Lab 2 - Installing Istio

In the second laboratory of the workshop, we will install and configure Istio as in its getting-started (opens new window) tutorial.

We will perform the following task:

1. Download Istio in your laptop.
2. Install in your Minikube cluster.
3. Deploy a sample application.
4. Use a dashboard for Istio.

1. Downloading Istio

1. Execute Istio downloader:

   curl -L https://istio.io/downloadIstio | ISTIO_VERSION=1.8.1 sh -
   

2. Move to the Istio package directory:

   cd istio-1.8.1
   

3. Add the istioctl client to your path (Linux or macOS):

   export PATH=$PWD/bin:$PATH
   

2. Installing Istio in Minikube

1. For this installation, we use the demo configuration profile (opens new window).

   istioctl install --set profile=demo
   

2. (Optional) Add a namespace label to instruct Istio to automatically inject Envoy sidecar proxies when you deploy your application later:

   kubectl label namespace default istio-injection=enabled
   

3. Deploying a sample application

1. Deploy the Bookinfo sample application (opens new window):

   kubectl apply -f samples/bookinfo/platform/kube/bookinfo.yaml
   

2. The application will start. As each pod becomes ready, the Istio sidecar will deploy along with it.

   kubectl get services
   

   and

   kubectl get pods
   

3. Verify everything is working correctly up to this point. Run this command to see if the app is running inside the cluster and serving HTML pages by checking for the page title in the response:

   kubectl exec "$(kubectl get pod -l app=ratings -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}')" -c ratings -- curl -s productpage:9080/productpage | grep -o "<title>.*</title>"
   

3.1 Opening sample application to outside traffic

The Bookinfo application is deployed but not accessible from the outside. To make it accessible, you need to create an Istio Ingress Gateway (opens new window), which maps a path to a route at the edge of your mesh.

1. Associate this application with the Istio gateway:

   kubectl apply -f samples/bookinfo/networking/bookinfo-gateway.yaml
   

2. Ensure that there are no issues with the configuration:

   istioctl analyze
   

3.2 Determining the ingress IP and ports

Follow these instructions to set the INGRESS_HOST and INGRESS_PORT variables for accessing the gateway. Use the tabs to choose the instructions for your chosen platform:

1. Set the ingress ports:

   export INGRESS_PORT=$(kubectl -n istio-system get service istio-ingressgateway -o jsonpath='{.spec.ports[?(.name=="http2")].nodePort}')
   export SECURE_INGRESS_PORT=$(kubectl -n istio-system get service istio-ingressgateway -o jsonpath='{.spec.ports[?(.name=="https")].nodePort}')
   

2. Ensure a port was successfully assigned to each environment variable:

   echo "$INGRESS_PORT"
   echo "$SECURE_INGRESS_PORT"
   

3. Set the ingress IP:

   export INGRESS_HOST=$(minikube ip)
   

4. Ensure an IP address was successfully assigned to the environment variable:

   echo "$INGRESS_HOST"
   

5. Run this command in a new terminal window to start a Minikube tunnel that sends traffic to your Istio Ingress Gateway:

   minikube tunnel
   

6. Set GATEWAY_URL:

   export GATEWAY_URL=$INGRESS_HOST:$INGRESS_PORT
   

7. Run the following command to retrieve the external address of the Bookinfo application.

   echo http://"$GATEWAY_URL/productpage"
   

8. Paste the output from the previous command into your web browser and confirm that the Bookinfo product page is displayed.

4. Managing Istio using a dashboard

Istio has several optional dashboards installed by the demo installation. The Kiali (opens new window) dashboard helps you understand the structure of your service mesh by displaying the topology and indicates the health of your mesh.

1. Install Kiali and the other addons and wait for them to be deployed.

   kubectl apply -f samples/addons
   kubectl rollout status deployment/kiali -n istio-system
   

2. Access the Kiali dashboard. The default user name is admin and default password is admin.

   istioctl dashboard kiali
   

3. In the left navigation menu, select Graph and in the Namespace drop down, select default.

   The Kiali dashboard shows an overview of your mesh with the relationships between the services in the Bookinfo sample application. It also provides filters to visualize the traffic flow.