Configure Log Collection, Target, and Visualization - AWS

Note!

You need to have a proper EKS cluster setup in order to proceed with these steps. Refer to Set Up Kubernetes Cluster - AWS (4.1) to create the EKS cluster first.

By default Usage Engine deployed in Kubernetes outputs logging to disk and console output. If persistent disk storage is enabled, the logs end up on the mounted shared disk. But persistent disk is not always the desired log target, especially in a cloud environment where persistent data is typically accessed through services and APIs rather than as files. The console logs can be accessed through the "kubectl logs" command or from a Kubernetes dashboard. The buffer for storing the Kubernetes console logs is stored in memory only though and thus will be lost when a Pod terminates.

To get a production ready log configuration you can use tools from the Kubernetes ecosystem and AWS CloudWatch. In this guide we show you how to set up:

Fluent-bit for log collection and log forwarding
Elasticsearch for log storage
Kibana for log visualization
AWS CloudWatch for monitoring

These tools give you powerful and flexible log collection, storage, monitoring and visualization. The Elasticsearch database storage also provides powerful tools to perform analytics on the log data. The AWS CloudWatch is a monitoring service built for DevOps engineers, developers, site reliability engineers (SREs), IT managers, and product owners. This guide doesn't describe these tools' functionality in details as it is outside the scope of this guide.

Prerequisite

Before setting up log collection, make sure your Usage Engine Private Edition was installed with JSON formatted logging enabled.

log:
  # Format can be "json" or "raw". Default is "raw"
  format: json

Setup AWS IAM OIDC Provider

To use AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles for service accounts, an IAM OIDC provider must exist for your cluster's OIDC issuer URL. Prior to creating AWS policy and role, user needs to setup Identity Provider using EKS cluster's OpenID Connect Provider URL.

Login to AWS Management Console, go to EKS > Clusters > Your Cluster Name
On Overview tab, section Details, click on OpenID Connect Provider URL to copy URL to clipboard
Go to IAM > Identity Providers
Add an Identity Provider and select OpenID Connect
Paste the copied URL as Provider URL
Key in "sts.amazonaws.com" as Audience
Click Add Provider and proceed to complete the Identity Providers creation

Setup AWS IAM Policy and Role

In order for the Fluent-bit to send logs to AWS CloudWatch, user needs to setup AWS access policy to access the AWS CloudWatch and attach this policy to an AWS Role.

Login to AWS Management Console, go to IAM > Policies

Create new policy using Policy Editor's JSON Tab. Enter permission statement in JSON format

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Action": [
                "logs:DescribeLogGroups",
                "logs:DescribeLogStreams",
                "logs:CreateLogGroup",
                "logs:CreateLogStream",
                "logs:PutLogEvents"
            ],
            "Resource": "*",
            "Effect": "Allow"
        }
    ]
}

Click Next and proceed to create the policy
Back to IAM Dashboard. Go to IAM > Roles
Create new role and select Web Identity
Choose the OpenID Connect Provider Id as Identity Provider
Click Next and proceed to create the role

Once the new role created, user needs to edit the role's trust relationship to associate it to the Fluent-bit's Service Account.

Go to IAM > Roles > Your Role Name
On Trust relationship tab, edit trust policy

Edit "StringEquals" field to use Fluent-bit's namespace and Service Account Name

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Principal": {
                "Federated": "arn:aws:iam::211006581866:oidc-provider/oidc.eks.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/id/360F8C7227656FC5627D5DA70F181583"
            },
            "Action": "sts:AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity",
            "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                    "oidc.eks.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/id/360F8C7227656FC5627D5DA70F181583:sub": "system:serviceaccount:<Fluent-bit namespace>:<fluent-bit Service Account Name>"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

Install Fluent-bit

To stream containers logs to CloudWatch Logs, install AWS for Fluent Bit using these steps:

Create a namespace called amazon-cloudwatch.
```
kubectl create namespace amazon-cloudwatch
```

Create a ConfigMap called fluent-bit-cluster-info. Replace my-cluster-name and my-cluster-region with your cluster's name and Region.

ClusterName=<my-cluster-name>
RegionName=<my-cluster-region>
FluentBitHttpPort='2020'
FluentBitReadFromHead='Off'
[[ ${FluentBitReadFromHead} = 'On' ]] && FluentBitReadFromTail='Off'|| FluentBitReadFromTail='On'
[[ -z ${FluentBitHttpPort} ]] && FluentBitHttpServer='Off' || FluentBitHttpServer='On'
kubectl create configmap fluent-bit-cluster-info \
--from-literal=cluster.name=${ClusterName} \
--from-literal=http.server=${FluentBitHttpServer} \
--from-literal=http.port=${FluentBitHttpPort} \
--from-literal=read.head=${FluentBitReadFromHead} \
--from-literal=read.tail=${FluentBitReadFromTail} \
--from-literal=logs.region=${RegionName} -n amazon-cloudwatch

Deploy the Fluent Bit DaemonSet to the cluster.

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aws-samples/amazon-cloudwatch-container-insights/latest/k8s-deployment-manifest-templates/deployment-mode/daemonset/container-insights-monitoring/fluent-bit/fluent-bit.yaml

Associate the IAM role to cloudwatch-agent and fluent-bit service accounts. Replace ACCOUNT_ID and IAM_ROLE_NAME with AWS Account ID and the IAM role used for service accounts.
```
kubectl annotate serviceaccounts fluent-bit -n amazon-cloudwatch "eks.amazonaws.com/role-arn=arn:aws:iam::ACCOUNT_ID:role/IAM_ROLE_NAME"
```

Go to CloudWatch > View logs. Verify the following log groups are created.

/aws/containerinsights/Your Cluster Name/application
/aws/containerinsights/Your Cluster Name/dataplane
/aws/containerinsights/Your Cluster Name/host

For each log group, verify there are log streams available on Log stream Tab

Install Elastic Search

Elastic search will be installed to the same namespace as Fluent-bit, i.e., amazon-cloudwatch.

Add Elastic Search repository to Helm and update repository to retrieve the latest version
```
helm repo add elastic https://helm.elastic.co
helm repo update
```
Install Elastic Search.
Note!

For simplicity this example installs Elasticsearch without persistent storage. Refer to Elasticsearch Helm chart documentation for help to enable persistent storage:

https://github.com/elastic/helm-charts/tree/master/elasticsearch
```
helm install elasticsearch elastic/elasticsearch -n amazon-cloudwatch --set=persistence.enabled=false
```

Install Kibana

Kibana will be installed to the same namespace as Fluent-bit, i.e., amazon-cloudwatch.

Download the Kibana helm chart and unpack it in local directory.
```
helm fetch elastic/kibana --untar
```

Change directory to kibana. Edit values.yaml. Add service annotation to create Internet-facing, Network type Load Balancer .

service:
  type: ClusterIP
  loadBalancerIP: ""
  port: 5601
  nodePort: ""
  labels: {}
  annotations:
    service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-scheme: internet-facing

Install Kibana by path to an unpacked local directory

helm install kibana kibana -n amazon-cloudwatch --set=service.type=LoadBalancer --set=service.port=80

Configure Fluent-bit to send logs to Elastic Search

These are additional steps to configure fluent-bit ConfigMap named fluent-bit-config.

Get service name of Elastic Search pods. This service name is the value set to Host in [OUTPUT] directive.
```
kubectl get svc -n amazon-cloudwatch
```

Get username and password credential for Elastic X-Pack access. The decrypted username and password are the value set to HTTP_User and HTTP_Passwd in [OUTPUT] directive.

kubectl get secrets --namespace=amazon-cloudwatch elasticsearch-master-credentials -ojsonpath='{.data.username}' | base64 -d
kubectl get secrets --namespace=amazon-cloudwatch elasticsearch-master-credentials -ojsonpath='{.data.password}' | base64 -d

Download fluent-bit deamonset yaml file in local directory

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aws-samples/amazon-cloudwatch-container-insights/latest/k8s-deployment-manifest-templates/deployment-mode/daemonset/container-insights-monitoring/fluent-bit/fluent-bit.yaml > fluent-bit.yaml

Edit fluent-bit.yaml. Go to ConfigMap named fluent-bit-config. For each config file, add output directive to send logs to Elastic Search

application-log.conf

    [OUTPUT]
        Name                es
        Match               application.*
        Host                elasticsearch-master
        tls                 on
        tls.verify          off
        HTTP_User           elastic
        HTTP_Passwd         DbrfdbnzCNYympQZ
        Suppress_Type_Name  On
        Index               fluentbit.app

dataplane-log.conf

    [OUTPUT]
        Name                es
        Match               dataplane.*
        Host                elasticsearch-master
        tls                 on
        tls.verify          off
        HTTP_User           elastic
        HTTP_Passwd         DbrfdbnzCNYympQZ
        Suppress_Type_Name  On
        Index               fluentbit.dataplane

host-log.conf

    [OUTPUT]
        Name                es
        Match               host.*
        Host                elasticsearch-master
        tls                 on
        tls.verify          off
        HTTP_User           elastic
        HTTP_Passwd         DbrfdbnzCNYympQZ
        Suppress_Type_Name  On
        Index               fluentbit.host

Delete existing fluent-bit pods, config map.
```
kubectl delete -f fluent-bit.yaml
```
Install and apply new configuration to fluent-bit pods, config map
```
kubectl apply -f fluent-bit.yaml
```
Re-associate the IAM role to cloudwatch-agent and fluent-bit service accounts. Replace ACCOUNT_ID and IAM_ROLE_NAME with AWS Account ID and the IAM role used for service accounts.
```
kubectl annotate serviceaccounts fluent-bit -n amazon-cloudwatch "eks.amazonaws.com/role-arn=arn:aws:iam::ACCOUNT_ID:role/IAM_ROLE_NAME"
```
Verify every Fluent-bit pod's log. Should not see any error or exception if connection to Elastic Search is established successfully.
```
kubectl logs <fluent-bit pod name> -n amazon-cloudwatch
```

Configure Kibana

Kibana is a visual interface tool that allows you to explore, visualize, and build a dashboard over the log data massed in Elastic Search cluster.

