleMax

The maximum number of pods to deploy for the egress gateway based on the autoscaleEnabled setting.

A valid number of allocatable pods based on your environment’s configuration.

5

istio-ingressgateway

autoscaleEnabled

This parameter enables/disables autoscaling.

true/false

true

autoscaleMin

The minimum number of pods to deploy for the ingress gateway based on the autoscaleEnabled setting.

A valid number of allocatable pods based on your environment’s configuration.

1

autoscaleMax

The maximum number of pods to deploy for the ingress gateway based on the autoscaleEnabled setting.

A valid number of allocatable pods based on your environment’s configuration.

5

ior_enabled

Controls whether Automatic Route Creation is enabled.

true/false

false

Automatic route creation

OpenShift routes for Istio Gateways are automatically managed in Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh. Every time an Istio Gateway is created, updated or deleted inside the service mesh, an OpenShift route is created, updated or deleted.

Enabling Automatic Route Creation

A Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh control plane component called Istio OpenShift Routing (IOR) synchronizes the gateway route. Enable IOR as part of the control plane deployment.

If the Gateway contains a TLS section, the OpenShift Route will be configured to support TLS.

  1. In the ServiceMeshControlPlane resource, add the ior_enabled parameter and set it to true. For example, see the following resource snippet:

spec:
  istio:
    gateways:
     istio-egressgateway:
       autoscaleEnabled: false
       autoscaleMin: 1
       autoscaleMax: 5
     istio-ingressgateway:
       autoscaleEnabled: false
       autoscaleMin: 1
       autoscaleMax: 5
       ior_enabled: true

Subdomains

Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh creates the route with the subdomain, but OpenShift Container Platform must be configured to enable it. Subdomains, for example *.domain.com, are supported but not by default.

If the following gateway is created:

apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1alpha3
kind: Gateway
metadata:
  name: gateway1
spec:
  selector:
    istio: ingressgateway
  servers:
  - port:
      number: 80
      name: http
      protocol: HTTP
    hosts:
    - www.bookinfo.com
    - bookinfo.example.com

Then, the following OpenShift Routes are created automatically. You can check that the routes are created with the following command.

$ oc -n <your-control-plane-namespace> get routes
Expected output
NAME           HOST/PORT             PATH  SERVICES               PORT  TERMINATION   WILDCARD
gateway1-lvlfn bookinfo.example.com        istio-ingressgateway   <all>               None
gateway1-scqhv www.bookinfo.com            istio-ingressgateway   <all>               None

If the gateway is deleted, Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh deletes the routes. However, routes created manually are never modified by Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh.

Cluster administrators can refer to Using wildcard routes for instructions on how to enable subdomains.

Istio Mixer configuration

Here is an example that illustrates the Mixer parameters for the ServiceMeshControlPlane and a description of the available parameters with appropriate values.

Example mixer parameters
mixer:
  enabled: true
  policy:
    autoscaleEnabled: false
  telemetry:
    autoscaleEnabled: false
    resources:
    requests:
      cpu: 10m
      memory: 128Mi
      limits:
Table 4. Istio Mixer policy parameters
Parameter Description Values Default value

enabled

This parameter enables/disables Mixer.

true/false

true

autoscaleEnabled

This parameter enables/disables autoscaling. Disable this for small environments.

true/false

true

autoscaleMin

The minimum number of pods to deploy based on the autoscaleEnabled setting.

A valid number of allocatable pods based on your environment’s configuration.

1

autoscaleMax

The maximum number of pods to deploy based on the autoscaleEnabled setting.

A valid number of allocatable pods based on your environment’s configuration.

5
Table 5. Istio Mixer telemetry parameters
Type Parameter Description Values Default

Resources

cpu

The percentage of CPU resources requested for Mixer telemetry.

CPU resources in millicores based on your environment’s configuration.

10m

memory

The amount of memory requested for Mixer telemetry.

Available memory in bytes (for example, 200Ki, 50Mi, 5Gi) based on your environment’s configuration.

128Mi

Limits

cpu

The maximum percentage of CPU resources Mixer telemetry is permitted to use.

CPU resources in millicores based on your environment’s configuration.

4800m

memory

The maximum amount of memory Mixer telemetry is permitted to use.

Available memory in bytes (for example, 200Ki, 50Mi, 5Gi) based on your environment’s configuration.

4G

Istio Pilot configuration

Here is an example that illustrates the Istio Pilot parameters for the ServiceMeshControlPlane and a description of the available parameters with appropriate values.

Example pilot parameters
  pilot:
    resources:
      requests:
        cpu: 100m
        memory: 128Mi
    autoscaleEnabled: false
    traceSampling: 100
Table 6. Istio Pilot parameters
Parameter Description Values Default value

cpu

The percentage of CPU resources requested for Pilot.

CPU resources in millicores based on your environment’s configuration.

10m

memory

The amount of memory requested for Pilot.

Available memory in bytes (for example, 200Ki, 50Mi, 5Gi) based on your environment’s configuration.

128Mi

autoscaleEnabled

This parameter enables/disables autoscaling. Disable this for small environments.

true/false

true

traceSampling

This value controls how often random sampling occurs. Note: Increase for development or testing.

A valid percentage.

1.0

Configuring Kiali

When the Service Mesh Operator creates the ServiceMeshControlPlane it also processes the Kiali resource. The Kiali Operator then uses this object when creating Kiali instances.

The default Kiali parameters specified in the ServiceMeshControlPlane are as follows:

Example Kiali parameters
apiVersion: maistra.io/v1
kind: ServiceMeshControlPlane
spec:
    kiali:
      enabled: true
      dashboard:
        viewOnlyMode: false
      ingress:
        enabled: true
Table 7. Kiali parameters
Parameter Description Values Default value 
enabled

This parameter enables/disables Kiali. Kiali is enabled by default.

true/false

true

 
dashboard
   viewOnlyMode

This parameter enables/disables view-only mode for the Kiali console. When view-only mode is enabled, users cannot use the console to make changes to the Service Mesh.

true/false

false

 
ingress
   enabled

This parameter enables/disables ingress for Kiali.

true/false

true

Configuring Kiali for Grafana

When you install Kiali and Grafana as part of Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh the Operator configures the following by default:

  • Grafana is enabled as an external service for Kiali

  • Grafana authorization for the Kiali console

  • Grafana URL for the Kiali console

Kiali can automatically detect the Grafana URL. However if you have a custom Grafana installation that is not easily auto-detectable by Kiali, you must update the URL value in the ServiceMeshControlPlane resource.

Additional Grafana parameters
spec:
  kiali:
    enabled: true
    dashboard:
      viewOnlyMode: false
      grafanaURL:  "https://grafana-istio-system.127.0.0.1.nip.io"
    ingress:
      enabled: true

Configuring Kiali for Jaeger

When you install Kiali and Jaeger as part of Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh the Operator configures the following by default:

  • Jaeger is enabled as an external service for Kiali

  • Jaeger authorization for the Kiali console

  • Jaeger URL for the Kiali console

Kiali can automatically detect the Jaeger URL. However if you have a custom Jaeger installation that is not easily auto-detectable by Kiali, you must update the URL value in the ServiceMeshControlPlane resource.

Additional Jaeger parameters
spec:
  kiali:
    enabled: true
    dashboard:
      viewOnlyMode: false
      jaegerURL: "http://jaeger-query-istio-system.127.0.0.1.nip.io"
    ingress:
      enabled: true

Configuring Jaeger

When the Service Mesh Operator creates the ServiceMeshControlPlane resource it also creates the Jaeger resource. The Jaeger Operator then uses this object when creating Jaeger instances.

The default Jaeger parameters specified in the ServiceMeshControlPlane are as follows:

Default all-in-one Jaeger parameters
  apiVersion: maistra.io/v1
  kind: ServiceMeshControlPlane
  spec:
    istio:
      tracing:
        enabled: true
        jaeger:
          template: all-in-one
Table 8. Jaeger parameters
Parameter Description Values Default value 
tracing
   enabled

This parameter enables/disables tracing in Service Mesh. Jaeger is installed by default.

true/false

true

 
jaeger
   template

This parameter specifies which Jaeger deployment strategy to use.

  • all-in-one- For development, testing, demonstrations, and proof of concept.

  • production-elasticsearch - For production use.

all-in-one

The default template in the ServiceMeshControlPlane resource is the all-in-one deployment strategy which uses in-memory storage. For production, the only supported storage option is Elasticsearch, therefore you must configure the ServiceMeshControlPlane to request the production-elasticsearch template when you deploy Service Mesh within a production environment.

Configuring Elasticsearch

The default Jaeger deployment strategy uses the all-in-one template so that the installation can be completed using minimal resources. However, because the all-in-one template uses in-memory storage, it is only recommended for development, demo, or testing purposes and should NOT be used for production environments.

If you are deploying Service Mesh and Jaeger in a production environment you must change the template to the production-elasticsearch template, which uses Elasticsearch for Jaeger’s storage needs.

Elasticsearch is a memory intensive application. The initial set of nodes specified in the default OpenShift Container Platform installation may not be large enough to support the Elasticsearch cluster. You should modify the default Elasticsearch configuration to match your use case and the resources you have requested for your OpenShift Container Platform installation. You can adjust both the CPU and memory limits for each component by modifying the resources block with valid CPU and memory values. Additional nodes must be added to the cluster if you want to run with the recommended amount (or more) of memory. Ensure that you do not exceed the resources requested for your OpenShift Container Platform installation.

Default "production" Jaeger parameters with Elasticsearch
  apiVersion: maistra.io/v1
  kind: ServiceMeshControlPlane
  spec:
    istio:
      tracing:
      enabled: true
      ingress:
        enabled: true
      jaeger:
        template: production-elasticsearch
        elasticsearch:
          nodeCount: 3
          redundancyPolicy:
          resources:
            requests:
              cpu: "1"
              memory: "16Gi"
            limits:
              cpu: "1"
              memory: "16Gi"
Table 9. Elasticsearch parameters
Parameter Description Values Default Value Examples 
tracing:
  enabled

This parameter enables/disables tracing in Service Mesh. Jaeger is installed by default.

true/false

true

 
ingress:
  enabled

This parameter enables/disables ingress for Jaeger.

true/false

true

 
jaeger
   template

This parameter specifies which Jaeger deployment strategy to use.

all-in-one/production-elasticsearch

all-in-one

 
elasticsearch:
  nodeCount

Number of Elasticsearch nodes to create.

Integer value.

1

Proof of concept = 1, Minimum deployment =3

 
requests:
  cpu

Number of central processing units for requests, based on your environment’s configuration.

Specified in cores or millicores (for example, 200m, 0.5, 1).

1Gi

Proof of concept = 500m, Minimum deployment =1

 
requests:
  memory

Available memory for requests, based on your environment’s configuration.

Specified in bytes (for example, 200Ki, 50Mi, 5Gi).

500m

Proof of concept = 1Gi, Minimum deployment = 16Gi*

 
limits:
  cpu

Limit on number of central processing units, based on your environment’s configuration.

Specified in cores or millicores (for example, 200m, 0.5, 1).

Proof of concept = 500m, Minimum deployment =1

 
limits:
  memory

Available memory limit based on your environment’s configuration.

Specified in bytes (for example, 200Ki, 50Mi, 5Gi).

Proof of concept = 1Gi, Minimum deployment = 16Gi*

 




* Each Elasticsearch node can operate with a lower memory setting though this is not recommended for production deployments. For production use, you should have no less than 16Gi allocated to each pod by default, but preferably allocate as much as you can, up to 64Gi per pod.











Procedure


    

  1. 

    Log in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console as a user with the cluster-admin role.
    

    2. 

  2. 

    Navigate to Operators → Installed Operators.
    

    3. 

  3. 

    Click the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator.
    

    4. 

  4. 

    Click the Istio Service Mesh Control Plane tab.
    

    5. 

  5. 

    Click the name of your control plane file, for example, basic-install.
    

    6. 

  6. 

    Click the YAML tab.
    

    7. 

  7. 

    Edit the Jaeger parameters, replacing the default all-in-one template with parameters for the production-elasticsearch template, modified for your use case.  Ensure that the indentation is correct.
    

    8. 

  8. 

    Click Save.
    

    9. 

  9. 

    Click Reload.
OpenShift Container Platform redeploys Jaeger and creates the Elasticsearch resources based on the specified parameters.
    

