Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
Document how to configure Kiali with remote cluster secrets. (#718)
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history
* Document how to configure Kiali with remote cluster secrets.
fixes: kiali/kiali#6851

(Side note: I changed the Kiali CR "installation guide" page so it uses
the same annotation as the "new namespace" playbook.
It is best to keep them consistent.)

* introduce a remove cluster section
  • Loading branch information
jmazzitelli committed Nov 20, 2023
1 parent ec98850 commit 2e418cb
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Showing 2 changed files with 17 additions and 7 deletions.
22 changes: 16 additions & 6 deletions content/en/docs/Configuration/multi-cluster.md
Expand Up @@ -21,11 +21,11 @@ Before proceeding with the setup, ensure you meet the requirements.

The unified Kiali multi-cluster setup requires the Kiali Service Account (SA) to have read access to each Kubernetes cluster in the mesh. This is separate from the user credentials that are required when a user logs into Kiali. The user credentials are used to check user access to a namespace and to perform write operations. In anonymous mode, the Kiali SA is used for all operations and write access is also required. To give the Kiali SA access to each remote cluster, a kubeconfig with credentials needs to be created and mounted into the Kiali pod. While the location of Kiali in relation to the controlplane and dataplane may change depending on your istio deployment model, the requirements will remain the same.

1. **Create a remote kubeconfig secret.** You can use [this script](https://github.com/kiali/kiali/blob/master/hack/istio/multicluster/kiali-prepare-remote-cluster.sh) to simplify this process for you. Running this script will:
1. **Create a remote cluster secret.** In order to access a remote cluster, you must provide a kubeconfig to Kiali via a Kubernetes secret. You can use [this script](https://github.com/kiali/kiali/blob/master/hack/istio/multicluster/kiali-prepare-remote-cluster.sh) to simplify this process for you. Running this script will:

- Create a Kiali Service Account in the remote cluster.
- Create a role/role-binding for this service account in the remote cluster.
- Create a kubeconfig file and save this as a secret in the namespace where Kiali is deployed. The Kiali operator will auto-detect the secret and mount it into the Kiali pod.
- Create a kubeconfig file and save this as a secret in the namespace where Kiali is deployed.

In order to run this script you will need adequate permissions configured in your local kubeconfig, for both the cluster on which Kiali is deployed and the remote cluster. You will need to repeat this step for each remote cluster.

Expand All @@ -35,9 +35,13 @@ The unified Kiali multi-cluster setup requires the Kiali Service Account (SA) to
./kiali-prepare-remote-cluster.sh --kiali-cluster-context east --remote-cluster-context west --view-only false
```

Adding remote kubeconfig secrets to Kiali effectively puts Kiali in "multi-cluster" mode and Kiali will begin using those credentials to communicate with the other clusters in the mesh.
{{% alert color="info" %}}
Use the option `--help` for additional details on using the script to create and delete remote cluster secrets.
{{% /alert %}}

2. Optional - **Configure tracing with cluster ID.** By default, traces do not include their cluster name in the trace tags however this can be added using the istio telemetry API.
2. **Configure Kiali.** The Kiali CR provides configuration settings that enable the Kiali Server to use remote cluster secrets in order to access remote clusters. By default, the Kiali Operator will [auto-detect](/docs/configuration/kialis.kiali.io/#.spec.kiali_feature_flags.clustering.autodetect_secrets) any remote cluster secret that has a label `kiali.io/multiCluster=true` and is found in the Kiali deployment namespace. The secrets created by the `kiali-prepare-remote-cluster.sh` script will be created that way and thus can be auto-detected. Alternatively, in the Kiali CR you can [explicitly specify each remote cluster secret](/docs/configuration/kialis.kiali.io/#.spec.kiali_feature_flags.clustering.clusters) rather than rely on auto-discovery. Given the remote cluster secrets it knows about (either through auto-discovery or through explicit configuration) the Operator will mount the remote cluster secrets into the Kiali Server pod effectively putting Kiali in "multi-cluster" mode. Kiali will begin using those credentials to communicate with the other clusters in the mesh.

3. Optional - **Configure tracing with cluster ID.** By default, traces do not include their cluster name in the trace tags however this can be added using the istio telemetry API.

```
kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -68,8 +72,14 @@ meshConfig:
name: ISTIO_META_CLUSTER_ID
```

3. Optional - **Configure user access in your OIDC provider.** When using anonymous mode, the Kiali SA credentials will be used to display mesh info to the user. When not using anonymous mode, Kiali will check the user's access to each configured cluster's namespace before showing the user any resources from that namespace. Please refer to your OIDC provider's instructions for configuring user access to a kube cluster for this.
4. Optional - **Configure user access in your OIDC provider.** When using anonymous mode, the Kiali SA credentials will be used to display mesh info to the user. When not using anonymous mode, Kiali will check the user's access to each configured cluster's namespace before showing the user any resources from that namespace. Please refer to your OIDC provider's instructions for configuring user access to a kube cluster for this.

4. Optional - **Narrow metrics to mesh.** If your unified metrics store also contains data outside of your mesh, you can limit which metrics Kiali will query for by setting the [query_scope](/docs/configuration/kialis.kiali.io#.spec.external_services.custom_dashboards.prometheus.query_scope) configuration.
5. Optional - **Narrow metrics to mesh.** If your unified metrics store also contains data outside of your mesh, you can limit which metrics Kiali will query for by setting the [query_scope](/docs/configuration/kialis.kiali.io#.spec.external_services.custom_dashboards.prometheus.query_scope) configuration.

That's it! From here you can login to Kiali and manage your mesh across both clusters from a single Kiali instance.

#### Removing a Cluster

To remove a cluster from Kiali, you must delete the associated remote cluster secret. If you originally created the remote cluster secret via the [kiali-prepare-remote-cluster.sh script](https://github.com/kiali/kiali/blob/master/hack/istio/multicluster/kiali-prepare-remote-cluster.sh), run that script again with the same command line options as before but also pass in the command line option `--delete true`.

If you are using auto-discovery and you removed a remote cluster secret then you must touch the Kiali CR in order for the Operator to effectively remove the remote cluster secret from the Kiali Server pod. The easiest way to do this is to simply add or modify any annotation on the Kiali CR. It is suggested you use the `kiali.io/reconcile` annotation as described [here](/docs/installation/installation-guide/creating-updating-kiali-cr).
Expand Up @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Kiali CR will trigger the Kiali Operator to install, update, or remove Kiali.
{{% alert color="success" %}}
If you want the operator to re-process the Kiali CR (called "reconciliation") without having to change the Kiali CR's `spec` fields, you can modify any annotation on the Kiali CR itself. This will trigger the operator to reconcile the current state of the cluster with the desired state defined in the Kiali CR, modifying cluster resources if necessary to get them into their desired state. Here is an example illustrating how you can modify an annotation on a Kiali CR:
```
$ kubectl annotate kiali my-kiali -n istio-system --overwrite kiali.io/manual-reconcile="$(date)"
$ kubectl annotate kiali my-kiali -n istio-system --overwrite kiali.io/reconcile="$(date)"
```
{{% /alert %}}

Expand Down

0 comments on commit 2e418cb

Please sign in to comment.