---
title: Mirroring
description: This task demonstrates the traffic mirroring/shadowing capabilities of Istio.
weight: 60
keywords: [traffic-management,mirroring]
---

This task demonstrates the traffic mirroring capabilities of Istio.

Traffic mirroring, also called shadowing, is a powerful concept that allows
feature teams to bring changes to production with as little risk as possible.
Mirroring sends a copy of live traffic to a mirrored service. The mirrored
traffic happens out of band of the critical request path for the primary service.

In this task, you will first force all traffic to `v1` of a test service. Then,
you will apply a rule to mirror a portion of traffic to `v2`.

## Before you begin

* Set up Istio by following the instructions in the
  [Installation guide](/docs/setup/).

*   Start by deploying two versions of the [httpbin]({{< github_tree >}}/samples/httpbin) service that have access logging enabled:

    **httpbin-v1:**

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ cat <<EOF | istioctl kube-inject -f - | kubectl create -f -
    apiVersion: extensions/v1beta1
    kind: Deployment
    metadata:
      name: httpbin-v1
    spec:
      replicas: 1
      template:
        metadata:
          labels:
            app: httpbin
            version: v1
        spec:
          containers:
          - image: docker.io/kennethreitz/httpbin
            imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
            name: httpbin
            command: ["gunicorn", "--access-logfile", "-", "-b", "0.0.0.0:80", "httpbin:app"]
            ports:
            - containerPort: 80
    EOF
    {{< /text >}}

    **httpbin-v2:**

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ cat <<EOF | istioctl kube-inject -f - | kubectl create -f -
    apiVersion: extensions/v1beta1
    kind: Deployment
    metadata:
      name: httpbin-v2
    spec:
      replicas: 1
      template:
        metadata:
          labels:
            app: httpbin
            version: v2
        spec:
          containers:
          - image: docker.io/kennethreitz/httpbin
            imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
            name: httpbin
            command: ["gunicorn", "--access-logfile", "-", "-b", "0.0.0.0:80", "httpbin:app"]
            ports:
            - containerPort: 80
    EOF
    {{< /text >}}

    **httpbin Kubernetes service:**

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl create -f - <<EOF
    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Service
    metadata:
      name: httpbin
      labels:
        app: httpbin
    spec:
      ports:
      - name: http
        port: 8000
        targetPort: 80
      selector:
        app: httpbin
    EOF
    {{< /text >}}

*   Start the `sleep` service so you can use `curl` to provide load:

    **sleep service:**

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ cat <<EOF | istioctl kube-inject -f - | kubectl create -f -
    apiVersion: extensions/v1beta1
    kind: Deployment
    metadata:
      name: sleep
    spec:
      replicas: 1
      template:
        metadata:
          labels:
            app: sleep
        spec:
          containers:
          - name: sleep
            image: tutum/curl
            command: ["/bin/sleep","infinity"]
            imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
    EOF
    {{< /text >}}

## Creating a default routing policy

By default Kubernetes load balances across both versions of the `httpbin` service.
In this step, you will change that behavior so that all traffic goes to `v1`.

1.  Create a default route rule to route all traffic to `v1` of the service:

    > If you installed/configured Istio with mutual TLS Authentication enabled, you must add a TLS traffic policy `mode: ISTIO_MUTUAL` to the `DestinationRule` before applying it. Otherwise requests will generate 503 errors as described [here](/help/ops/traffic-management/troubleshooting/#503-errors-after-setting-destination-rule).

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
    apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1alpha3
    kind: VirtualService
    metadata:
      name: httpbin
    spec:
      hosts:
        - httpbin
      http:
      - route:
        - destination:
            host: httpbin
            subset: v1
          weight: 100
    ---
    apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1alpha3
    kind: DestinationRule
    metadata:
      name: httpbin
    spec:
      host: httpbin
      subsets:
      - name: v1
        labels:
          version: v1
      - name: v2
        labels:
          version: v2
    EOF
    {{< /text >}}

    Now all traffic goes to the `httpbin:v1` service.

1. Send some traffic to the service:

    {{< text bash json >}}
    $ export SLEEP_POD=$(kubectl get pod -l app=sleep -o jsonpath={.items..metadata.name})
    $ kubectl exec -it $SLEEP_POD -c sleep -- sh -c 'curl  http://httpbin:8000/headers' | python -m json.tool
    {
      "headers": {
        "Accept": "*/*",
        "Content-Length": "0",
        "Host": "httpbin:8000",
        "User-Agent": "curl/7.35.0",
        "X-B3-Sampled": "1",
        "X-B3-Spanid": "eca3d7ed8f2e6a0a",
        "X-B3-Traceid": "eca3d7ed8f2e6a0a",
        "X-Ot-Span-Context": "eca3d7ed8f2e6a0a;eca3d7ed8f2e6a0a;0000000000000000"
      }
    }
    {{< /text >}}

1. Check the logs for `v1` and `v2` of the `httpbin` pods. You should see access
log entries for `v1` and none for `v2`:

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ export V1_POD=$(kubectl get pod -l app=httpbin,version=v1 -o jsonpath={.items..metadata.name})
    $ kubectl logs -f $V1_POD -c httpbin
    127.0.0.1 - - [07/Mar/2018:19:02:43 +0000] "GET /headers HTTP/1.1" 200 321 "-" "curl/7.35.0"
    {{< /text >}}

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ export V2_POD=$(kubectl get pod -l app=httpbin,version=v2 -o jsonpath={.items..metadata.name})
    $ kubectl logs -f $V2_POD -c httpbin
    <none>
    {{< /text >}}

## Mirroring traffic to v2

1.  Change the route rule to mirror traffic to v2:

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
    apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1alpha3
    kind: VirtualService
    metadata:
      name: httpbin
    spec:
      hosts:
        - httpbin
      http:
      - route:
        - destination:
            host: httpbin
            subset: v1
          weight: 100
        mirror:
          host: httpbin
          subset: v2
    EOF
    {{< /text >}}

    This route rule sends 100% of the traffic to `v1`. The last stanza specifies
    that you want to mirror to the `httpbin:v2` service. When traffic gets mirrored,
    the requests are sent to the mirrored service with their Host/Authority headers
    appended with `-shadow`. For example, `cluster-1` becomes `cluster-1-shadow`.

    Also, it is important to note that these requests are mirrored as "fire and
    forget", which means that the responses are discarded.

1. Send in traffic:

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl exec -it $SLEEP_POD -c sleep -- sh -c 'curl  http://httpbin:8000/headers' | python -m json.tool
    {{< /text >}}

    Now, you should see access logging for both `v1` and `v2`. The access logs
    created in `v2` are the mirrored requests that are actually going to `v1`.

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl logs -f $V1_POD -c httpbin
    127.0.0.1 - - [07/Mar/2018:19:02:43 +0000] "GET /headers HTTP/1.1" 200 321 "-" "curl/7.35.0"
    127.0.0.1 - - [07/Mar/2018:19:26:44 +0000] "GET /headers HTTP/1.1" 200 321 "-" "curl/7.35.0"
    {{< /text >}}

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl logs -f $V2_POD -c httpbin
    127.0.0.1 - - [07/Mar/2018:19:26:44 +0000] "GET /headers HTTP/1.1" 200 361 "-" "curl/7.35.0"
    {{< /text >}}

## Cleaning up

1.  Remove the rules:

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl delete virtualservice httpbin
    $ kubectl delete destinationrule httpbin
    {{< /text >}}

1.  Shutdown the [httpbin]({{< github_tree >}}/samples/httpbin) service and client:

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl delete deploy httpbin-v1 httpbin-v2 sleep
    $ kubectl delete svc httpbin
    {{< /text >}}