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Custom event sources

If you need to ingress events from an event producer that is not included in Knative, or from a producer that emits events which are not in the CloudEvent format, you can do this by creating a custom event source. You can create a custom event source by using one of the following methods:

  • Use a PodSpecable object as an event source, by creating a sink binding.

  • Use a container as an event source, by creating a container source.

Sink binding

The SinkBinding object supports decoupling event production from delivery addressing. Sink binding is used to connect event producers to an event consumer, or sink. An event producer is a Kubernetes resource that embeds a PodSpec template and produces events. A sink is an addressable Kubernetes object that can receive events.

The SinkBinding object injects environment variables into the PodTemplateSpec of the sink, which means that the application code does not need to interact directly with the Kubernetes API to locate the event destination. These environment variables are as follows:

K_SINK

The URL of the resolved sink.

K_CE_OVERRIDES

A JSON object that specifies overrides to the outbound event.

The SinkBinding object currently does not support custom revision names for services.

Creating a sink binding by using YAML

Creating Knative resources by using YAML files uses a declarative API, which enables you to describe event sources declaratively and in a reproducible manner. To create a sink binding by using YAML, you must create a YAML file that defines an SinkBinding object, then apply it by using the oc apply command.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving and Knative Eventing are installed on the cluster.

  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).

  • 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. To check that sink binding is set up correctly, create a Knative event display service, or event sink, that dumps incoming messages to its log.

    1. Create a service YAML file:

      Example service YAML file
      apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: event-display
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
        - image: quay.io/openshift-knative/knative-eventing-sources-event-display:latest

    2. Create the service:

      $ oc apply -f <filename>

  2. Create a sink binding instance that directs events to the service.

    1. Create a sink binding YAML file:

      Example service YAML file
      apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1alpha1
kind: SinkBinding
metadata:
  name: bind-heartbeat
spec:
  subject:
    apiVersion: batch/v1
    kind: Job (1)
    selector:
      matchLabels:
        app: heartbeat-cron

  sink:
    ref:
      apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
      kind: Service
      name: event-display
      1 In this example, any Job with the label app: heartbeat-cron will be bound to the event sink.

    2. Create the sink binding:

      $ oc apply -f <filename>

  3. Create a CronJob object.

    1. Create a cron job YAML file:

      Example cron job YAML file
      apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: heartbeat-cron
spec:
  # Run every minute
  schedule: "* * * * *"
  jobTemplate:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: heartbeat-cron
        bindings.knative.dev/include: "true"
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          restartPolicy: Never
          containers:
            - name: single-heartbeat
              image: quay.io/openshift-knative/heartbeats:latest
              args:
                - --period=1
              env:
                - name: ONE_SHOT
                  value: "true"
                - name: POD_NAME
                  valueFrom:
                    fieldRef:
                      fieldPath: metadata.name
                - name: POD_NAMESPACE
                  valueFrom:
                    fieldRef:
                      fieldPath: metadata.namespace

      To use sink binding, you must manually add a bindings.knative.dev/include=true label to your Knative resources.

      For example, to add this label to a CronJob resource, add the following lines to the Job resource YAML definition:

        jobTemplate:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: heartbeat-cron
        bindings.knative.dev/include: "true"

    2. Create the cron job:

      $ oc apply -f <filename>

  4. Check that the controller is mapped correctly by entering the following command and inspecting the output:

    $ oc get sinkbindings.sources.knative.dev bind-heartbeat -oyaml
    Example output
    spec:
  sink:
    ref:
      apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
      kind: Service
      name: event-display
      namespace: default
  subject:
    apiVersion: batch/v1
    kind: Job
    namespace: default
    selector:
      matchLabels:
        app: heartbeat-cron
Verification

You can verify that the Kubernetes events were sent to the Knative event sink by looking at the message dumper function logs.

  1. Enter the command:

    $ oc get pods

  2. Enter the command:

    $ oc logs $(oc get pod -o name | grep event-display) -c user-container
    Example output
    ☁️  cloudevents.Event
Validation: valid
Context Attributes,
  specversion: 1.0
  type: dev.knative.eventing.samples.heartbeat
  source: https://knative.dev/eventing-contrib/cmd/heartbeats/#event-test/mypod
  id: 2b72d7bf-c38f-4a98-a433-608fbcdd2596
  time: 2019-10-18T15:23:20.809775386Z
  contenttype: application/json
Extensions,
  beats: true
  heart: yes
  the: 42
Data,
  {
    "id": 1,
    "label": ""
  }

Creating a sink binding by using the Knative CLI

You can use the kn source binding create command to create a sink binding by using the Knative (kn) CLI. Using the Knative CLI to create event sources provides a more streamlined and intuitive user interface than modifying YAML files directly.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving and Knative Eventing are installed on the 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.

  • Install the Knative (kn) CLI.

  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).

The following procedure requires you to create YAML files.

If you change the names of the YAML files from those used in the examples, you must ensure that you also update the corresponding CLI commands.
Procedure

  1. To check that sink binding is set up correctly, create a Knative event display service, or event sink, that dumps incoming messages to its log:

    $ kn service create event-display --image quay.io/openshift-knative/knative-eventing-sources-event-display:latest

  2. Create a sink binding instance that directs events to the service:

    $ kn source binding create bind-heartbeat --subject Job:batch/v1:app=heartbeat-cron --sink ksvc:event-display

  3. Create a CronJob object.

    1. Create a cron job YAML file:

      Example cron job YAML file
      apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: heartbeat-cron
spec:
  # Run every minute
  schedule: "* * * * *"
  jobTemplate:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: heartbeat-cron
        bindings.knative.dev/include: "true"
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          restartPolicy: Never
          containers:
            - name: single-heartbeat
              image: quay.io/openshift-knative/heartbeats:latest
              args:
                - --period=1
              env:
                - name: ONE_SHOT
                  value: "true"
                - name: POD_NAME
                  valueFrom:
                    fieldRef:
                      fieldPath: metadata.name
                - name: POD_NAMESPACE
                  valueFrom:
                    fieldRef:
                      fieldPath: metadata.namespace

      To use sink binding, you must manually add a bindings.knative.dev/include=true label to your Knative CRs.

      For example, to add this label to a CronJob CR, add the following lines to the Job CR YAML definition:

        jobTemplate:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: heartbeat-cron
        bindings.knative.dev/include: "true"

    2. Create the cron job:

      $ oc apply -f <filename>

  4. Check that the controller is mapped correctly by entering the following command and inspecting the output:

    $ kn source binding describe bind-heartbeat
    Example output
    Name:         bind-heartbeat
Namespace:    demo-2
Annotations:  sources.knative.dev/creator=minikube-user, sources.knative.dev/lastModifier=minikub ...
Age:          2m
Subject:
  Resource:   job (batch/v1)
  Selector:
    app:      heartbeat-cron
Sink:
  Name:       event-display
  Resource:   Service (serving.knative.dev/v1)

Conditions:
  OK TYPE     AGE REASON
  ++ Ready     2m
Verification

You can verify that the Kubernetes events were sent to the Knative event sink by looking at the message dumper function logs.

  • View the message dumper function logs by entering the following commands:

    $ oc get pods
    $ oc logs $(oc get pod -o name | grep event-display) -c user-container
    Example output
    ☁️  cloudevents.Event
Validation: valid
Context Attributes,
  specversion: 1.0
  type: dev.knative.eventing.samples.heartbeat
  source: https://knative.dev/eventing-contrib/cmd/heartbeats/#event-test/mypod
  id: 2b72d7bf-c38f-4a98-a433-608fbcdd2596
  time: 2019-10-18T15:23:20.809775386Z
  contenttype: application/json
Extensions,
  beats: true
  heart: yes
  the: 42
Data,
  {
    "id": 1,
    "label": ""
  }

Knative CLI sink flag

When you create an event source by using the Knative (kn) CLI, you can specify a sink where events are sent to from that resource by using the --sink flag. The sink can be any addressable or callable resource that can receive incoming events from other resources.

The following example creates a sink binding that uses a service, http://event-display.svc.cluster.local, as the sink:

Example command using the sink flag
$ kn source binding create bind-heartbeat \
  --namespace sinkbinding-example \
  --subject "Job:batch/v1:app=heartbeat-cron" \
  --sink http://event-display.svc.cluster.local \ (1)
  --ce-override "sink=bound"
1 svc in http://event-display.svc.cluster.local determines that the sink is a Knative service. Other default sink prefixes include channel, and broker.

Creating a sink binding by using the web console

After Knative Eventing is installed on your cluster, you can create a sink binding by using the web console. Using the OpenShift Container Platform web console provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface to create an event source.

Prerequisites

  • You have logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving, 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

  1. Create a Knative service to use as a sink:

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

    2. Copy the example YAML:

      apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: event-display
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
        - image: quay.io/openshift-knative/knative-eventing-sources-event-display:latest

    3. Click Create.

  2. Create a CronJob resource that is used as an event source and sends an event every minute.

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

    2. Copy the example YAML:

      apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: heartbeat-cron
spec:
  # Run every minute
  schedule: "*/1 * * * *"
  jobTemplate:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: heartbeat-cron
        bindings.knative.dev/include: true (1)
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          restartPolicy: Never
          containers:
            - name: single-heartbeat
              image: quay.io/openshift-knative/heartbeats
              args:
              - --period=1
              env:
                - name: ONE_SHOT
                  value: "true"
                - name: POD_NAME
                  valueFrom:
                    fieldRef:
                      fieldPath: metadata.name
                - name: POD_NAMESPACE
                  valueFrom:
                    fieldRef:
                      fieldPath: metadata.namespace
      1 Ensure that you include the bindings.knative.dev/include: true label. The default namespace selection behavior of OpenShift Serverless uses inclusion mode.

    3. Click Create.

  3. Create a sink binding in the same namespace as the service created in the previous step, or any other sink that you want to send events to.

    1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to +Add → Event Source. The Event Sources page is displayed.

    2. Optional: If you have multiple providers for your event sources, select the required provider from the Providers list to filter the available event sources from the provider.

    3. Select Sink Binding and then click Create Event Source. The Create Event Source page is displayed.

      You can configure the Sink Binding settings by using the Form view or YAML view and can switch between the views. The data is persisted when switching between the views.

    4. In the apiVersion field enter batch/v1.

    5. In the Kind field enter Job.

      The CronJob kind is not supported directly by OpenShift Serverless sink binding, so the Kind field must target the Job objects created by the cron job, rather than the cron job object itself.

    6. Select a Sink. This can be either a Resource or a URI. In this example, the event-display service created in the previous step is used as the Resource sink.

    7. In the Match labels section:

      1. Enter app in the Name field.

      2. Enter heartbeat-cron in the Value field.

        The label selector is required when using cron jobs with sink binding, rather than the resource name. This is because jobs created by a cron job do not have a predictable name, and contain a randomly generated string in their name. For example, hearthbeat-cron-1cc23f.

    8. Click Create.

Verification

You can verify that the sink binding, sink, and cron job have been created and are working correctly by viewing the Topology page and pod logs.

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to Topology.

  2. View the sink binding, sink, and heartbeats cron job.