1. Documentation
    2. Page history / Open an issue
×

Event delivery workflows using channels

Channels are custom resources that define a single event-forwarding and persistence layer.

Channel workflow overview

After events have been sent to a channel from an event source or producer, these events can be sent to multiple Knative services, or other sinks, by using a subscription.

InMemoryChannel and KafkaChannel channel implementations can be used with OpenShift Serverless for development use.

The following are limitations of InMemoryChannel type channels:

  • No event persistence is available. If a pod goes down, events on that pod are lost.

  • InMemoryChannel channels do not implement event ordering, so two events that are received in the channel at the same time can be delivered to a subscriber in any order.

  • If a subscriber rejects an event, there are no re-delivery attempts by default. You can configure re-delivery attempts by modifying the delivery spec in the Subscription object.

Apache Kafka on OpenShift Serverless is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features, see https://access.redhat.com/support/offerings/techpreview/.

Configuring the default channel implementation

The default-ch-webhook config map can be used to specify the default channel implementation for the cluster or for one or more namespaces.

You can make changes to the knative-eventing namespace config maps, including the default-ch-webhook config map, by using the OpenShift Serverless Operator to propagate changes. To do this, you must modify the KnativeEventing custom resource.

Prerequisites

  • You have cluster administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform.

  • You have installed the OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing on your cluster.

Procedure

  • Modify the KnativeEventing custom resource to add configuration details for the default-ch-webhook config map:

    apiVersion: operator.knative.dev/v1alpha1
kind: KnativeEventing
metadata:
  name: knative-eventing
  namespace: knative-eventing
spec:
  config: (1)
    default-ch-webhook: (2)
      default-ch-config: |
        clusterDefault: (3)
          apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1
          kind: InMemoryChannel
          spec:
            delivery:
              backoffDelay: PT0.5S
              backoffPolicy: exponential
              retry: 5
        namespaceDefaults: (4)
          my-namespace:
            apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1beta1
            kind: KafkaChannel
            spec:
              numPartitions: 1
              replicationFactor: 1
    1 In spec.config, you can specify the config maps that you want to add modified configurations for.
    2 The default-ch-webhook config map can be used to specify the default channel implementation for the cluster or for one or more namespaces.
    3 The cluster-wide default channel type configuration. In this example, the default channel implementation for the cluster is InMemoryChannel.
    4 The namespace-scoped default channel type configuration. In this example, the default channel implementation for the my-namespace namespace is KafkaChannel.

    Configuring a namespace-specific default overrides any cluster-wide settings.

Creating channels

Developers can create channels by instantiating a supported Channel object.

After you create a Channel object, a mutating admission webhook adds a set of spec.channelTemplate properties for the Channel object based on the default channel implementation. For example, for an InMemoryChannel default implementation, the Channel object looks as follows:

apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1
kind: Channel
metadata:
  name: example-channel
  namespace: default
spec:
  channelTemplate:
    apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1
    kind: InMemoryChannel

The spec.channelTemplate properties cannot be changed after creation, because they are set by the default channel mechanism rather than by the user.

The channel controller then creates the backing channel instance based on the spec.channelTemplate configuration.

When this mechanism is used with the example above, two objects are created: a generic backing channel and an InMemoryChannel channel. If you are using a different default channel implementation, for example, Apache Kafka, a generic backing channel and KafkaChannel channel are created.

The backing channel acts as a proxy that copies its subscriptions to the user-created channel object, and sets the user-created channel object status to reflect the status of the backing channel.

Creating a channel using the Developer perspective

You can create a channel with the cluster default configuration by using the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

Prerequisites

To create channels using the Developer perspective ensure that:

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

  • You have logged in to the web console.

  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to +Add → Channel.

  2. Select the type of Channel object that you want to create from the Type drop-down.

    Currently only InMemoryChannel type Channel objects are supported.

  3. Click Create.

Verification steps

  • Confirm that the channel now exists by navigating to the Topology page.

    View the channel in the Topology view

Creating a channel using the Knative CLI

You can create a channel with the cluster default configuration by using the kn CLI.

Prerequisites

To create channels using the kn CLI, ensure that:

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

  • You have installed the kn CLI.

  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  • Create a channel:

    $ kn channel create <channel_name> --type <channel_type>

    The channel type is optional, but where specified, must be given in the format Group:Version:Kind. For example, you can create an InMemoryChannel object:

    $ kn channel create mychannel --type messaging.knative.dev:v1:InMemoryChannel
    Example output
    Channel 'mychannel' created in namespace 'default'.
Verification steps

  • To confirm that the channel now exists, list the existing channels and inspect the output:

    $ kn channel list
    Example output
    kn channel list
NAME        TYPE              URL                                                     AGE   READY   REASON
mychannel   InMemoryChannel   http://mychannel-kn-channel.default.svc.cluster.local   93s   True

Creating a default implementation channel by using YAML

You can create a channel by using YAML with the cluster default configuration.

Prerequisites

  • OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

To create a Channel object:

  1. Create a YAML file and copy the following sample code into it:

    apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1
kind: Channel
metadata:
  name: example-channel
  namespace: default

  2. Apply the YAML file:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>

Creating a Kafka channel by using YAML

You can create a Kafka channel by using YAML to create the KafkaChannel object.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and the KnativeKafka custom resource are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. Create a YAML file and copy the following sample code into it:

    apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1beta1
kind: KafkaChannel
metadata:
  name: example-channel
  namespace: default
spec:
  numPartitions: 3
  replicationFactor: 1

  2. Apply the YAML file:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>

Connecting a channel to an event source

Connecting a channel to an event source allows the channel to receive events from that source. These events can then be forwarded to an event sink by using subscriptions.

Connect an event source to a channel using the Developer perspective

You can create multiple event source types in OpenShift Container Platform that can be connected to channels.

Prerequisites

To connect an event source to a channel using the Developer perspective, ensure that:

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving, and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

  • You have logged in to the web console.

  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

  • You have created a channel by following the documentation on Creating a channel using OpenShift Container Platform web console.

Procedure

  1. Create an event source of any type, by following the documentation on Getting started with event sources.

  2. In the Developer perspective, navigate to Event Sources.

  3. In the Sink section of the Event Sources form view, select Resource. Then use the drop-down to select your channel.

    Use your channel as the Resource

  4. Click Create.

Verification steps

You can verify that the event source was created and is connected to the sink by viewing the Topology page.

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to Topology.

  2. View the event source and click on the connected channel to see the channel details in the side panel.

    View the source and connected channel

Creating subscriptions

Developers can create subscriptions that allow event sinks to subscribe to channels and receive events directly.

Creating subscriptions in the Developer perspective

Prerequisites

To create subscriptions using the Developer perspective, ensure that:

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving, and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

  • You have logged in to the web console.

  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

  • You have created an event sink, such as a Knative service, and a channel.

Procedure

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to the Topology page.

  2. Create a subscription using one of the following methods:

    1. Hover over the channel that you want to create a subscription for, and drag the arrow. The Add Subscription option is displayed.

      Create a subscription for the channel

      1. Select your sink as a subscriber from the drop-down list.

      2. Click Add.

    2. If the service is available in the Topology view under the same namespace or project as the channel, click on the channel that you want to create a subscription for, and drag the arrow directly to a service to immediately create a subscription from the channel to that service.

Verification steps

  • After the subscription has been created, you can see it represented as a line that connects the channel to the service in the Topology view: