# OpenTracing - NGINX Ingress Controller

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# OpenTracing

Enables requests served by NGINX for distributed tracing via The OpenTracing Project.

Using the third party module opentracing-contrib/nginx-opentracing the NGINX ingress controller can configure NGINX to enable OpenTracing instrumentation. By default this feature is disabled.

## Usage

To enable the instrumentation we must enable OpenTracing in the configuration ConfigMap:

    data:
      enable-opentracing: "true"

To enable or disable instrumentation for a single Ingress, use the `enable-opentracing` annotation:

    kind: Ingress
    metadata:
      annotations:
        nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/enable-opentracing: "true"

We must also set the host to use when uploading traces:

    zipkin-collector-host: zipkin.default.svc.cluster.local
    jaeger-collector-host: jaeger-agent.default.svc.cluster.local
    datadog-collector-host: datadog-agent.default.svc.cluster.local

NOTE: While the option is called `jaeger-collector-host`, you will need to point this to a `jaeger-agent`, and not the `jaeger-collector` component.

Next you will need to deploy a distributed tracing system which uses OpenTracing. Zipkin and Jaeger and Datadog have been tested.

Other optional configuration options:

    # specifies the port to use when uploading traces, Default: 9411
    zipkin-collector-port

    # specifies the service name to use for any traces created, Default: nginx
    zipkin-service-name

    # specifies sample rate for any traces created, Default: 1.0
    zipkin-sample-rate

    # specifies the port to use when uploading traces, Default: 6831
    jaeger-collector-port

    # specifies the service name to use for any traces created, Default: nginx
    jaeger-service-name

    # specifies the sampler to be used when sampling traces.
    # The available samplers are: const, probabilistic, ratelimiting, remote, Default: const
    jaeger-sampler-type

    # specifies the argument to be passed to the sampler constructor, Default: 1
    jaeger-sampler-param

    # Specifies the custom remote sampler host to be passed to the sampler constructor. Must be a valid URL.
    # Default: http://127.0.0.1
    jaeger-sampler-host

    # Specifies the custom remote sampler port to be passed to the sampler constructor. Must be a number. Default: 5778
    jaeger-sampler-port

    # Specifies the header name used for passing trace context. Must be a string. Default: uber-trace-id
    jaeger-trace-context-header-name

    # Specifies the header name used for force sampling. Must be a string. Default: jaeger-debug-id
    jaeger-debug-header

    # Specifies the header name used to submit baggage if there is no root span. Must be a string. Default: jaeger-baggage
    jaeger-baggage-header

    # Specifies the header prefix used to propagate baggage. Must be a string. Default: uberctx-
    jaeger-tracer-baggage-header-prefix

    # specifies the port to use when uploading traces, Default 8126
    datadog-collector-port

    # specifies the service name to use for any traces created, Default: nginx
    datadog-service-name

    # specifies the operation name to use for any traces collected, Default: nginx.handle
    datadog-operation-name-override

    # Specifies to use client-side sampling for distributed priority sampling and ignore sample rate, Default: true
    datadog-priority-sampling

    # specifies sample rate for any traces created, Default: 1.0
    datadog-sample-rate

All these options (including host) allow environment variables, such as `$HOSTNAME` or `$HOST_IP`. In the case of Jaeger, if you have a Jaeger agent running on each machine in your cluster, you can use something like `$HOST_IP` (which can be 'mounted' with the `status.hostIP` fieldpath, as described here) to make sure traces will be sent to the local agent.

## Examples

The following examples show how to deploy and test different distributed tracing systems. These example can be performed using Minikube.

### Zipkin

In the rnburn/zipkin-date-server GitHub repository is an example of a dockerized date service. To install the example and Zipkin collector run:

    kubectl create -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rnburn/zipkin-date-server/master/kubernetes/zipkin.yaml
    kubectl create -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rnburn/zipkin-date-server/master/kubernetes/deployment.yaml

Also we need to configure the NGINX controller ConfigMap with the required values:

    $ echo '
    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ConfigMap
    data:
      enable-opentracing: "true"
      zipkin-collector-host: zipkin.default.svc.cluster.local
    metadata:
      name: ingress-nginx-controller
      namespace: kube-system
    ' | kubectl replace -f -

In the Zipkin interface we can see the details:

### Jaeger

1. Enable Ingress addon in Minikube:

       $ minikube addons enable ingress

2. Add Minikube IP to /etc/hosts:

       $ echo "$(minikube ip) example.com" | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts

3. Apply a basic Service and Ingress Resource:

       # Create Echoheaders Deployment
       $ kubectl run echoheaders --image=k8s.gcr.io/echoserver:1.4 --replicas=1 --port=8080

       # Expose as a Cluster-IP
       $ kubectl expose deployment echoheaders --port=80 --target-port=8080 --name=echoheaders-x

       # Apply the Ingress Resource
       $ echo '
         apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1beta1
         kind: Ingress
         metadata:
           name: echo-ingress
         spec:
           rules:
           - host: example.com
             http:
               paths:
               - backend:
                   serviceName: echoheaders-x
                   servicePort: 80
                 path: /echo
         ' | kubectl apply -f -

4. Enable OpenTracing and set the jaeger-collector-host:

       $ echo '
         apiVersion: v1
         kind: ConfigMap
         data:
           enable-opentracing: "true"
           jaeger-collector-host: jaeger-agent.default.svc.cluster.local
         metadata:
           name: ingress-nginx-controller
           namespace: kube-system
         ' | kubectl replace -f -

5. Apply the Jaeger All-In-One Template:

       $ kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jaegertracing/jaeger-kubernetes/master/all-in-one/jaeger-all-in-one-template.yml

6. Make a few requests to the Service:

       $ curl example.com/echo -d "meow"

       CLIENT VALUES:
       client_address=172.17.0.5
       command=POST
       real path=/echo
       query=nil
       request_version=1.1
       request_uri=http://example.com:8080/echo

       SERVER VALUES:
       server_version=nginx: 1.10.0 - lua: 10001

       HEADERS RECEIVED:
       accept=*/*
       connection=close
       content-length=4
       content-type=application/x-www-form-urlencoded
       host=example.com
       user-agent=curl/7.54.0
       x-forwarded-for=192.168.99.1
       x-forwarded-host=example.com
       x-forwarded-port=80
       x-forwarded-proto=http
       x-original-uri=/echo
       x-real-ip=192.168.99.1
       x-scheme=http
       BODY:
       meow

7. View the Jaeger UI:

       $ minikube service jaeger-query --url

       http://192.168.99.100:30183

   In the Jaeger interface we can see the details: