Visualizing Metrics with Grafana

The Bookinfo sample application is used as the example application throughout this task.

• Deploy application.

1. Verify that the prometheus service is running in your cluster.

   In Kubernetes environments, execute the following command:

2. Verify that the Grafana service is running in your cluster.

   In Kubernetes environments, execute the following command:

3. Open the Istio Dashboard via the Grafana UI.

   In Kubernetes environments, execute the following command:

   Visit http://localhost:3000/dashboard/db/istio-mesh-dashboard in your web browser.

   The Istio Dashboard will look similar to:

   Istio Dashboard

4. Send traffic to the mesh.

   For the Bookinfo sample, visit in your web browser or issue the following command:

   $GATEWAY_URL is the value set in the Bookinfo example.

   Refresh the page a few times (or send the command a few times) to generate a small amount of traffic.

   Look at the Istio Dashboard again. It should reflect the traffic that was generated. It will look similar to:

   Istio Dashboard With Traffic

   This gives the global view of the Mesh along with services and workloads in the mesh. You can get more details about services and workloads by navigating to their specific dashboards as explained below.

5. Visualize Workload Dashboards.

   From the Grafana dashboard’s left hand corner navigation menu, you can navigate to Istio Workload Dashboard or visit in your web browser.

   The Istio Workload Dashboard will look similar to:

   

   Istio Workload Dashboard

   This gives details about metrics for each workload and then inbound workloads (workloads that are sending request to this workload) and outbound services (services to which this workload send requests) for that workload.

The Grafana addon is a preconfigured instance of Grafana. The base image () has been modified to start with both a Prometheus data source and the Istio Dashboard installed. The base install files for Istio, and Mixer in particular, ship with a default configuration of global (used for every service) metrics. The Istio Dashboard is built to be used in conjunction with the default Istio metrics configuration and a Prometheus backend.

1. A Mesh Summary View. This section provides Global Summary view of the Mesh and shows HTTP/gRPC and TCP workloads in the Mesh.

2. Individual Services View. This section provides metrics about requests and responses for each individual service within the mesh (HTTP/gRPC and TCP). This also provides metrics about client and service workloads for this service.

3. Individual Workloads View: This section provides metrics about requests and responses for each individual workload within the mesh (HTTP/gRPC and TCP). This also provides metrics about inbound workloads and outbound services for this workload.

For more on how to create, configure, and edit dashboards, please see the Grafana documentation.

• Remove any kubectl port-forward processes that may be running:

This task shows you how to visualize your services within an Istio mesh.

Mixer and the SPOF Myth

Improving availability and reducing latency.

Provides an overview of Mixer’s plug-in architecture.

Classifying Metrics Based on Request or Response (Experimental)

This task shows you how to improve telemetry by grouping requests and responses by their type.

This task shows you how to configure Istio’s Mixer to collect and customize logs.

This task shows you how to configure Istio’s Mixer to collect and customize metrics.