Up to this stage, all pods under namespace amazon-cloudwatch should be up and running.

NAME                             READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
elasticsearch-master-0           1/1     Running   0          4d3h
elasticsearch-master-1           1/1     Running   0          4d3h
fluent-bit-2kpgr                 1/1     Running   0          3d
fluent-bit-6wtnr                 1/1     Running   0          3d
fluent-bit-ns42z                 1/1     Running   0          3d
kibana-kibana-658dc749cd-hbc8s   1/1     Running   0          3d4h

If all looks good, you can proceed to login to Kibana dashboard web UI.

Retrieve the public access hostname of the Kibana dashboard.

kubectl get service -n amazon-cloudwatch kibana-kibana -o jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].hostname}'

Login to Kibana dashboard web UI with username password same as HTTP_User and HTTP_Passwd configured in previous section
Go to Management > Stack Management > Index Management. Create the Index Template with Index Pattern matching the indexes configured in previous section
If Fluent-bit connection to Elastic Search established successfully, the Indices is created automatically
Go to Management > Stack Management > Kibana. Create Data view matching the index pattern
Go to Analytics > Discover to search for logs belong to each index pattern respectively.
User can filter logs using KQL syntax. For instance, enter "kubernetes.pod_name:platform-0" in the KQL filter input field

Log record in json format is parsed into fields

{
  "_p": [
    "F"
  ],
  "_p.keyword": [
    "F"
  ],
  "@timestamp": [
    "2024-02-21T09:14:49.079Z"
  ],
  "kubernetes.container_hash": [
    "ghcr.io/digitalroute-public/usage-engine-private-edition@sha256:fceb32e07cfae86db58d9a83328e4539eb5f42455cd6a0463e9ac955b3642848"
  ],
  "kubernetes.container_hash.keyword": [
    "ghcr.io/digitalroute-public/usage-engine-private-edition@sha256:fceb32e07cfae86db58d9a83328e4539eb5f42455cd6a0463e9ac955b3642848"
  ],
  "kubernetes.container_image": [
    "ghcr.io/digitalroute-public/usage-engine-private-edition:4.0.0-operator"
  ],
  "kubernetes.container_image.keyword": [
    "ghcr.io/digitalroute-public/usage-engine-private-edition:4.0.0-operator"
  ],
  "kubernetes.container_name": [
    "manager"
  ],
  "kubernetes.container_name.keyword": [
    "manager"
  ],
  "kubernetes.docker_id": [
    "9af8ba62db2aacbb39435ed8894bc078013ea1126a561a85a1d486ee8e12367d"
  ],
  "kubernetes.docker_id.keyword": [
    "9af8ba62db2aacbb39435ed8894bc078013ea1126a561a85a1d486ee8e12367d"
  ],
  "kubernetes.host": [
    "ip-192-168-34-51.ap-southeast-2.compute.internal"
  ],
  "kubernetes.host.keyword": [
    "ip-192-168-34-51.ap-southeast-2.compute.internal"
  ],
  "kubernetes.namespace_name": [
    "uepe"
  ],
  "kubernetes.namespace_name.keyword": [
    "uepe"
  ],
  "kubernetes.pod_id": [
    "5a911c45-d2b0-4f53-b474-ae8aee304d4a"
  ],
  "kubernetes.pod_id.keyword": [
    "5a911c45-d2b0-4f53-b474-ae8aee304d4a"
  ],
  "kubernetes.pod_name": [
    "uepe-operator-controller-manager-6fdc476cb5-9282q"
  ],
  "kubernetes.pod_name.keyword": [
    "uepe-operator-controller-manager-6fdc476cb5-9282q"
  ],
  "log": [
    "{\"level\":\"info\",\"ts\":\"2024-02-21T09:14:49Z\",\"logger\":\"controllers.ECDeployment\",\"msg\":\"Reconciling\",\"ECDeployment\":\"uepe/http2\"}"
  ],
  "log_processed.ECDeployment": [
    "uepe/http2"
  ],
  "log_processed.ECDeployment.keyword": [
    "uepe/http2"
  ],
  "log_processed.level": [
    "info"
  ],
  "log_processed.level.keyword": [
    "info"
  ],
  "log_processed.logger": [
    "controllers.ECDeployment"
  ],
  "log_processed.logger.keyword": [
    "controllers.ECDeployment"
  ],
  "log_processed.msg": [
    "Reconciling"
  ],
  "log_processed.msg.keyword": [
    "Reconciling"
  ],
  "log_processed.ts": [
    "2024-02-21T09:14:49.000Z"
  ],
  "log.keyword": [
    "{\"level\":\"info\",\"ts\":\"2024-02-21T09:14:49Z\",\"logger\":\"controllers.ECDeployment\",\"msg\":\"Reconciling\",\"ECDeployment\":\"uepe/http2\"}"
  ],
  "stream": [
    "stderr"
  ],
  "stream.keyword": [
    "stderr"
  ],
  "time": [
    "2024-02-21T09:14:49.079Z"
  ],
  "_id": "ijvyyo0B9xu2H_IDTAqi",
  "_index": "fluentbit.app",
  "_score": null
}