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@Copilot Copilot AI commented Jun 13, 2025

This PR adds documentation comparing Retina's drop statistics with other OSS monitoring tools, specifically addressing the need to understand differences between Retina's approach and traditional tools like node_exporter.

What's Added

New Documentation

  • docs/03-Metrics/drop-statistics-comparison.md - Comprehensive comparison document covering:
    • Retina's dual approach: eBPF-based drops vs interface-level drops
    • Node exporter's interface statistics approach
    • Feature comparison table with capabilities and limitations
    • Migration guidance from node_exporter to Retina
    • Best practices and use case recommendations

Key Comparisons Covered

Feature Retina eBPF Retina LinuxUtil Node Exporter
Data Source eBPF hooks ethtool/netstat /proc/net/dev
Drop Reasons ✅ Specific reasons ✅ TCP-specific ❌ Generic only
Pod Context ✅ Advanced mode
Real-time ❌ Polling ❌ Polling

Cross-References Added

  • Updated metrics intro page to link to the new comparison
  • Added references from dropreason and linuxutil plugin documentation
  • Integrated with existing documentation structure

Technical Details

The documentation explains how:

  • Node exporter provides node_network_receive_drop_total and node_network_transmit_drop_total from interface statistics
  • Retina's linuxutil plugin offers similar interface-level drops plus TCP-specific drops from netstat
  • Retina's dropreason plugin provides unique eBPF-based drop detection with specific reasons like IPTABLE_RULE_DROP, TCP_CONNECT_BASIC, etc.

Example Usage Scenarios

# Retina: See specific iptables rule drops by pod
networkobservability_drop_count{reason="IPTABLE_RULE_DROP", source_namespace="production"}

# Node Exporter: Only see total interface drops
rate(node_network_receive_drop_total[5m])

This addresses the specific request to compare Retina's drops with node_exporter's ethtool/netstat-based approach while highlighting Retina's enhanced capabilities for Kubernetes environments.

Fixes #1681.

Warning

Firewall rules blocked me from connecting to one or more addresses

I tried to connect to the following addresses, but was blocked by firewall rules:

  • https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/retina/releases/latest
    • Triggering command: curl -s REDACTED (http block)

If you need me to access, download, or install something from one of these locations, you can either:


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Copilot AI and others added 2 commits June 13, 2025 14:01
Co-authored-by: ibezrukavyi <57231707+ibezrukavyi@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: ibezrukavyi <57231707+ibezrukavyi@users.noreply.github.com>
@Copilot Copilot AI changed the title [WIP] Need a documentation page comparing drops stats from other oss projects Add comprehensive drop statistics comparison documentation Jun 13, 2025
@Copilot Copilot AI requested a review from ibezrukavyi June 13, 2025 14:09
Copilot finished work on behalf of ibezrukavyi June 13, 2025 14:09
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Need a documentation page comparing drops stats from other oss projects
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