    10. 









Configuring the Elasticsearch index cleaner job




When the Service Mesh Operator creates the ServiceMeshControlPlane it also creates the custom resource (CR) for Jaeger. The Jaeger operator then uses this CR when creating Jaeger instances.






When using Elasticsearch storage, by default a job is created to clean old traces from it. To configure the options for this job, you edit the Jaeger custom resource (CR), to customize it for your use case. The relevant options are listed below.








  apiVersion: jaegertracing.io/v1
  kind: Jaeger
  spec:
    strategy: production
    storage:
      type: elasticsearch
      esIndexCleaner:
        enabled: false
        numberOfDays: 7
        schedule: "55 23 * * *"







Table 10. Elasticsearch index cleaner parameters








Parameter
Values
Description







enabled


true/ false


Enable or disable the index cleaner job.






numberOfDays


integer value


Number of days to wait before deleting an index.






schedule


"55 23 * * *"


Cron expression for the job to run









For more information about configuring Elasticsearch with OpenShift Container Platform, see  Configuring Elasticsearch.












3scale configuration






Here is an example that illustrates the 3scale Istio Adapter parameters for the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh custom resource and a description of the available parameters with appropriate values.






Example 3scale parameters




threeScale:
  enabled: false
  PARAM_THREESCALE_LISTEN_ADDR: 3333
  PARAM_THREESCALE_LOG_LEVEL: info
  PARAM_THREESCALE_LOG_JSON: true
  PARAM_THREESCALE_LOG_GRPC: false
  PARAM_THREESCALE_REPORT_METRICS: true
  PARAM_THREESCALE_METRICS_PORT: 8080
  PARAM_THREESCALE_CACHE_TTL_SECONDS: 300
  PARAM_THREESCALE_CACHE_REFRESH_SECONDS: 180
  PARAM_THREESCALE_CACHE_ENTRIES_MAX: 1000
  PARAM_THREESCALE_CACHE_REFRESH_RETRIES: 1
  PARAM_THREESCALE_ALLOW_INSECURE_CONN: false
  PARAM_THREESCALE_CLIENT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS: 10
  PARAM_THREESCALE_GRPC_CONN_MAX_SECONDS: 60







Table 11. 3scale parameters









Parameter
Description
Values
Default value







enabled


Whether to use the 3scale adapter


true/false


false






PARAM_THREESCALE_LISTEN_ADDR


Sets the listen address for the gRPC server


Valid port number


3333






PARAM_THREESCALE_LOG_LEVEL


Sets the minimum log output level.


debug, info, warn, error, or none


info






PARAM_THREESCALE_LOG_JSON


Controls whether the log is formatted as JSON


true/false


true






PARAM_THREESCALE_LOG_GRPC


Controls whether the log contains gRPC info


true/false


true






PARAM_THREESCALE_REPORT_METRICS


Controls whether 3scale system and backend metrics are collected and reported to Prometheus


true/false


true






PARAM_THREESCALE_METRICS_PORT


Sets the port that the 3scale /metrics endpoint can be scrapped from


Valid port number


8080






PARAM_THREESCALE_CACHE_TTL_SECONDS


Time period, in seconds, to wait before purging expired items from the cache


Time period in seconds


300






PARAM_THREESCALE_CACHE_REFRESH_SECONDS


Time period before expiry when cache elements are attempted to be refreshed


Time period in seconds


180






PARAM_THREESCALE_CACHE_ENTRIES_MAX


Max number of items that can be stored in the cache at any time. Set to 0 to disable caching


Valid number


1000






PARAM_THREESCALE_CACHE_REFRESH_RETRIES


The number of times unreachable hosts are retried during a cache update loop


Valid number


1






PARAM_THREESCALE_ALLOW_INSECURE_CONN


Allow to skip certificate verification when calling 3scale APIs. Enabling this is not recommended.


true/false


false






PARAM_THREESCALE_CLIENT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS


Sets the number of seconds to wait before terminating requests to 3scale System and Backend


Time period in seconds


10






PARAM_THREESCALE_GRPC_CONN_MAX_SECONDS


Sets the maximum amount of seconds (+/-10% jitter) a connection may exist before it is closed


Time period in seconds


60













Next steps