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Collect Logs: Apps & Services > Kubernetes cluster logging with rKubelog

Kubernetes cluster logging with rKubelog

rKubelog is a simple way to send logs from a Kubernetes (K8s) cluster to Papertrail without having to configure DaemonSets, sidecars, fluentd, or persistent claims. With rKubelog, it’s easy to use Papertrail for logging in nodeless clusters, such as EKS on Fargate, and is perfect for smaller, local development clusters to setup logging within seconds.

Logs can also be sent from a Kubernetes cluster using a SolarWinds Snap Agent installed on your host. Alternatively, you can manually configure your Kubernetes cluster to send logs without using the tools developed by SolarWinds.


rKubelog releases are referenced explicitly; ‘latest’ tags are not used. To update the image to the latest release, use the release’s current version:

ghcr.io/solarwinds/rkubelog:<github_version>

where <github_version> is the latest version listed in Releases. For example, when r16 was the most recent release, ghcr.io/solarwinds/rkubelog:r16 would have been used.

SolarWinds recommends that you subscribe to notifications of new releases in the rKubelog repo by clicking Watch and selecting Releases only from the drop-down.

Deploy rKubelog

By default, rKubelog runs in the kube-system namespace and will observe all logs from all pods in all namespaces except from itself or from any other service in kube-system.

  1. In Papertrail, click Settings, select Log Destinations, and click Create Log Destination. Ensure the default option to Accept connections via Port is selected. Click Create and take note of the <log destination host>:<log destination port> that displays at the top of the relevant log destination card on the Log Destinations page.
  2. Create a Kubernetes secret on your cluster named logging-secret in the kube-system namespace with the following fields:
    • PAPERTRAIL_PROTOCOL – Acceptable values are udp, tcp, tls and should match the selections made in the Accept connections via portion of the newly created log destination’s Destination Settings page; by default, a new destination accepts TLS and UDP connections.
    • PAPERTRAIL_HOST – Log destination host; should match the newly created log destination host at the top of the newly created log destination’s Destination Settings page.
    • PAPERTRAIL_PORT – Log destination port; should match the log destination port at the top of the newly created log destination’s Destination Settings page.
    • LOGGLY_TOKEN – if you do not use Loggly or are simply not using rKubelog with Loggly, leave the value empty to disable Loggly. Else, enter your customer token from Loggly.
  3. Preview the deployment using kubectl apply -k . --dry-run -o yaml
  4. If all looks good, apply the deployment using kubectl apply -k .

Troubleshooting

Logs do not appear in Papertrail after deploying rKubelog

If you deploy rKubelog on nodeless clusters, such as EKS on Fargate, you may not see logs in Papertrail immediately. For EKS on Fargate, it may take up to two minutes for a pod to be fully deployed, as AWS needs to provision Fargate nodes. You can check the progress using:

kubectl get pods -o wide -n kube-system | grep rkubelog
  • The “status” should be “Running”
  • The “node” column should have a proper value (fargate-ip-192-168-X-X.us-east-2.compute.internal)
  • The “nominated node” column should be empty

Logs suddenly stopped flowing

If logs suddenly stop flowing, restart the rKubelog deployment:

kubectl scale deployment rkubelog --replicas=0 -n kube-system
kubectl scale deployment rkubelog --replicas=1 -n kube-system

Still having trouble

If you are still having trouble viewing your logs or are unsure how to proceed, we’re happy to help. Contact us.

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