Kubernetes deployment

We provide a OpenTelemetry Demo Helm chart to help deploy the demo to an existing Kubernetes cluster.

Helm must be installed to use the charts. Please refer to Helm’s documentation to get started.

Prerequisites

• Kubernetes 1.24+
• 6 GB of free RAM for the application
• Helm 3.14+ (for Helm installation method only)

Install using Helm (recommended)

Add OpenTelemetry Helm repository:

helm repo add open-telemetry https://open-telemetry.github.io/opentelemetry-helm-charts

To install the chart with the release name my-otel-demo, run the following command:

helm install my-otel-demo open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo

Note The OpenTelemetry Demo Helm chart version 0.11.0 or greater is required to perform all usage methods mentioned below.

Install using kubectl

The following command will install the demo application to your Kubernetes cluster.

kubectl apply --namespace otel-demo -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo/main/kubernetes/opentelemetry-demo.yaml

Note These manifests are generated from the Helm chart and are provided for convenience. It is recommended to use the Helm chart for installation.

Use the Demo

The demo application will need the services exposed outside of the Kubernetes cluster in order to use them. You can expose the services to your local system using the kubectl port-forward command or by configuring service types (ie: LoadBalancer) with optionally deployed ingress resources.

Expose services using kubectl port-forward

To expose the frontendproxy service use the following command (replace my-otel-demo with your Helm chart release name accordingly):

kubectl port-forward svc/my-otel-demo-frontendproxy 8080:8080

Note: kubectl port-forward will proxy the port until the process terminates. You may need to create separate terminal sessions for each use of kubectl port-forward, and use Ctrl-C to terminate the process when done.

With the frontendproxy port-forward set up, you can access:

• Web store: http://localhost:8080/
• Grafana: http://localhost:8080/grafana/
• Load Generator UI: http://localhost:8080/loadgen/
• Jaeger UI: http://localhost:8080/jaeger/ui/
• Flagd configurator UI: http://localhost:8080/feature

Expose Demo components using service or ingress configurations

Configure ingress resources

Note Kubernetes clusters may not have the proper infrastructure components to enable LoadBalancer service types or ingress resources. Verify your cluster has the proper support before using these configuration options.

Each demo component (ie: frontendproxy) offers a way to have its Kubernetes service type configured. By default, these will not be created, but you can enable and configure them through the ingress property of each component.

To configure the frontendproxy component to use an ingress resource you would specify the following in your values file:

components:
  frontendProxy:
    ingress:
      enabled: true
      annotations: {}
      hosts:
        - host: otel-demo.my-domain.com
          paths:
            - path: /
              pathType: Prefix
              port: 8080

Some ingress controllers require special annotations or service types. Refer to the documentation from your ingress controller for more information.

Configure service types

Each demo component (ie: frontendproxy) offers a way to have its Kubernetes service type configured. By default, these will be ClusterIP but you can change each one using the service.type property of each component.

To configure the frontendproxy component to use a LoadBalancer service type you would specify the following in your values file:

components:
  frontendProxy:
    service:
      type: LoadBalancer

Configure browser telemetry

In order for spans from the browser to be properly collected, you will also need to specify the location where the OpenTelemetry Collector is exposed. The frontendproxy defines a route for the collector with a path prefix of /otlp-http. You can configure the collector endpoint by setting the following environment variable on the frontend component:

components:
  frontend:
    envOverrides:
      - name: PUBLIC_OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_ENDPOINT
        value: http://otel-demo.my-domain.com/otlp-http/v1/traces

Installation with a values file

To install the Helm chart with a custom my-values-file.yaml values file use:

helm install my-otel-demo open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo --values my-values-file.yaml

With the frontendproxy and Collector exposed, you can access the demo UI at the base path for the frontendproxy. Other demo components can be accessed at the following sub-paths:

• Web store: / (base)
• Grafana: /grafana
• Load Generator UI: /loadgen/ (must include trailing slash)
• Jaeger UI: /jaeger/ui

Bring your own backend

Likely you want to use the web store as a demo application for an observability backend you already have (e.g. an existing instance of Jaeger, Zipkin, or one of the vendor of your choice.

The OpenTelemetry Collector’s configuration is exposed in the Helm chart. Any additions you do will be merged into the default configuration. You can use this to add your own exporters, and add them to the desired pipeline(s)

opentelemetry-collector:
  config:
    exporters:
      otlphttp/example:
        endpoint: <your-endpoint-url>

    service:
      pipelines:
        traces:
          exporters: [spanmetrics, otlphttp/example]

Vendor backends might require you to add additional parameters for authentication, please check their documentation. Some backends require different exporters, you may find them and their documentation available at opentelemetry-collector-contrib/exporter.

To install the Helm chart with a custom my-values-file.yaml values file use:

helm install my-otel-demo open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo --values my-values-file.yaml